Michael Murphy | |
---|---|
![]() Murphy at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival | |
Born | Michael George Murphy May 5, 1938 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1963–present |
Spouse | |
Children | 2 |
Michael George Murphy (born May 5, 1938) is an American film, television and stage actor. He often plays unethical or morally ambiguous characters in positions of authority, including politicians, executives, administrators, clerics, doctors, law enforcement agents, and lawyers. [1] He is also known for his frequent collaborations with director Robert Altman, having appeared in twelve films, TV series and miniseries directed by Altman from 1963 to 2004, including the title role in the miniseries Tanner '88 . [2] He had roles in the films Manhattan , An Unmarried Woman , Nashville , The Year of Living Dangerously , Phase IV , The Front , Shocker , Magnolia , Cloak & Dagger , Salvador , Away from Her , Strange Behavior , Fall , X-Men: The Last Stand , M*A*S*H and Batman Returns , among others.
Murphy was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Georgia Arlyn (née Money), a teacher, and Bearl Branton Murphy, a salesman. [3] After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps near the end of the Korean War, [4] Murphy attended the University of Arizona and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). [2] [5]
He taught English and drama at University High School (Los Angeles) before pursuing an acting career. [2] [6] [7]
Murphy is best known for his performances as Jill Clayburgh's adulterous husband Martin in Paul Mazursky's An Unmarried Woman (1978), as Woody Allen's morally ambiguous best friend Yale in Manhattan (1979), as ethically enigmatic lawyer Alan Kligman in Magnolia (1999), and as the star of Garry Trudeau and Robert Altman's HBO miniseries Tanner '88 .
Murphy worked frequently with Altman, including as Captain Ezekiel Bradbury "Me Lay" Marston V, in M*A*S*H (1970), as Det. Lt. Frank Shaft in Brewster McCloud (1970), as John Triplette in Nashville (1975), and as the title character in Tanner '88 (a role he reprised in the 2004 follow-up miniseries Tanner on Tanner ). Other Altman films and television series in which Murphy appeared include the World War II TV series Combat! (in which Murphy appeared in 1963, on the show's second of its five seasons), Countdown (1968), That Cold Day in the Park (1969), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (1988) and Kansas City (1996).
Other notable film roles include What's Up, Doc? (1972), The Front (1976), The Class of Miss MacMichael (1978), The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), My Letter to George (1986), Salvador (1986), Private Parts (1997), Silver City (2004), According to Greta (2009), White House Down (2013), They Came Together (2014). His television roles include guest appearances on Bonanza , Baretta , The Sixth Sense , Law & Order , Law & Order: Criminal Intent , Judging Amy , The Man from U.N.C.L.E. , Family Law , 12 O'Clock High , Life Stories , Salty, Here Comes the Brides and L.A. Law .
Though usually cast in supporting roles and character actor parts, Murphy has not been relegated solely to such work. He has also had leading turns in a variety of theatrical films including Phase IV (1974), Strange Behavior (1981), Hot Money (1983), Shocker (1989), The Island (1998) and the 2014 film Fall --in an acclaimed performance that garnered him a 2015 Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Actor--as well as starring turns in television films like Bell, Book and Candle (1976), 3 by Cheever: O Youth and Beauty! (1979), Countdown to Looking Glass (1984), Tailspin: Behind the Korean Airliner Tragedy (1989), The Ultimate Lie (1996), Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story (1996) and In the Dark (2003), in addition to others.
Murphy has narrated numerous documentaries, including many episodes of the PBS historical documentary series The American Experience , and the public television travel series Weekends with Yankee . He has appeared in Canadian film and television, including the dramady series This Is Wonderland , for which he was nominated for three Gemini Awards, winning twice, successively, in 2004 and 2005, and nominated for a third in 2006. [1] [2] He has also appeared in the television films Sleeping Dogs Lie (1998), The Life and Crimes of William Palmer (1998), H2O (2004), and theatrically-released features including Folks! (1992), Childstar (2004), Away from Her (2006) and The Trotsky (2008).
