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Bill Murray

Bill Murray has built a career around the fine art of appearing amused, disappointed and quietly bewildered at the same time. Born on September 21, 1950, he attended school in Wilmette and worked as a golf caddy during his teens. He also sang in a rock band and took part in high school and community theatre before finding his way into improvisational comedy. Murray began at Chicago’s Second City, studying under Del Close, and later joined NBC’s Saturday Night Live for its second season. His first starring film role came in Meatballs, followed by a run of comedies that helped define his early screen persona: Caddyshack, Stripes, Ghostbusters and Scrooged. The style was unmistakable—dry, resistant to sentiment and capable of turning a pause or sideways glance into the joke. Groundhog Day gave that comic approach greater emotional weight. As Phil Connors, Murray could be cynical, frantic, cruel and unexpectedly tender without making the character’s transformation feel tidy. That balance became increasingly important to his later work. Rushmore began his long-running collaboration with Wes Anderson, whose carefully composed worlds made particularly good use of Murray’s melancholy deadpan. Their subsequent films together include The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs and The French Dispatch. Lost in Translation placed Murray’s restraint at the centre of a quieter drama. Playing fading movie star Bob Harris opposite Scarlett Johansson, he earned the BAFTA Award for Best Actor, a Golden Globe and an Independent Spirit Award, as well as an Academy Award nomination. Broken Flowers, St. Vincent and On the Rocks continued to draw on his ability to suggest loneliness beneath comic detachment. Murray has also worked as a screenwriter, producer, director and voice actor. Whether playing Peter Venkman, voicing Baloo or occupying the stiller corners of an ensemble, he remains a performer who rarely needs to push for attention. The joke—and often the sadness—is already there in the way he watches the room.