Bill Murray's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Banzai (UK) Bill Murray… Later with Bob Costas Bill Murray The Sweet Spot Bill Murray

Main Movie Roles

BIOGRAPHY:

Bill is the fifth of nine children born to Edward and Lucille Murray. He and most of his siblings worked as caddies, which paid his tuition to Loyola Academy, a Jesuit school. He played sports and did some acting while in that school, but in his words, mostly "screwed off." He enrolled at Regis College in Denver to study pre-med but dropped out after being arrested for marijuana possession. He then joined the National Lampoon Radio Hour with fellow members Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, and John Belushi. However, while those three became the original members of "Saturday Night Live" (1975), he joined "Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell" (1975), which premiered that same year. After that show failed, he later got the opportunity to join "Saturday Night Live" (1975).


TRIVIA:

• His performance as Phil Connors in _Groundhog Day (1993)_ (qv) is ranked #48 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
• 'Sofia Coppola' (qv) wrote the lead role of Bob Harris in _Lost in Translation (2003)_ (qv), with Murray specifically in mind. She did not know the actor and even enlisted the help of her famous father, 'Francis Ford Coppola' (qv), to track down the sometimes quite elusive Murray. Once he finally read the script, though, he agreed to do it on the spot. Murray and 'Sofia Coppola' (qv) are now good friends.
• He is a diehard Chicago Cubs fan. During the Cubs playoff run in 2003, he was on location in Italy, but he had it written into his contract that he'd get a satellite feed of the playoffs.
• Was considered for the role of Han Solo in _Star Wars (1977)_ (qv).
• Has become the unofficial patron saint of the forums of the Football Manager website, home to one of the biggest selling PC games of all time.
• In 2001, he starred with 'Sigourney Weaver' (qv) in an Off-Off-Broadway play called "The Guys," in which he played a fire captain who lost eight of his men on 9/11. In the movie version, Murray's role was played by 'Anthony LaPaglia' (qv).
• Is a fan of the Illini men's basketball team.
• (2005) Announced that after his next three productions, he will be taking a break from acting to relax. He cites the productions of _The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)_ (qv) and _Broken Flowers (2005)_ (qv) as having exhausted him.