Don Murray
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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.
Known for
Credits
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
as Breck
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
as Jack Kelcher
Hollywood Uncensored (1987)
as Self
Mr. Headmistress (1998)
as Reporter
Made in Heaven (1987)
as Ben Chandler
Endless Love (1981)
as Hugh
Remembering Marilyn (1988)
as Self (Interviewee)
Tab Hunter Confidential (2015)
as Self
Stillwatch (1987)
as Sam Kingsley
Bus Stop (1956)
as Beauregard 'Bo' Decker
Advise & Consent (1962)
as Senator Brigham Anderson
Marilyn Monroe: In The Movies (2012)
Actor
Island Prey (2001)
as Parker Gaits
Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981)
as Pimp
Mistress (1987)
as Wyn
Cotter (1973)
as Cotter
Ghosts Can't Do It (1989)
as Winston
These Thousand Hills (1959)
as Albert Gallatin 'Lat' Evans
Shake Hands with the Devil (1959)
as Kerry O'Shea
T.J. Hooker: Blood Sport (1986)
as Senator Stuart Grayle
The Taming of the Shrew (1950)
as Biondello
From Hell to Texas (1958)
as Tod Lohman
Marilyn, Her Final Secret (2022)
Actor
Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1971)
as Herb Shuttle
The Viking Queen (1967)
as Justinian
Justin Morgan Had a Horse (1972)
as Justin Morgan
The Plainsman (1966)
as Wild Bill Hickok
I Am the Cheese (1983)
as David Farmer
Radioactive Dreams (1986)
as Dash Hammer
The Boy Who Drank Too Much (1980)
as Ken Saunders
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker (1991)
as Self
A Hatful of Rain (1957)
as Johnny Pope
The Intruders (1970)
as Sam Garrison
License to Kill (1986)
as Tom Fiske
Marilyn despite herself (2012)
Actor
Shurtleff on Acting (1994)
as Self
Escape from East Berlin (1962)
as Kurt Schröder
One Foot in Hell (1960)
as Dan Keats
Marilyn, divine et fragile (1996)
as Self
Promise (2021)
as Zacharias
Norma Jean Alias Marilyn Monroe (1987)
as archive footage
Crisis in Mid-Air (1979)
as Adam Travis
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend (1986)
as Self
Deadly Hero (1975)
as Edward A. Lacy
The Girl on the Late, Late Show (1974)
as William Martin
Return of the Rebels (1981)
as Sonny Morgan
The Stepford Children (1987)
as Steven Harding
Fugitive Family (1980)
as Peter Ritchie
Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965)
as Deputy Sheriff Slim
A Girl Named Sooner (1975)
as Sheriff Phil Rotteman
Scorpion (1986)
as Gifford Lease
The Bachelor Party (1957)
as Charlie Samson
If Things Were Different (1980)
as Robert Langford
The Borgia Stick (1967)
as Tom Harrison
Daughter of the Mind (1969)
as Dr. Alex Lauder
One Man's Way (1964)
as Norman Vincent Peale
Riots & Revolutions: Confronting the Times (2008)
as Self
A Touch of Scandal (1984)
as Benjamin Gilvey
Marilyn (1963)
as archive footage
Quarterback Princess (1983)
as Ralph Maida
Gold of Rio Bravo: Sheriff Kelly's Story (2025)
Actor
Alan Ladd: The True Quiet Man (1999)
as Self
Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers (2017)
as Self
The Hoodlum Priest (1961)
as Father Charles Dismas Clark
Internet Love (1998)
as Self
Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years (1997)
as Self
Thursday's Child (1983)
as Parker Alden
Winterset (1959)
as Mio Romagna
A Man Is Ten Feet Tall (1955)
as Axel Nordman
Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop (1980)
as Sergeant Jack Leland
My Dad Can't Be Crazy... Can He? (1989)
as Jack Karpinsky
Marilyn Monroe: The Mortal Goddess (1994)
as Self
Rainbow (1978)
as Frank Gumm
The Sex Symbol (1974)
as Sen. Grant O'Neal
Something in Common (1986)
as Theo Fontana
Hearts Adrift (1996)
as Lloyd Raines
Kid Rodelo (1966)
as Kid Rodelo
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood (1960)
as Self
Fred Zinnemann - Der Mann, der 'High Noon' machte (2007)
as Self
Childish Things (1969)
as Tom Harris
Hollywood's Hidden Secrets (1987)
as Self
Hollywood Legenden (2004)
as Self
Sweet Love, Bitter (1967)
as David Hillary
Marilyn Monroe: I Want to Be Loved (2010)
as Self
Montana Crossroads (1993)
as Frank Morrow
Besuch bei Don Murray (2000)
as Self