Don Murray

Don Murray

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.

Acting

2017

Twin Peaks: The Return
Tv

Bushnell Mullins

2001

Island Prey
Movie

Parker Gaits

1996

Hearts Adrift
Movie

Lloyd Raines

1990

1990

Twin Peaks
Tv

Bushnell Mullins

1987

1987

Stillwatch
Movie

Sam Kingsley

1986

1986

T.J. Hooker: Blood Sport
Movie

Senator Stuart Grayle

1986

Matlock
Tv

Albert Gordon

1984

Murder, She Wrote
Tv

Wally Hampton

1983

1983

1982

Hotel
Tv

Sam Burton

1980

1979

Knots Landing
Tv

Sid Fairgate

1975

Deadly Hero
Movie

Edward A. Lacy

1974

The Sex Symbol
Movie

Sen. Grant O'Neal

1973

Police Story
Tv

Jack Bonner

1970

The Intruders
Movie

Sam Garrison

1969

1968

The Outcasts
Tv

Earl Corey

1966

The Plainsman
Movie

Wild Bill Hickok

1965

Baby the Rain Must Fall
Movie

Deputy Sheriff Slim

1963

Marilyn
Movie

Self ("Bus Stop") (archive footage) (uncredited)

1962

Advise & Consent
Movie

Senator Brigham Anderson

1961

The Hoodlum Priest
Movie

Father Charles Dismas Clark

1957

1957

1956

Playhouse 90
Tv

Randy Bragg

1956

Bus Stop
Movie

Beauregard 'Bo' Decker

1954

Producers' Showcase
Tv

Henry Antrobus

1951

1950

Danger
Tv

Unknown

1948

Studio One
Tv

Biondello

1944

Golden Globe Awards
Tv

Self - Presenter

Writing

Production

2008

Breathe
Movie

Producer

Directing

Infos

Full Name
Don Murray
Gender
Male
Date of Birth
7/31/1929
Date of Death
2/2/2024
Also Known As

Donald Patrick Murray