Donald Patrick "Don" Murray (July 31, 1929-February 2, 2024) was an American actor.
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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0614916
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q945579
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Filmography (Movies)
Gold of Rio Bravo: Sheriff Kelly's Story
Character:
Release Date:16/01/2025
Promise
Character:Zacharias
Release Date:06/04/2021
Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers
Character:Self
Release Date:05/12/2017
Tab Hunter Confidential
Character:Self
Release Date:15/03/2015
Marilyn Monroe: I Want to Be Loved
Character:Self
Release Date:10/02/2010
Riots & Revolutions: Confronting the Times
Character:Self
Release Date:04/11/2008
Fred Zinnemann - Der Mann, der 'High Noon' machte
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/2007
Hollywood Legenden
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/2004
Island Prey
Character:Parker Gaits
Release Date:01/01/2001
Besuch bei Don Murray
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/2000
Alan Ladd: The True Quiet Man
Character:Self
Release Date:04/03/1999
Internet Love
Character:Self
Release Date:03/07/1998
Mr. Headmistress
Character:Reporter
Release Date:15/03/1998
Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years
Character:Self
Release Date:21/01/1997
Marilyn, divine et fragile
Character:Self
Release Date:31/12/1996
Hearts Adrift
Character:Lloyd Raines
Release Date:07/08/1996
Marilyn Monroe: The Mortal Goddess
Character:Self
Release Date:17/10/1994
Shurtleff on Acting
Character:Self
Release Date:14/07/1994
Montana Crossroads
Character:Frank Morrow
Release Date:09/12/1993
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
Character:Self
Release Date:28/10/1991
Ghosts Can't Do It
Character:Winston
Release Date:17/10/1989
My Dad Can't Be Crazy... Can He?
Character:Jack Karpinsky
Release Date:14/09/1989
Hollywood Uncensored
Character:Self
Release Date:01/12/1987
Made in Heaven
Character:Ben Chandler
Release Date:06/11/1987
Mistress
Character:Wyn
Release Date:04/10/1987
The Stepford Children
Character:Steven Harding
Release Date:15/03/1987
Stillwatch
Character:Sam Kingsley
Release Date:10/02/1987
Hollywood's Hidden Secrets
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1987
License to Kill
Character:Tom Fiske
Release Date:16/12/1986
Scorpion
Character:Gifford Lease
Release Date:01/12/1986
Something in Common
Character:Theo Fontana
Release Date:02/11/1986
Peggy Sue Got Married
Character:Jack Kelcher
Release Date:10/10/1986
Radioactive Dreams
Character:Dash Hammer
Release Date:19/09/1986
T.J. Hooker: Blood Sport
Character:Senator Stuart Grayle
Release Date:21/05/1986
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
Character:Self
Release Date:19/04/1986
A Touch of Scandal
Character:Benjamin Gilvey
Release Date:27/11/1984
Quarterback Princess
Character:Ralph Maida
Release Date:03/12/1983
I Am The Cheese
Character:David Farmer
Release Date:11/11/1983
Thursday's Child
Character:Parker Alden
Release Date:01/02/1983
Return of the Rebels
Character:Sonny Morgan
Release Date:17/10/1981
Endless Love
Character:Hugh
Release Date:17/07/1981
Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen
Character:Pimp
Release Date:13/02/1981
Fugitive Family
Character:Peter Ritchie
Release Date:01/10/1980
Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop
Character:Sergeant Jack Leland
Release Date:28/04/1980
The Boy Who Drank Too Much
Character:Ken Saunders
Release Date:06/02/1980
If Things Were Different
Character:Robert Langford
Release Date:16/01/1980
Crisis in Mid-Air
Character:Adam Travis
Release Date:13/02/1979
Rainbow
Character:Frank Gumm
Release Date:06/11/1978
Deadly Hero
Character:Edward A. Lacy
Release Date:14/12/1975
A Girl Named Sooner
