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.
Filmography
all 106
Movies 79
TV Shows 27
self 23
Director 3
Producer 1
Promise (2021)
Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers (2017)
Tab Hunter Confidential (2015)
Marilyn Monroe: I Want to Be Loved (2010)
Marilyn Monroe: Death of an Icon (2010)
Breathe (2008)
Fred Zinnemann - Der Mann, der 'High Noon' machte (2007)
Jenseits von Hollywood – Das Kino des Otto Preminger (2006)
Hollywood Legenden (2004)
Island Prey (2001)
Besuch bei Don Murray (2000)
Alan Ladd: The True Quiet Man (1999)
The Wonderful World of Disney (1997)
20th Century Fox: The First 50 Years (1997)
Marilyn, divine et fragile (1996)
Hearts Adrift (1996)
The Single Guy (1995)
Marilyn Monroe: The Mortal Goddess (1994)
Shurtleff on Acting (1994)
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker (1991)
Sons and Daughters (1991)
Wings (1990)
Twin Peaks (1990)
Ghosts Can't Do It (1989)
Brand New Life (1989)
Hollywood Uncensored (1987)
Made in Heaven (1987)
The Stepford Children (1987)
Stillwatch (1987)
Hollywood's Hidden Secrets (1987)
License to Kill (1986)
Scorpion (1986)
Something In Common (1986)
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
Radioactive Dreams (1986)
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend (1986)
Matlock (1986)
A Touch of Scandal (1984)
Murder, She Wrote (1984)
Quarterback Princess (1983)
I Am The Cheese (1983)
Thursday's Child (1983)
Hotel (1982)
Return of the Rebels (1981)
Endless Love (1981)
Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981)
Fugitive Family (1980)
Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop (1980)
The Boy Who Drank Too Much (1980)
If Things Were Different (1980)
Knots Landing (1979)
Crisis in Mid-Air (1979)
Rainbow (1978)
How the West Was Won (1977)
Damien's Island (1976)
Deadly Hero (1975)
A Girl Named Sooner (1975)
Amy Prentiss (1974)
The Sex Symbol (1974)
The Girl on the Late, Late Show (1974)
Moving On (1974)
Police Story (1973)
Cotter (1973)
ABC Afterschool Special (1972)
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
Justin Morgan Had a Horse (1972)
Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1971)
The Intruders (1970)
The Cross and the Switchblade (1970)
Daughter of the Mind (1969)
Childish Things (1969)
The Outcasts (1968)
The Viking Queen (1967)
The Borgia Stick (1967)
Sweet Love, Bitter (1967)
The Plainsman (1966)
Kid Rodelo (1966)
Baby, the Rain Must Fall (1965)
One Man's Way (1964)
Marilyn (1963)
Escape from East Berlin (1962)
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)
Advise & Consent (1962)
The Mike Douglas Show (1961)
The Hoodlum Priest (1961)
Here's Hollywood (1960)
One Foot in Hell (1960)
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood (1960)
Winterset (1959)
Shake Hands with the Devil (1959)
These Thousand Hills (1959)
From Hell to Texas (1958)
A Hatful of Rain (1957)
The Bachelor Party (1957)
Playhouse 90 (1956)
Bus Stop (1956)
A Man Is Ten Feet Tall (1955)
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (1954)
Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951)
Lux Video Theatre (1950)
Preface to a Life (1950)
What's My Line? (1950)
Studio One (1948)
The Philco Television Playhouse (1948)
The Ed Sullivan Show (1948)
Kraft Television Theatre (1947)
Ratings
Gallery
Information
Known ForActing
GenderMale
Birthday1929-07-31
Deathday2024-02-02 (94 years old)
Birth NameDonald Patrick Murray
Birth PlaceHollywood, United States
RelationshipsHope Lange (1956-01-01 - 1961-01-01)
ChildrenChristopher Murray
CitizenshipsUnited States
Also Known AsДон Мюррей, Donald Patrick Murray
Awardsstar on Hollywood Walk of Fame
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