Don Murray
Acting
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.
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
as Breck
Age 42 (now 94)
Gold of Rio Bravo: Sheriff Kelly's Story
Riots & Revolutions: Confronting the Times
as Self
Age 79 (now 94)
Fred Zinnemann - Der Mann, der 'High Noon' machte
as Self
Age 77 (now 94)
Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years
as Self
Age 67 (now 94)
Marilyn Monroe: The Mortal Goddess
as Self
Age 65 (now 94)
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
as Self
Age 62 (now 94)
My Dad Can't Be Crazy... Can He?
as Jack Karpinsky
Age 60 (now 94)
Norma Jean Alias Marilyn Monroe
as archive footage
Age 58 (now 94)
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
as Self
Age 56 (now 94)
Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen
as Pimp
Age 51 (now 94)
Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop
as Sergeant Jack Leland
Age 50 (now 94)
The Girl on the Late, Late Show
as William Martin
Age 44 (now 94)
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
as Breck
Age 42 (now 94)
The Wonderful World of Disney
as Reporter
Age 68 (now 94)
Soldier of Fortune, Inc.
as White Dragon / John James / Col. Quentin Shepherd
Age 68 (now 94)
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries
as Jack Stanley
Age 44 (now 94)
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
as Self
Age 33 (now 94)
The Wonderful World of Disney
as Justin Morgan
Age 25 (now 94)
The Philco Television Playhouse
as Axel Nordman
Age 19 (now 94)
Gathering insights...
Also Known As
Donald Patrick Murray
IMDB
nm0614916