17 Bill Murray Facts: American Actor, Comedian, And Writer!

Bill Murray, born William James Murray, was born on September 21, 1950, in Illinois, USA.

Bill Murray is a very popular celebrity in the USA who is famous for being a comedian, actor, and his deadpan style of humor. He has hosted the popular television show, Saturday Night Live.

Bill Murray began his career alongside comedians like John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd on the comedy radio show National Lampoon Radio Hour. Bill Murray performed on NBC’s Saturday Night Live show for three years, between 1977-1980.

He gained fame from there and was later cast in hit movies like Meatballs (1979), Caddyshack (1980), and Stripes (1981). In 1984, Bill Murray starred in the highest-grossing film of that decade, Ghostbusters, alongside fellow comedians like Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis.

For a few years after the film’s release, Murray took a break from his acting career and studied philosophy and history in Paris. When he returned to the US, he directed a film called Quick Change (1990) and starred in it as well.

In 2003, Bill Murray won a Golden Globe award, a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award, and an Oscar nomination for best actor for starring in a critically acclaimed film called Lost in Translation, co-starring Scarlett Johansson.

Did you know that Bill Murray was the fifth of the nine children and grew up with eight siblings? He is widely regarded as the only actor in the modern age who could excel in any type of role.

Read on to know more about the career and opinions of Bill Murray. Afterward, also check Bill Haley facts and Bill Nye facts.

Humorous Facts About Bill Murray

When Bill Murray was just a teenager, he was a part of a band called the Dutch Masters as a lead singer. It is also said that he regularly took part in high school activities and community theatre during that time.

On David Letterman’s show called Late Night Show, which first aired in 1982, Bill Murray was the first guest. Interestingly, he was also the last guest on the Late Show with David Letterman when it ended in 2015.

Bill Murray was quite famous on movie sets for his mood swings and raging and sudden outbursts of temper. Because of this behavior, a fellow comedian and a friend of Murray’s, Dan Aykroyd nicknamed the actor ‘The Murricane’.

While agreeing to lend his voice to the famous orange cat Garfield, Bill Murray accidentally mistook Joel Cohen for Joel Coen of the Coen Brothers, which was why he agreed to participate without a second thought.

Although Joel Cohen was not a very famous screenwriter at the time, both the Garfield films became a box-office hit and starred Bill Murray in both of them.

Bill Murray has also lent his voice in the recent live-action adaptation of the Jungle Book which was released in 2016, to the character of Baloo the bear.

In the 1996 film, Kingpin, Bill Murray had actually bowled the turkey, that is, he actually did take the three strikes in a row during the final match which took place between Bill Murray and Woody Harrelson.

Bill Murray had actually starred in the film Ghostbusters in order to secure funding from Columbia Pictures for his own movie called ‘The Razor’s Edge’.

Sadly, Ghostbusters went on to become a success while his other movie did not receive any acclaim or popularity, which ended up in Bill Murray leaving for France for four years to take a break from acting and showbiz.

During the filming of the movie called ‘Mad Dog and Glory’ in 1993, it is known that Bill Murray accidentally broke Robert DeNiro’s nose while filming.

One of the most famous and hilarious known facts about Bill Murray is that once in 2010, Bill Murray and some fellow actors from Wu Tang Clan entered a bar in Austin, Texas, and decided that they needed something more than just sitting and drinking.

This is why, they bartended for the night, although they served all the customers only with tequila shots, ignoring their original orders.

Bill Murray was the honoree of the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2016.

Weird Facts About Bill Murray

Bill Murray was quite famous for turning down roles, which later went on to become very popular. One of those roles was of the adorable character Forrest Gump, which was later taken by Tom Hanks.

Although Bill Murray and Chevy Chase both rejected this role, there is no clear reason as to why they did it. Another famous voice acting role turned down by Murray was of the astronaut from the famous Disney Pixar movie Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear.

Everyone in the  Hollywood community knows that Bill Murray does not have an agent to handle his affairs and new casting.

