About
Billy Murray is an American actor and comedian best known as an early cast member of the American comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live and a movie star who has appeared in dozens of films spanning over three decades. In recent years, Murray has focused on portraying more subdued characters in independent films, including several titles directed by Wes Anderson.
Acting Career
Murray began his acting career in the mid-70s with a few small roles in TV movies and short films. His career took off when he joined the cast of sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live in 1977, where he stayed until 1980.[1] Beginning during his tenure at Saturday Night Live and continuing through the ‘90s Murray starred and co-stars in many popular comedy films such as Caddyshack (1980), Ghostbusters(1984), and Groundhog Day(1993). He acted in Wes Anderson’s comedy Rushmore (1998), and since has appeared in all seven of Anderson’s subsequent full length films. Murray has been nominated for one Oscar in 2003 for his leading role in Lost in Translation.[2] He won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical for the role, and he has been nominated for three other Golden Globes.
Online History
On November 6th, 2006, Urban Dictionary[3] user Earl @F365 submitted an entry for “Bill Murray” defined as,
“The constant repetition of a said subject on an internet forum. Derived from the film Groundhog Day in which the day is repeated again, again and again.”
His name in verb form has a different definition, as Urban Dictionary[4] user Lorrie the Freak defined the term “Bill Murrayed” on November 9th, 2009 as,
“To be mistaken as an actual threat while in costume and being erroneously killed. As in the movie Zombieland.”
On December 27th, 2008, a Facebook fan page[5] for Murray was launched. As of January 2014 the page has over 790,000 likes. Popular Tumblr blogs dedicated to the actor include fuckyeahbillmurray,[6] billmurraydoeswhathewants,[7] and billmurray.[8]
Reputation
Fan Interaction
The website billmurraystory.com[16] posted its first entry on May 6th, 2010. The site collects and posts stories from fans about their strange and amazing interactions with Murray.
On January 6th, 2011, humor site Funnyordie.com[10] posted a gallery titled, “The 8 Best Instances of Bill Murray Being Awesome with his Fans,” featuring a collection of photographs originally collected on TheChive.com[11] featuring Murray crashing a karaoke party. Funnyordie followed up with a second gallery posted on October 16th, 2012 titled, “12 More Instances of Bill Murray Being Awesome with Fans”, featuring multiple instances of Murray surprising fans.
Reddit AMA
On January 17th, 2014, Murray hosted an Ask Me Anything event on Reddit[9] to promote his movie, Monument Men, scheduled to be released on February 9th. He covered many topics including his career, his travels, and his family. In addition to answering questions, he wished a Reddit user a happy birthday through (textual) song.
When asked about the legend that he picked a fry off someone’s plate at a fast food place and whispered, “No one will believe you,” he remained vague sayings,
“Well I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Murray also tackled more serious topics. When asked about the deaf/mute assistant he had employed in the past he explained,
“We were both optimistic, but it was harder than either of us expected to make it work.
The AMA was examined and covered many many websites such as Vulture,[13] Sidespliter,[14] and The Huffington Post.[15]
Related Memes
So I Got That Goin’ For Me, Which is Nice
So I Got That Goin’ For Me, Which is Nice is an advice animal image macro series featuring a screen capture of the character Carl Spackler (played by Bill Murray) from the 1980 comedy film Caddyshack. The captions usually begin with a sentence revealing a personal problem or ordeal, followed by a notion of a silver lining and the original quote from Caddyshack in verbatim.
Personal Life
Murray was born on September 21st, 1950, in Wilmette, Illinois. He attended Regis College but never graduated. He’s been married and divorced twice, and has six children.
External References
[1]IMDB– Bill Murray
[3]Urban Dictionary – Bill Murray
[4]Urban Dictionary – Bill Murrayed
[5]Facebook – Bill Murray
[6]Tumblr – Fuck Yeah Bill Murray
[7]Tumblr – Bill Murray Does What He Wants
[8]Tumblr – Bill Murray
[9]Reddit – Bill Murray
[10]Funny or Die – The 8 Best Instances of Bill Murray Being Awesome with his Fans
[11]The Chive – What if Bill Murray Just Showed Up in Your Karaoke Room?
[12]Funny or Die – 12 More Instances of Bill Murray Being Awesome with Fans
[13]Vulture – The Best Parts of Bill Murray’s Surprise Reddit AMA
[14]Splitsider – The Best of Bill Murray’s Surprise Reddit AMA from Friday
[15]The Huffington Post – The Best Of Bill Murray’s Surprise Reddit AMA, A.K.A. The Internet’s Dream Come True
[16]Bill Murray Story – Bill Murray Story