Character:Sheriff Phil Rotteman
Release Date:18/06/1975
The Sex Symbol
Character:Sen. Grant O'Neal
Release Date:17/09/1974
The Girl on the Late, Late Show
Character:William Martin
Release Date:01/04/1974
Cotter
Character:Cotter
Release Date:01/01/1973
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
Character:Breck
Release Date:29/06/1972
Justin Morgan Had a Horse
Character:Justin Morgan
Release Date:06/02/1972
Happy Birthday, Wanda June
Character:Herb Shuttle
Release Date:09/12/1971
The Intruders
Character:Sam Garrison
Release Date:10/11/1970
Daughter of the Mind
Character:Dr. Alex Lauder
Release Date:09/12/1969
Childish Things
Character:Tom Harris
Release Date:01/07/1969
The Viking Queen
Character:Justinian
Release Date:25/03/1967
The Borgia Stick
Character:Tom Harrison
Release Date:25/02/1967
Sweet Love, Bitter
Character:David Hillary
Release Date:30/01/1967
The Plainsman
Character:Wild Bill Hickok
Release Date:01/08/1966
Kid Rodelo
Character:Kid Rodelo
Release Date:01/01/1966
Baby the Rain Must Fall
Character:Deputy Sheriff Slim
Release Date:12/01/1965
One Man's Way
Character:Norman Vincent Peale
Release Date:26/02/1964
Marilyn
Character:Self ("Bus Stop") (archive footage) (uncredited)
Release Date:18/04/1963
Escape from East Berlin
Character:Kurt Schröder
Release Date:22/10/1962
Advise & Consent
Character:Senator Brigham Anderson
Release Date:06/06/1962
The Hoodlum Priest
Character:Father Charles Dismas Clark
Release Date:26/03/1961
One Foot in Hell
Character:Dan Keats
Release Date:11/09/1960
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood
Character:Self
Release Date:10/01/1960
Winterset
Character:Mio Romagna
Release Date:26/10/1959
Shake Hands with the Devil
Character:Kerry O'Shea
Release Date:24/06/1959
These Thousand Hills
Character:Albert Gallatin 'Lat' Evans
Release Date:07/05/1959
From Hell to Texas
Character:Tod Lohman
Release Date:29/04/1958
A Hatful of Rain
Character:Johnny Pope
Release Date:17/07/1957
The Bachelor Party
Character:Charlie Samson
Release Date:09/04/1957
Bus Stop
Character:Beauregard 'Bo' Decker
Release Date:31/08/1956
A Man Is Ten Feet Tall
Character:Axel Nordman
Release Date:02/10/1955
The Taming of the Shrew
Character:Biondello
Release Date:05/06/1950
Television Appearances
Twin Peaks: The Return
Character:Bushnell Mullins
The Wonderful World of Disney
Character:Reporter
Soldier of Fortune, Inc.
Character:White Dragon / John James / Col. Quentin Shepherd
The Single Guy
Character:Chip Bremley
Sons and Daughters
Character:Bing Hammersmith
Wings
Character:Dad
Twin Peaks
Character:Bushnell Mullins
Brand New Life
Character:
Matlock
Character:Albert Gordon
Murder, She Wrote
Character:Wally Hampton
Hotel
Character:Sam Burton
Knots Landing
Character:Sid Fairgate
How the West Was Won
Character:Anderson
Amy Prentiss
Character:Connors
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries
Character:Jack Stanley
Police Story
Character:Jack Bonner
ABC Afterschool Special
Character:Jack Karpinsky
The Outcasts
Character:Earl Corey
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Character:Self
The Mike Douglas Show
Character:Self
Playhouse 90
Character:Randy Bragg
The Wonderful World of Disney
Character:Justin Morgan
Producers' Showcase
Character:Henry Antrobus
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Character:Mio
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Character:Parker Alden
Lux Video Theatre
Character:Jimmy
Danger
Character:
What's My Line?
Character:Self
Studio One
Character:Biondello
The Philco Television Playhouse
Character:
The Philco Television Playhouse
Character:Axel Nordman
The Ed Sullivan Show
Character:Self
Kraft Television Theatre
Character:George
Kraft Television Theatre
Character:Booth
Kraft Television Theatre
Character:
Golden Globe Awards
Character:Self - Presenter
Images