He only has an 1800 number, which is quite difficult to reach him through, given his popularity. This fact has led him to miss out on some famous movie roles like Little Miss Sunshine, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Monsters Inc.

When the actor was pressured by the producers into hiring an agent while he was filming the movie Groundhog Day, he cheekily hired an assistant who was deaf and spoke only with the American Sign Language.

Bill Murray was quite famous for crashing random parties and weddings. In 2006, when he was in Scotland, Bill Murray met a Norwegian student and proceeded to attend a party full of Scandinavian students. Hilariously though, he left the party after personally washing all the dirty dishes left by the students.

When Bill Murray was filming the movie Buffalo Roam, Hunter Thompson and Murray frequently made bets and challenges between themselves to prove themselves stronger. This involved a Houdini competition, where one time, Thompson tied Bill Murray to a chair and threw him into a pool of water.

This incident almost caused Murray to drown and die before he was saved by Thompson himself.

Controversial Facts About Bill Murray

Bill Murray was known for having outrages and temper tantrums on movie sets as well as since his adolescence. Due to his behavior, Bill Murray was removed from Boy Scouts and Little League Club during his teenage years.

There are other instances where he has taken his temper out on the fans.

In one incident, some people were trying to get selfies with the actor which he did not appreciate. In retaliation, he threw away the cellphones of three people down the roof.

When Bill Murray was acting in the movie Charlie’s Angels, it was quite a known fact that he was very unkind towards fellow actress Lucy Liu and also told her in a fit of anger that she was not a good actress, which prompted the actress to throw punches at him.

One of the most controversial fights of Bill Murray has to be the one between him and Chevy Chase on the Saturday Night Live show. After Chevy Chase had left the show some time ago, Murray was resentful towards the comedian and confronted him about this issue later when Chevy Chase had appeared as a guest on the show.

Their fight started out from being verbal back and forth with quite a lot of insults, and soon aggravated into a physical fight.

When Murray was 20 years old, he had tried to smuggle about 10 lb (4.5 kg) of cannabis through the O’Hare Airport in Chicago.

He was almost through customs, but while waiting in line to board the plane, Murray decided to crack the ‘I have a bomb’ joke, which was overheard by a ticket agent, who raised alarm immediately and called the US Marshals. This led to him being caught with teh cannabis which cost $20,000 at the time.

Bill Murray was convicted by the court, but as he had no previous conviction, he ended up getting five years of probation.

Outspoken Facts About Bill Murray

Since his film The Razor’s Edge was declared a dud at the box office Bill Murray decided to take a break from acting and comedy. During this time, Murray traveled to Paris for four years and enrolled in Sorbonne to study history and philosophy.

This education proved to be extremely useful for his academic character in the movie The Royal Tenenbaums.

Bill Murray had attended real diving lessons during his time of filming for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Murray even gained certification in diving after completing more than 40 hours of training.

Bill Murray is known for being a baseball lover, as he had played for a minor league team called Grays Harbor Loggers during his 20s.

Later in life, Murray bought the stakes for several baseball teams, starting with the Salt Lake Trappers and later becoming a partial owner of baseball teams like Charleston Riverdogs, Hudson Valley Renegades, St. Paul's Saints, and more.

In 2012, Bill Murray became a member of the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame for his contribution to the sport of baseball.

Murray has spoken candidly about his struggles with mental health in one TV interview. He said that during his early rising years, he had contemplated acts like committing suicide, before coming across a painting by a French Artist named Jules Breton.

The painting is called ‘The Song of The Lark', which was made in 1884. Bill Murray said it gave him the hope of finding another opportunity to progress in life and not to give up on himself.

Edward J. Murray II had nine children. Bill Murray has eight siblings, some of them recognized are Brian Doyle Murray and Joel Murray. He has been married twice, one of them being Margaret Kelly and the other was Jennifer Butler. Three of his siblings, John Murray, Joel Murray, and Brian Doyle-Murray, have also joined the film career.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Bill Murray facts, then why not take a look at Bill Brasky facts or Bill Bryson facts?