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: Acting

Born: Hollywood, California, USA, 1929-07-31

Died: 2024-02-02

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1955	A Man Is Ten Feet Tall	Axel Nordman	0
2	1956	Bus Stop	Beauregard 'Bo' Decker	61
3	1957	The Bachelor Party	Charlie Samson	66
4	1957	A Hatful of Rain	Johnny Pope	67
5	1958	From Hell to Texas	Tod Lohman	59
6	1959	These Thousand Hills	Albert Gallatin 'Lat' Evans	63
7	1959	Shake Hands with the Devil	Kerry O'Shea	65
8	1959	Winterset	Mio Romagna	0
9	1960	Hedda Hopper's Hollywood	Self	60
10	1960	One Foot in Hell	Dan Keats	53
11	1961	The Hoodlum Priest	Father Charles Dismas Clark	60
12	1962	Advise & Consent	Senator Brigham Anderson	72
13	1962	Escape from East Berlin	Kurt Schröder	59
14	1963	Marilyn	Self ("Bus Stop") (archive footage) (uncredited)	60
15	1964	One Man's Way	Norman Vincent Peale	40
16	1965	Baby the Rain Must Fall	Deputy Sheriff Slim	62
17	1966	Kid Rodelo	Kid Rodelo	0
18	1966	The Plainsman	Wild Bill Hickok	48
19	1967	Sweet Love, Bitter	David Hillary	55
20	1967	The Borgia Stick	Tom Harrison	78
21	1967	The Viking Queen	Justinian	49
22	1969	Childish Things	Tom Harris	10
23	1969	Daughter of the Mind	Dr. Alex Lauder	64
24	1970	The Intruders	Sam Garrison	45
25	1971	Happy Birthday, Wanda June	Herb Shuttle	55
26	1972	Justin Morgan Had a Horse	Justin Morgan	78
27	1972	Conquest of the Planet of the Apes	Breck	62
28	1973	Cotter	Cotter	10
29	1974	The Girl on the Late, Late Show	William Martin	55
30	1974	The Sex Symbol	Sen. Grant O'Neal	30
31	1975	A Girl Named Sooner	Sheriff Phil Rotteman	54
32	1975	Deadly Hero	Edward A. Lacy	57
33	1978	Rainbow	Frank Gumm	0
34	1979	Crisis in Mid-Air	Adam Travis	60
35	1980	If Things Were Different	Robert Langford	0
36	1980	The Boy Who Drank Too Much	Ken Saunders	20
37	1980	Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop	Sergeant Jack Leland	10
38	1980	Fugitive Family	Peter Ritchie	0
39	1981	Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen	Pimp	50
40	1981	Endless Love	Hugh	57
41	1981	Return of the Rebels	Sonny Morgan	55
42	1983	Thursday's Child	Parker Alden	10
43	1983	I Am The Cheese	David Farmer	70
44	1983	Quarterback Princess	Ralph Maida	69
45	1984	A Touch of Scandal	Benjamin Gilvey	0
46	1986	Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend	Self	75
47	1986	T.J. Hooker - Blood Sport	Senator Stuart Grayle	0
48	1986	Radioactive Dreams	Dash Hammer	52
49	1986	Peggy Sue Got Married	Jack Kelcher	61
50	1986	Something in Common	Theo Fontana	60
51	1986	Scorpion	Gifford Lease	43
52	1986	License to Kill	Tom Fiske	57
53	1987	Hollywood's Hidden Secrets	Self	0
54	1987	Stillwatch	Sam Kingsley	65
55	1987	The Stepford Children	Steven Harding	47
56	1987	Mistress	Wyn	35
57	1987	Made in Heaven	Ben Chandler	66
58	1987	Hollywood Uncensored	Self	55
59	1989	My Dad Can't Be Crazy... Can He?	Jack Karpinsky	0
60	1989	Ghosts Can't Do It	Winston	27
61	1991	Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker	Self	77
62	1993	Montana Crossroads	Frank Morrow	0
63	1994	Shurtleff on Acting	Self	0
64	1994	Marilyn Monroe: The Mortal Goddess	Self	68
65	1996	Hearts Adrift	Lloyd Raines	60
66	1996	Marilyn, divine et fragile	Self	0
67	1997	Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years	Self	72
68	1998	Mr. Headmistress	Reporter	27
69	1998	Internet Love	Self	100
70	1999	Alan Ladd: The True Quiet Man	Self	70
71	2000	Besuch bei Don Murray	Self	0
72	2001	Island Prey	Parker Gaits	55
73	2004	Hollywood Legenden	Self	20
74	2007	Fred Zinnemann - Der Mann, der 'High Noon' machte	Self	0
75	2008	Riots & Revolutions: Confronting the Times	Self	0
76	2010	Marilyn Monroe: Death of an Icon	Self	0
77	2010	Marilyn Monroe: I Want to Be Loved	Self	0
78	2015	Tab Hunter Confidential	Self	74
79	2017	Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers	Self	50
80	2021	Promise	Zacharias	15
81	2025	Gold of Rio Bravo: Sheriff Kelly's Story		0

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1944	Golden Globe Awards	Self - Presenter	72
2	1947	Kraft Television Theatre		75
3	1947	Kraft Television Theatre	Booth	75
4	1947	Kraft Television Theatre	George	75
5	1948	The Ed Sullivan Show	Self	68
6	1948	The Philco Television Playhouse		63
7	1948	The Philco Television Playhouse	Axel Nordman	63
8	1948	Studio One	Biondello	50
9	1950	What's My Line?	Self - Mystery Guest	69
10	1950	Danger		80
11	1950	Lux Video Theatre	Jimmy	63
12	1951	Hallmark Hall of Fame	Mio	86
13	1951	Hallmark Hall of Fame	Parker Alden	86
14	1954	Producers' Showcase	Henry Antrobus	65
15	1954	The Wonderful World of Disney	Justin Morgan	78
16	1956	Playhouse 90	Randy Bragg	76
17	1961	The Mike Douglas Show	Self	54
18	1962	The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson	Self	75
19	1968	The Outcasts	Earl Corey	53
20	1972	ABC Afterschool Special	Jack Karpinsky	64
21	1973	Police Story	Jack Bonner	69
22	1973	Orson Welles' Great Mysteries	Jack Stanley	67
23	1974	Amy Prentiss	Connors	50
24	1977	How the West Was Won	Anderson	69
25	1979	Knots Landing	Sid Fairgate	69
26	1982	Hotel	Sam Burton	68
27	1984	Murder, She Wrote	Wally Hampton	75
28	1986	Matlock	Albert Gordon	71
29	1989	Brand New Life		50
30	1990	Twin Peaks	Bushnell Mullins	83
31	1990	Wings	Dad	69
32	1991	Sons and Daughters	Bing Hammersmith	0
33	1995	The Single Guy	Chip Bremley	63
34	1997	Soldier of Fortune, Inc.	White Dragon / John James / Col. Quentin Shepherd	61
35	1997	The Wonderful World of Disney	Reporter	67

Don Murray

Film

Television