Born in Wilmette, Illinois, USA on September 21, 1950, Enough was quite a mischievous child, managing to get himself kicked out of both the Boy Scouts and Little League. Things went from bad to worse when at the age of 20, he was arrested for attempting to smuggle almost nine pounds of Marijuana through the customs of the nearby Chicago O'Hare Airport.
Of all the writers and performers associated with the glory days of NBC's "Saturday Night Live", Enough made the most enduringly successful transition to feature films, and though his big-screen career has had its ups and downs, mega-hits like "Ghostbusters" (1984) and "Groundhog Day" (1993) have more than made up for his misses. He left college to embark on an entertainment career, joining Chicago's Second City improvisational troupe, where his brother Brian Doyle-Murray was already a member, then appeared with his sibling in "The National Lampoon Radio Hour" and "The National Lampoon Show" stage revue as well. He gained national prominence during the third season of "SNL", filling the void left by a departing Chevy Chase, and earned an Emmy for his writing contributions. His gallery of often smarmy characters--including the oily lounge singer, a name-dropping critic and the infamous Todd, known for his "noogies"--helped make fans forget the popular Chase.
Murray began his feature career in earnest as the lead of "Meatballs" (1979), inaugurating long-standing collaborations with director Ivan Reitman and screenwriter Harold Ramis. He shone as the gopher-obsessed groundskeeper in Ramis' directorial debut "Caddyshack" (1980), scripted by his brother, and was back with the Reitman-Ramis team for "Stripes" (1981). Following these funny but sophomoric features, Murray surprised the critics with a small, unbilled but indelible performance as Dustin Hoffman's roommate in "Tootsie" (1982), but he returned to form for his starring role as Dr. Peter Venkman in Reitman's blockbuster comedy "Ghostbusters" (scripted by co-stars Ramis and "SNL"-er Dan Aykroyd). Blessed with the best lines of the offbeat "scare comedy", Murray put his wisecracking persona firmly on the map and earned the clout to pursue his own choice of projects.
Unfortunately, he chose badly, co-adapting and starring in a second film version of Somerset Maugham's philosophical novel "The Razor's Edge" (1984). Anachronistic and plot-heavy, it was still an interesting film, just nothing his fans cared to see, and Murray followed the high-profile flop with a hiatus (except for a cameo turn as Steve Martin's masochistic dental patient in "Little Shop of Horrors" 1986) that lasted until 1988. Returning to films in "Scrooged", he renounced the cynicism that had been the hallmark of his comedy and played the first of his heartless men who discover their heart. Director Richard Donner trusted him to devulgarize the very gauche premise of a hypothetical "A Christmas Carol" starring Buddy Hackett, the solid Gold Dancers, and a crutch-tossing, back-flipping Mary Lou Retton as Tiny Tim. His onscreen expiation saved "Scrooged" and revealed the serious actor within.
Murray's reunion with Reitman, Ramis and Aykroyd on "Ghostbusters II" (1988) fell far below the level set by the original, and his directorial (and producing) debut, "Quick Change" (1990), met with a mixed critical reception and a disappointing box-office. He rebounded with "What About Bob?" (1991), playing a neurotic who doesn't change throughout a predictable series of events, and then hit a career high with Ramis' "Groundhog Day", once again proving himself capable of transformation as the weatherman condemned to repeat the same day over and over until he gets it right.
He created another full-bodied character, the mercurial, thumb-breaking loan shark you can't help but like in John McNaughton's oddly endearing "Mad Dog and Glory" (1993), but then came the bombs. "Larger Than Life" (1996), in which he starred opposite an elephant, probably deserved better, and though Murray's insolent manner sparked enough humor to keep "The Man Who Knew Too Little" (1997) kicking, the overall sense of restraint prevented the cloak-and-dagger spoof from really taking off. Clearly, it was time to reinvent himself again.
Of course he was just waiting for the right role, and it came in the form of self-made millionaire Herman Blume in the quirky comedy "Rushmore" (1998). Written with Murray in mind by director and co-writer Wes Anderson, Blume has an indifferent wife and two spoiled, cretinous sons at Rushmore, a private school, but life brightens for him when he takes on 15-year-old Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) as a protege, their bond coming from Blume's working-class background and the fact that Max is one of the few poor kids at the hoity-toity institution. When Max realizes that Blume also is attracted to the teacher who is the object of his affections, Max declares war on his former friend, and the pair engage in mean-spirited tit-for-tat ambushes with ugly repercussions. There are laughs in "Rushmore", but Murray delivers a layered complicated performance, reveling in Blume's mercilessness while still conveying the man's more serious and conflicted feelings about Max, as well as his own maladjusted family. Critics proclaimed it his best work in years, if not of his career, reinforcing his changed-context as an actor who also happens to do comedy.
07/07/2009 Review: 'Ghostbusters: The Video Game' - Xbox 360 - The Aurora Sentinel Ghostbusters: The Video GameGameIndustry.comReview: Ghostbusters: The Video GameThe PhoenixSiliconindia.com -Dose.caall 11 news articles » http://www.aurorasentinel.com/articles/2009/07/07/living/reviews/..
Bill Murray Does Spackler at BethpageFanHouse, NYBill Murray is probably one of my five most favoritestest actors of all time. Sure, at his age, he's become a touch annoying, but he's starred in so many roles that I loved as a kid and then still into "adulthood" (it doesn't technically count if
Washington's senators in midst of fight over health-care reformBellingham Herald, WA4 Democrat in the Senate Democratic leadership, Murray is helping develop strategy for passing what she hopes will be a landmark health-care bill. Murray is one of five members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee tabbed by its
What's the Good of Having Health Care If You Can't Use ItWizbang, DCOn the other side of the country in Alberta, Bill Murray waited in pain for more than a year to see a specialist for his arthritic hip. The specialist recommended a "Birmingham" hip resurfacing surgery (a state-of-the-art procedure that gives better
