Bill Murray

Born on September 21, 1950 in Wilmette, a small town in Illinois, William James MurrayHe was the fifth of the nine children of a humble marriage. Both he and some of his brothers worked at a golf club as caddies, so that his parents could pay for the Jesuit school where they studied. There he participated in school plays, which made him discover his artistic vocation. Still, he decided to study medicine, enrolling at the University of Denver, but a dark episode ruined his academic aspirations. After being arrested for drug possession, the center’s management decided to expel him. Shortly after, he was arrested again at the Chicago airport, when he declared that he was carrying a bomb, although in fact his suitcase contained eight kilos of marijuana. At least Murray is humorous about this wild incident of his youth,

He decided to dedicate himself to humor on the radio, in a program that would obtain some popularity, National Lampoon Radio Hour. And despite his reserved nature, and the fact that he normally hardly talks to anyone, Murray became good friends with his three co-stars on the show: John Belushi , Gilda Radner and Dan Aykroyd . But soon, these comedians were signed to a newly created program on American television, Saturday Night Live, so Murray had to find other jobs in radio and appearances as an extra in movies like Next Stop, Greenwich Village. . He eventually ended up joining a Chicago theater company. His great stroke of luck came in 1977, when his friends’ television program was dropped, and they called him to replaceChevy Chase , in the third season. Like a whole generation of comedians, Saturday Night Live made him a popular face. The negative part is that they typecast him in crazy comedies. For this reason, he made his debut as a leading man playing the director of a summer camp in The Incorrigible Meatballs , a crazy tape of risqué youthful entanglements that became a great success. In fact, there were three sequels made, and one bad imitation ( Meatballs and Macaroni ).), now without Murray, who had been relegated to starring in silly by-products, which earned him at least great friendships with their directors. He worked with Harold Ramis for the first time on The Crazy Club, an infamous satire of the world of golf. In addition, he became a fetish actor for Ivan Reitman , the director of the aforementioned The Incorrigible Meatballs , with whom he would repeat in The Nutty Squad , a predictable parody of recruiter movies in which Murray managed to elicit a few smiles. At least Sidney Pollack gave him a larger supporting role in Tootsie ., far superior to his previous works. His greatest success, motivated more by the catchy tune than by the quality of the film, was Ghostbusters , again directed by Ivan Reitman, based on a script written by the other protagonists, Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd, and which it was going to be carried out by John Belushi, prematurely passed away.

At this point in his career, Bill Murray was an actor who was sweeping the box office, but he was missing higher quality productions, so he decided to take a chance. This is how he starred in a new version of The Razor’s Edge , the novel by William Somerset Maugham, converted into a film script by Murray himself. And although the result is inferior to the classic version of Tyrone Power , it is a worthy work that did not deserve to crash, only because the public found it hard to believe Murray in a drama. In this way, the actor had to return to comedy, in titles as dispensable as The crazy adventure of marriage , The ghosts attack the boss and the second installment of Ghostbusters. He had time to try his luck in the musical, with a small role in Little Shop of Horrors , and even to direct With the Cops Hot , so far his only foray behind the camera.

In the 1990s, Murray is known for selecting his scripts so carefully that producers and directors have to nag him to get him to listen. “It’s a lot of work to read a script. Some say that they wrote thinking of me and it turns out that they use phrases that come from other old movies of mine, ”explains the actor, who assures that most of the time he rejects the projects that are offered to him. “I’ve said no so many times, some people just don’t bother me anymore.” Among the jobs chosen by the actor at this time, an absolutely hilarious comedy stands out, Caught in Time , which he accepted because it was directed by his old friend Harold Ramis. Next, he dazzles everyone as a gangster with a vocation for comics in The Gangster Girl,in which he accidentally broke Robert De Niro ‘s nose on set. And in case anyone had any doubts that he had been underestimated, he moved the audience by playing two losers, Ed Wood ‘s transvestite , and the middling ventriloquist from Down the Curtain . He also did two of his best works under Wes Anderson : Rushmore Academy and The Tenenbaums , and guest-starred on Charlie’s Angels .

It took Sofia Coppola eight months to convince him to play the actor in Lost in Translation : “Even after he got engaged and we were already in Tokyo to shoot, we didn’t know if he was going to show up,” recalls the director. For her part, Murray is full of praise for the up-and-coming filmmaker. “I’ve never had something written to me that I’ve been so excited to do, and then directed so well,” she says. His work garnered a Golden Globe, and Murray’s first Oscar nomination. And while the statuette ultimately went to Sean Penn , it’s a feat no other member of Saturday Night Live has accomplished.

Hardly anything is known about Murray’s private life, with a reserved character and famous for his rudeness to journalists. It is known that he is fond of buying fourth-string baseball teams, to try to move them up the ranks. The actor has six children, and after divorcing his first wife, he married Jennifer Butler , the costume designer for A Crack in Time . After voicing Garfield, in a live-action adaptation of the famous character from Jim Davis ‘ comic strips , we will see him play the oceanographer in Life Aquatic , the new comedy from Wes Anderson, and also in the next work of Jim Jarmusch .