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.
Known For
Credits
- 2021 · Promise as Zacharias
- 2017 · Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers as Self
- 2015 · Tab Hunter Confidential as Self
- 2010 · Marilyn Monroe: Death of an Icon as Self
- 2010 · Marilyn Monroe: I Want to Be Loved as Self
- 2008 · Riots & Revolutions: Confronting the Times as Self
- 2007 · Fred Zinnemann - Der Mann, der 'High Noon' machte as Self
- 2004 · Hollywood Legenden as Self
- 2001 · Island Prey as Parker Gaits
- 2000 · Besuch bei Don Murray as Self
- 1999 · Alan Ladd: The True Quiet Man as Self
- 1998 · Internet Love as Self
- 1997 · The Wonderful World of Disney as Reporter
- 1997 · Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years as Self
- 1996 · Marilyn, divine et fragile as Self
- 1996 · Hearts Adrift as Lloyd Raines
- 1995 · The Single Guy as Chip Bremley
- 1994 · Marilyn Monroe: The Mortal Goddess as Self
- 1994 · Shurtleff on Acting as Self
- 1991 · Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker as Self
- 1991 · Sons and Daughters as Bing Hammersmith
- 1990 · Wings as Dad
- 1990 · Twin Peaks as Bushnell Mullins
- 1989 · Ghosts Can't Do It as Winston
- 1989 · Brand New Life as
- 1989 · My Dad Can't Be Crazy... Can He? as Jack Karpinsky
- 1987 · Hollywood Uncensored as Self
- 1987 · Made in Heaven as Ben Chandler
- 1987 · The Stepford Children as Steven Harding
- 1987 · Stillwatch as Sam Kingsley
- 1987 · Hollywood's Hidden Secrets as Self
- 1986 · License to Kill as Tom Fiske
- 1986 · Scorpion as Gifford Lease
- 1986 · Something in Common as Theo Fontana
- 1986 · Peggy Sue Got Married as Jack Kelcher
- 1986 · Radioactive Dreams as Dash Hammer
- 1986 · T.J. Hooker - Blood Sport as Senator Stuart Grayle
- 1986 · Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend as Self
- 1986 · Matlock as Albert Gordon
- 1984 · A Touch of Scandal as Benjamin Gilvey
- 1984 · Murder, She Wrote as Wally Hampton
- 1983 · Quarterback Princess as Ralph Maida
- 1983 · I Am The Cheese as David Farmer
- 1983 · Thursday's Child as Parker Alden
- 1982 · Hotel as
- 1981 · Return of the Rebels as Sonny Morgan
- 1981 · Endless Love as Hugh
- 1981 · Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen as Pimp
- 1980 · Fugitive Family as Peter Ritchie
- 1980 · Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop as Sergeant Jack Leland
- 1980 · The Boy Who Drank Too Much as Ken Saunders
- 1980 · If Things Were Different as Robert Langford
- 1979 · Knots Landing as Sid Fairgate
- 1979 · Crisis in Mid-Air as Adam Travis
- 1978 · Rainbow as Frank Gumm
- 1977 · How the West Was Won as Anderson
- 1975 · Deadly Hero as Edward A. Lacy
- 1975 · A Girl Named Sooner as Sheriff Phil Rotteman
- 1974 · Amy Prentiss as
- 1974 · The Sex Symbol as Sen. Grant O'Neal
- 1974 · The Girl on the Late, Late Show as William Martin
- 1973 · Police Story as
- 1973 · Cotter as Cotter
- 1972 · ABC Afterschool Special as Jack Karpinsky
- 1972 · Conquest of the Planet of the Apes as Breck
- 1972 · Justin Morgan Had a Horse as Justin Morgan
- 1971 · Happy Birthday, Wanda June as Herb Shuttle
- 1970 · The Intruders as Sam Garrison
- 1969 · Daughter of the Mind as Dr. Alex Lauder
- 1969 · Childish Things as Tom Harris
- 1968 · The Outcasts as
- 1967 · The Viking Queen as Justinian
- 1967 · The Borgia Stick as Tom Harrison
- 1967 · Sweet Love, Bitter as David Hillary
- 1966 · The Plainsman as Wild Bill Hickok
- 1966 · Kid Rodelo as Kid Rodelo
- 1965 · Baby, the Rain Must Fall as Deputy Sheriff Slim
- 1964 · One Man's Way as Norman Vincent Peale
- 1963 · Marilyn as Self ("Bus Stop") (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1962 · Escape from East Berlin as Kurt Schröder
- 1962 · The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as Self
- 1962 · Advise & Consent as Senator Brigham Anderson
- 1961 · The Mike Douglas Show as Self
- 1961 · The Hoodlum Priest as Father Charles Dismas Clark
- 1960 · One Foot in Hell as Dan Keats
- 1960 · Hedda Hopper's Hollywood as Self
- 1959 · Winterset as Mio
- 1959 · Shake Hands with the Devil as Kerry O'Shea
- 1959 · These Thousand Hills as Albert Gallatin 'Lat' Evans
- 1958 · From Hell to Texas as Tod Lohman
- 1957 · A Hatful of Rain as Johnny Pope
- 1957 · The Bachelor Party as Charlie Samson
- 1956 · Playhouse 90 as Randy Bragg
- 1956 · Bus Stop as Beauregard 'Bo' Decker
- 1955 · A Man Is Ten Feet Tall as Axel Nordman
- 1954 · The Wonderful World of Disney as Justin Morgan
- 1951 · Hallmark Hall of Fame as Mio
- 1951 · Hallmark Hall of Fame as Parker Alden
- 1950 · Lux Video Theatre as Jimmy
- 1950 · What's My Line? as Self - Mystery Guest
- 1948 · Studio One as Biondello
- 1948 · The Philco Television Playhouse as
- 1948 · The Philco Television Playhouse as Axel Nordman
- 1948 · The Ed Sullivan Show as Self
- 1947 · Kraft Television Theatre as George
- 1947 · Kraft Television Theatre as
- 1947 · Kraft Television Theatre as Booth