Don Murray

Don Murray

Birthdate
July 31, 1929 (95 years old)
Place of Birth
Hollywood, California, USA
Date of Death
February 2, 2024
Known For
Acting

Details

Birthdate
July 31, 1929 (95 years old)
Place of Birth
Hollywood, California, USA
Date of Death
February 2, 2024
Known For
Acting

Biography

Donald Patrick "Don" Murray (July 31, 1929-February 2, 2024) was an American actor.

Murray was born in Hollywood, California. He attended East Rockaway High School (class of 1947) in East Rockaway, New York where he played football and track, was a member of the student government and glee club and joined the Alpha Phi Chapter of the Omega Gamma Delta Fraternity. From high school he went on to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Murray had a long and varied career in films and television, including his role as Sid Fairgate in the long-running prime-time soap opera Knots Landing from 1979 to 1981. He was nominated for an Academy Award as best supporting actor in Bus Stop (1956) in which he co-starred with Marilyn Monroe.

He starred as a blackmailed United States senator in Advise & Consent (1961), a film version of a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Allen Drury that was directed by Otto Preminger and cast Murray opposite Henry Fonda and Charles Laughton. He also co-starred with Steve McQueen in the film Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965) and played the ape-hating Governor Breck in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972).

In addition to acting, Murray directed a film based on the book The Cross and the Switchblade (1970) starring Pat Boone and Erik Estrada, and he scripted two episodes of Knots Landing ("Hitchhike" parts 1 & 2) in 1980.

Murray starred with Otis Young in the ground breaking ABC western television series The Outcasts (1968-69) featuring an interracial bounty hunter team in the post-Civil War West.

Murray decided to leave Knots Landing after two years to concentrate on other projects, although some sources say he left over a salary dispute. The character's death was notable at the time because it was considered rare to "kill off" a star character. The death came in the second episode of season three, following up on season two's cliffhanger in which Sid's car careered off a cliff. To make viewers off doubt the character would actually die, Murray was listed in the newly created credit sequence for season three; the character survived the plunge off the cliff (thus temporarily reassuring viewers), but died shortly afterwards in hospital.

Although he effectively distanced himself from the series after his exit in 1981, Murray later contributed an interview segment for Knots Landing: Together Again, a non-fiction reunion special made in 2005.

Murray was the first husband of actress Hope Lange. They had two children, including actor Christopher Murray.

Don Murray's LGBTQ+ Titles

Tab Hunter Confidential
Tab Hunter Confidential
Self

Acting (107)

