Murray was a likable actor that emerged in Hollywood during the 1950s. While many actors were flashy, Murray was more subdued in many of his performances. He tended to play more relatable roles rather than the brasher parts of his peers. He also wrote, produced, and directed on top of acting.
Murray was born already in Los Angeles. His father was a Broadway dance director and manager while his mother was a former Ziegfeld Follies performer. Despite his birth in LA, he graduated high school in East Rockaway, New York, where he engaged in a number of extra-curricular activities from football to track to glee club to student government. Murray then attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Murray’s Broadway debut was a notable one, playing Jack Hunter in the 1951 Tennessee Williams play The Rose Tattoo, alongside Maureen Stapleton, Eli Wallach, Phyllis Love, and Sal Mineo. Quite an impressive start. Soon the Korean War began, as a conscientious objector, Murray did alternative service in Europe where he aided war orphans and war casualties. After service, Murray returned to the stage where he performed in The Skin of Our Teeth. This is what got him noticed by director Joshua Logan.
Murray’s role in Bus Stop (1956) marked his Hollywood debut. Murray played the unworldly Beauregard “Bo” Decker who is determined to find a wife and ends up literally roping a singer (Marilyn Monroe) into intended marriage against her will. Murray received an Oscar-nomination for his part and was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for “Most Promising Newcomer to Film” for his performance. Reportedly, during shooting Fox producers felt Murray was overdoing his performance, but Joshua Logan insisted on him saying, “I don’t want some ‘aw shucks’ cowboy in the role. I want Attila the Hun and that’s what we got.”
Bus Stop was enough to launch Murray to leading man status. He then starred in film versions of plays with playing Charlie, an ambitious man stuck in a dull office job, in Chayefsky’s The Bachelor Party (1957) and Johnny Pope, a drug-addict, in Michael V. Gazzo’s A Hatful of Rain (1957). Murray than dawned western clothes again for From Hell to Texas (1958) as a ranch hand hunted by the father of the man he accidentally killed. The result was an enjoyable western.
Murray continued with westerns by making These Thousand Hills (1959). He then got to work alongside James Cagney in Shake Hands with the Devil (1959) where Murray played a moral I.R.A. member that contradicts Cagney’s bloodthirsty member. He also got to act with another film legend, Alan Ladd, in the western One Foot in Hell (1960). This followed into the title role in The Hoodlum Priest (1961).
Murray then played one of his best roles in the all-star Advise & Consent (1962). While many actors deliver their all in the movie, it may be a scene involving Murray that is the most memorable (given the era the film came out). Murray plays a senator being blackmailed by the opposition party with a past homosexual relationship. This leads to the above-mentioned memorable scene where Murray enters a gay bar trying to locate the man that sold him out. The bar is actually very welcoming and friendly, but Murray is terrified of it.
More leading man roles continued for Murray with Escape from East Berlin (1962), One Man’s Way (1964), Kid Rodelo (1966), a lesser remake of The Plainsman (1966), Sweet Love, Bitter (1967), and The Viking Queen (1967). He also supported Steve McQueen and Lee Remick in Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965) during this time.
Murray then starred in the western series The Outcasts (1968-1969), where he played a former Confederate soldier who teams up with an ex-slave as a bounty hunting duo who remain hostile to one another. While the series was short-lived, it actually did get some award recognition, including being nominated for a Writers Guild of America award. It is reported that its cancellation was due to its violence which 1960s audiences and critics deemed as “excessive.” Other TV productions Murray starred in include The Philco Television Playhouse’s 1955 TV play A Man Is Ten Feet Tall alongside Sidney Poitier, as the title role in The DuPont Show of the Month’s 1959 production of Billy Budd, and in Playhouse 90’s adaptation of Alas, Babylon. Murray also made the television movie The Borgia Stick (1967) with Inger Stevens.
As the 1960s ended, Murray continued working in films and television. Later film credits included Justin Morgan Had a Horse (1972), Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972), and Peggy Sue Got Married (1986). Meanwhile, television shows Murray appeared on included Police Story, Matlock, Murder, She Wrote, Wings, and the acclaimed Twin Peaks: The Return. Murray also starred in the first two seasons of the soap opera Knots Landing (1979-1993). Whether Murray left due to a salary dispute or because he wanted to work on other projects is up for debate.
In Murray’s personal life he was married twice. First was to actress Hope Lange from 1956 to 1962. They had two children and the marriage ended in divorce. Murray’s second marriage lasted from 1962 until his death. In terms of awards, besides his Oscar and BAFTA nominations, he was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy, won and was nominated for a number of Grammys for Engineered recordings and albums as well as jazz and surround sound albums.
~Virginia
The Tinseltown Twins 