Bill Murray

Murray was married to Margaret “Mickey” Kelley from 1981 to 1994, and they had two sons, Homer and Luke. He married Jennifer Butler in 1997, and they had four sons, Jackson, Cal, Cooper, and Lincoln, before divorcing in 2008.

Murray grew up in Wilmette, Illinois, as the fifth of nine children. His siblings include actors Brian Doyle-Murray, Joel Murray, and John Murray. Several of the siblings worked as golf caddies, which helped fund their education.

Murray joined Chicago’s Second City improvisational comedy troupe with his older brother Brian Doyle-Murray. He later performed with Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, and John Belushi on the National Lampoon Radio Hour from 1973 to 1974.

In 1975, Howard Cosell recruited Murray for Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell. After that program ended, producer Lorne Michaels brought him onto NBC’s Saturday Night Live in 1976 as the replacement for Chevy Chase. Murray remained with the show from 1977 to 1980 and developed the sleazy, insincere but soft-hearted comedic persona that became a signature of his film work. He won his first Primetime Emmy Award for writing on the program.

Murray’s first major film role was in the 1979 comedy Meatballs. He followed it with Caddyshack and Stripes, then appeared in Tootsie and Ghostbusters. In Caddyshack, he played the groundskeeper Carl Spackler, while Stripes paired him with Harold Ramis as an army recruit.

Murray starred in Ghostbusters alongside Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The 1984 comedy became one of the decade’s biggest commercial hits and led to a sequel, an animated series, action figures, and a popular theme song. His other notable comedies include Scrooged, What About Bob?, Groundhog Day, and Kingpin.

After the failure of The Razor’s Edge, an adaptation he co-wrote and starred in, Murray spent several years largely away from Hollywood. He returned with Scrooged in 1988 and later directed and starred in Quick Change in 1990.

Murray’s performance as a burned-out weatherman in Groundhog Day helped establish his ability to combine comedy with more reflective material. He received further acclaim for playing Herman Blume in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore in 1998, winning supporting-actor awards from the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics.

His role as Bob Harris, a washed-up American actor visiting Japan in Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation, brought an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, a Golden Globe Award, and a BAFTA Award. He also received strong reviews for Broken Flowers and for portraying Franklin D. Roosevelt in Hyde Park on Hudson.

Murray became a recurring performer in Wes Anderson’s films, including The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Isle of Dogs, and The French Dispatch. He also worked with Sofia Coppola again in On the Rocks.

In 2014, Murray played the title character’s troubled neighbor in St. Vincent and appeared as Jack Kennison in the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge. His performance in Olive Kitteridge earned him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.

Murray has also performed voice roles, including Garfield in two live-action films, the badger in Fantastic Mr. Fox, a dog in Isle of Dogs, and Baloo in the 2016 adaptation of The Jungle Book. His later screen work includes The Dead Don’t Die, Zombieland: Double Tap, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The French Dispatch, and The Friend.

He received the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2016. Murray is an avid golfer and co-wrote Cinderella Story: My Life in Golf with George Peper. He has also been involved with the Murray Bros. Caddyshack Restaurant business alongside his siblings.