2021
Promise as Zacharias
2017
Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers as Self
2010
Marilyn Monroe: I Want to Be Loved as Self
2010
Marilyn Monroe: Death of an Icon as Self
2008
Riots & Revolutions: Confronting the Times as Self
2007
Fred Zinnemann - Der Mann, der 'High Noon' machte as Self
2004
Hollywood Legenden as Self
2001
Island Prey as Parker Gaits
2000
Besuch bei Don Murray as Self
1999
Alan Ladd: The True Quiet Man as Self
1998
Internet Love as Self
1997
The Wonderful World of Disney as Reporter (1 episode)
1997
Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years as Self
1996
Marilyn, divine et fragile as Self
1996
Hearts Adrift as Lloyd Raines
1995
The Single Guy as Chip Bremley (1 episode)
1994
Marilyn Monroe: The Mortal Goddess as Self
1994
Shurtleff on Acting as Self
1991
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker as Self
1991
Sons and Daughters as Bing Hammersmith (13 episodes)
1990
Wings as Dad (1 episode)
1990
Twin Peaks as Bushnell Mullins (8 episodes)
1989
Ghosts Can't Do It as Winston
1989
Brand New Life (6 episodes)
1989
My Dad Can't Be Crazy... Can He? as Jack Karpinsky
1987
Hollywood Uncensored as Self
1987
Made in Heaven as Ben Chandler
1987
The Stepford Children as Steven Harding
1987
Stillwatch as Sam Kingsley
1987
Hollywood's Hidden Secrets as Self
1986
License to Kill as Tom Fiske
1986
Scorpion as Gifford Lease
1986
Something in Common as Theo Fontana
1986
Peggy Sue Got Married as Jack Kelcher
1986
Radioactive Dreams as Dash Hammer
1986
T.J. Hooker - Blood Sport as Senator Stuart Grayle
1986
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend as Self
1986
Matlock as Albert Gordon (2 episodes)
1984
A Touch of Scandal as Benjamin Gilvey
1984
Murder, She Wrote as Wally Hampton (1 episode)
1983
Quarterback Princess as Ralph Maida
1983
I Am The Cheese as David Farmer
1983
Thursday's Child as Parker Alden
1982
Hotel (1 episode)
1981
Return of the Rebels as Sonny Morgan
1981
Endless Love as Hugh
1981
Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen as Pimp
1980
Fugitive Family as Peter Ritchie
1980
Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop as Sergeant Jack Leland
1980
The Boy Who Drank Too Much as Ken Saunders
1980
If Things Were Different as Robert Langford
1979
Knots Landing as Sid Fairgate (33 episodes)
1979
Crisis in Mid-Air as Adam Travis
1978
Rainbow as Frank Gumm
1977
How the West Was Won as Anderson (3 episodes)
1975
Deadly Hero as Edward A. Lacy
1975
A Girl Named Sooner as Sheriff Phil Rotteman
1974
Amy Prentiss (1 episode)
1974
The Sex Symbol as Sen. Grant O'Neal
1974
The Girl on the Late, Late Show as William Martin
1973
Police Story (3 episodes)
1973
Cotter as Cotter
1972
ABC Afterschool Special as Jack Karpinsky (1 episode)
1972
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes as Breck
1972
Justin Morgan Had a Horse as Justin Morgan
1971
Happy Birthday, Wanda June as Herb Shuttle
1970
The Intruders as Sam Garrison
1969
Daughter of the Mind as Dr. Alex Lauder
1969
Childish Things as Tom Harris
1968
The Outcasts (26 episodes)
1967
The Viking Queen as Justinian
1967
The Borgia Stick as Tom Harrison
1967
Sweet Love, Bitter as David Hillary
1966
The Plainsman as Wild Bill Hickok
1966
Kid Rodelo as Kid Rodelo
1965
Baby, the Rain Must Fall as Deputy Sheriff Slim
1964
One Man's Way as Norman Vincent Peale
1963
Marilyn as Self ("Bus Stop") (archive footage) (uncredited)
1962
Escape from East Berlin as Kurt Schröder
1962
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as Self (2 episodes)
1962
Advise & Consent as Senator Brigham Anderson
1961
The Mike Douglas Show as Self (6 episodes)
1961
The Hoodlum Priest as Father Charles Dismas Clark
1960
One Foot in Hell as Dan Keats
1960
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood as Self
1959
Winterset as Mio
1959
Shake Hands with the Devil as Kerry O'Shea
1959
These Thousand Hills as Albert Gallatin 'Lat' Evans
1958
From Hell to Texas as Tod Lohman
1957
A Hatful of Rain as Johnny Pope
1957
The Bachelor Party as Charlie Samson
1956
Playhouse 90 as Randy Bragg (1 episode)
1956
Bus Stop as Beauregard 'Bo' Decker
1955
A Man Is Ten Feet Tall as Axel Nordman
1954
The Wonderful World of Disney as Justin Morgan (1 episode)
1951
Hallmark Hall of Fame as Mio (1 episode)
1951
Hallmark Hall of Fame as Parker Alden (1 episode)
1950
Lux Video Theatre as Jimmy (1 episode)
1950
What's My Line? as Self - Mystery Guest (1 episode)
1948
Studio One as Biondello (1 episode)
1948
The Philco Television Playhouse (1 episode)
1948
The Philco Television Playhouse as Axel Nordman (1 episode)
1948
The Ed Sullivan Show as Self (1 episode)
1947
Kraft Television Theatre (1 episode)
1947
Kraft Television Theatre as Booth (1 episode)
1947
Kraft Television Theatre as George (1 episode)

Directing (3)

2008
Breathe • Director
• Director
1976
Damien's Island • Director
• Director
1970
The Cross and the Switchblade • Director
• Director

Writing (2)

1970
The Cross and the Switchblade • Writer
• Writer
1961
The Hoodlum Priest • Screenplay
• Screenplay