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Don Murray
Born · July 31, 1929
Died · February 2, 2024 (94 years old)
Known For: Acting
Place of Birth: Hollywood, California, USA
Bio
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.
Gold of Rio Bravo: Sheriff Kelly's Story
0.0
2025
Promise
Zacharias
1.5
2021
Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers
Self
5.0
2017
Tab Hunter Confidential
Self
7.4
2015
Marilyn Monroe: Death of an Icon
Self
0.0
2010
Marilyn Monroe: I Want to Be Loved
Self
0.0
2010
Riots & Revolutions: Confronting the Times
Self
0.0
2008
Fred Zinnemann - Der Mann, der 'High Noon' machte
Self
0.0
2007
Hollywood Legenden
Self
2.0
2004
Island Prey
Parker Gaits
5.5
2001
Besuch bei Don Murray
Self
0.0
2000
Alan Ladd: The True Quiet Man
Self
7.0
1999
Internet Love
Self
10.0
1998
Mr. Headmistress
Reporter
2.7
1998
The Wonderful World of Disney
Reporter · (1 episode)
6.8
1997
Soldier of Fortune, Inc.
White Dragon / John James / Col. Quentin Shepherd · (1 episode)
6.0
1997
Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years
Self
7.2
1997
Marilyn, divine et fragile
Self
0.0
1996
Hearts Adrift
Lloyd Raines
6.0
1996
The Single Guy
Chip Bremley · (1 episode)
6.3
1995
Marilyn Monroe: The Mortal Goddess
Self
6.8
1994
Shurtleff on Acting
Self
0.0
1994
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
Self
7.7
1991
Sons and Daughters
Bing Hammersmith · (13 episodes)
0.0
1991
Wings
Dad · (1 episode)
6.9
1990
Twin Peaks
Bushnell Mullins · (8 episodes)
8.3
1990
Ghosts Can't Do It
Winston
2.7
1989
Brand New Life
(6 episodes)
5.0
1989
My Dad Can't Be Crazy... Can He?
Jack Karpinsky
0.0
1989
Hollywood Uncensored
Self
5.5
1987
Made in Heaven
Ben Chandler
6.6
1987
Mistress
Wyn
3.5
1987
The Stepford Children
Steven Harding
5.0
1987
Stillwatch
Sam Kingsley
6.5
1987
Hollywood's Hidden Secrets
Self
0.0
1987
License to Kill
Tom Fiske
5.8
1986
Scorpion
Gifford Lease
4.3
1986
Something in Common
Theo Fontana
6.0
1986
Peggy Sue Got Married
Jack Kelcher
6.1
1986
Radioactive Dreams
Dash Hammer
5.2
1986
T.J. Hooker - Blood Sport
Senator Stuart Grayle
0.0
1986
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
Self
7.5
1986
Matlock
Albert Gordon · (2 episodes)
7.1
1986
A Touch of Scandal
Benjamin Gilvey
0.0
1984
Murder, She Wrote
Wally Hampton · (1 episode)
7.5
1984
Quarterback Princess
Ralph Maida
6.9
1983
I Am The Cheese
David Farmer
7.0
1983
Thursday's Child
Parker Alden
0.0
1983
Hotel
Sam Burton · (1 episode)
6.8
1982
Return of the Rebels
Sonny Morgan
6.6
1981
Endless Love
Hugh
5.7
1981
Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen
Pimp
5.3
1981
Fugitive Family
Peter Ritchie
0.0
1980
Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop
Sergeant Jack Leland
1.0
1980
The Boy Who Drank Too Much
Ken Saunders
2.0
1980
If Things Were Different
Robert Langford
0.0
1980
Knots Landing
Sid Fairgate · (33 episodes)
6.7
1979
Crisis in Mid-Air
Adam Travis
6.0
1979
Rainbow
Frank Gumm
0.0
1978
How the West Was Won
Anderson · (3 episodes)
6.9
1977
Deadly Hero
Edward A. Lacy
5.7
1975
A Girl Named Sooner
Sheriff Phil Rotteman
4.2
1975
Amy Prentiss
Connors · (1 episode)
5.0
1974
The Sex Symbol
Sen. Grant O'Neal
3.0
1974
The Girl on the Late, Late Show
William Martin
5.5
1974
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries
Jack Stanley · (1 episode)
6.7
1973
Police Story
Jack Bonner · (3 episodes)
6.9
1973
Cotter
Cotter
0.0
1973
ABC Afterschool Special
Jack Karpinsky · (1 episode)
6.4
1972
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
Breck
6.2
1972
Justin Morgan Had a Horse
Justin Morgan
7.8
1972
Happy Birthday, Wanda June
Herb Shuttle
5.5
1971
The Intruders
Sam Garrison
5.7
1970
Daughter of the Mind
Dr. Alex Lauder
6.4
1969
Childish Things
Tom Harris
1.0
1969
The Outcasts
Earl Corey · (26 episodes)
5.3
1968
The Viking Queen
Justinian
4.9
1967
The Borgia Stick
Tom Harrison
7.8
1967
Sweet Love, Bitter
David Hillary
5.5
1967
The Plainsman
Wild Bill Hickok
4.8
1966
Kid Rodelo
Kid Rodelo
0.0
1966
Baby, the Rain Must Fall
Deputy Sheriff Slim
6.2
1965
One Man's Way
Norman Vincent Peale
4.0
1964
Marilyn
Self ("Bus Stop") (archive footage) (uncredited)
6.0
1963
Escape from East Berlin
Kurt Schröder
5.9
1962
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self · (3 episodes)
7.4
1962
Advise & Consent
Senator Brigham Anderson
7.2
1962
The Mike Douglas Show
Self · (6 episodes)
5.1
1961
The Hoodlum Priest
Father Charles Dismas Clark
6.0
1961
One Foot in Hell
Dan Keats
5.3
1960
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood
Self
6.0
1960
Winterset
Mio Romagna
0.0
1959
Shake Hands with the Devil
Kerry O'Shea
6.5
1959
These Thousand Hills
Albert Gallatin 'Lat' Evans
6.3
1959
From Hell to Texas
Tod Lohman
5.9
1958
A Hatful of Rain
Johnny Pope
6.7
1957
The Bachelor Party
Charlie Samson
6.6
1957
Playhouse 90
Randy Bragg · (1 episode)
7.5
1956
Bus Stop
Beauregard 'Bo' Decker
6.1
1956
A Man Is Ten Feet Tall
Axel Nordman
0.0
1955
The Wonderful World of Disney
Justin Morgan · (1 episode)
7.8
1954
Producers' Showcase
Henry Antrobus · (1 episode)
6.3
1954
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Mio · (1 episode)
8.7
1951
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Parker Alden · (1 episode)
8.7
1951
Lux Video Theatre
Jimmy · (1 episode)
6.0
1950
Danger
(1 episode)
8.0
1950
What's My Line?
Self - Mystery Guest · (1 episode)
6.8
1950
Studio One
Biondello · (1 episode)
4.7
1948
The Philco Television Playhouse
(1 episode)
6.0
1948
The Philco Television Playhouse
Axel Nordman · (1 episode)
6.0
1948
The Ed Sullivan Show
Self · (1 episode)
6.6
1948
Kraft Television Theatre
George · (1 episode)
7.3
1947
Kraft Television Theatre
Booth · (1 episode)
7.3
1947
Kraft Television Theatre
(1 episode)
7.3
1947
Golden Globe Awards
Self - Presenter · (1 episode)
6.8
1944