Murphy was married to Canadian actress Wendy Crewson from 1988 until their divorce in January 2009. They have two children, Maggie (b. 1989) and John (b. 1992).[ citation needed ]
Murphy currently resides in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. [8]
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era known directing subversive and satirical films with overlapping dialogue and ensemble casts. Over his career he received several awards including an Academy Honorary Award, two British Academy Film Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for seven competitive Academy Awards.
Nashville is a 1975 American satirical musical comedy-drama film directed and produced by Robert Altman. The film follows various people involved in the country and gospel music industry in Nashville, Tennessee, over the five-day period leading up to a gala concert for a populist outsider running for president on the Replacement Party ticket.
Gloria Rose "Barbara" Turner was an American screenwriter and actress. The actress Jennifer Jason Leigh is her daughter.
Nicholas John Tate is an Australian actor. He is best known for his roles as pilot Alan Carter in the 1970s science fiction series Space: 1999 and James Hamilton in the 1980s soap opera Sons and Daughters.
George Stevens Hamilton is an American actor. For his debut performance in Crime and Punishment U.S.A. (1959), Hamilton won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for a BAFTA Award. He has received one additional BAFTA nomination and two Golden Globe nominations.
Solomon Hersh Frees, better known as Paul Frees, was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass and Walt Disney theatrical cartoons during the Golden Age of Animation, and for providing the voice of Boris Badenov in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. Frees was known as "The Man of a Thousand Voices", though the appellation was more commonly bestowed on Mel Blanc.
Peter Coyote is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author, and narrator of films, theater, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films, such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Cross Creek (1983), Jagged Edge (1985), Bitter Moon (1992), Kika (1993), Patch Adams (1998), Erin Brockovich (2000), A Walk to Remember (2002), and Femme Fatale (2002).
Blair Erwin Underwood is an American actor. He made his debut in the 1985 musical film Krush Groove and from 1987 to 1994 starred as attorney Jonathan Rollins in the NBC legal drama series L.A. Law.
Keith Ian Carradine is an American actor. In film he is known for his roles as Tom Frank in Robert Altman's Nashville, E. J. Bellocq in Louis Malle's Pretty Baby, and Mickey in Alan Rudolph's Choose Me. On television he is known for his roles as Wild Bill Hickok on the HBO series Deadwood, FBI agent Frank Lundy on the Showtime series Dexter, Lou Solverson in the first season of FX's Fargo, Penny's father Wyatt on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, and U.S. President Conrad Dalton on the CBS political drama Madam Secretary.
E. G. Marshall was an American actor. One of the first group selected for the new Actors Studio, by 1948 Marshall had performed in major plays on Broadway.
Shelley Alexis Duvall was an American actress and producer. Known for her collaborations with Robert Altman and for playing eccentric characters, she won a Cannes Film Festival Award and was nominated for a British Academy Film Award and two Emmy Awards. Four of her films are preserved in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
Tanner '88 is a political mockumentary miniseries written by Garry Trudeau and directed by Robert Altman. First broadcast by HBO during the months leading up to the 1988 U.S. presidential election, it purports to tell the behind-the-scenes story of the campaign of fictitious former Michigan U.S. Representative Jack Tanner, played by Michael Murphy, during his bid to secure the Democratic Party's nomination for president of the United States.
Tanner on Tanner is a 2004 4-part comedy miniseries. It is the sequel to the 1988 Robert Altman-directed and Garry Trudeau-written miniseries about a failed presidential candidate, Tanner '88. The sequel focuses mostly on Alex Tanner, a struggling filmmaker and the daughter of onetime presidential candidate Jack Tanner.
Connie Britton is an American actress. Britton made her feature film debut in the independent comedy-drama film The Brothers McMullen (1995), and the following year, she was cast as Nikki Faber on the ABC sitcom Spin City. She later starred in the short-lived sitcoms The Fighting Fitzgeralds (2001) and Lost at Home (2003), and appeared in several films, most notably the sports drama film Friday Night Lights (2004) and the thriller film The Last Winter (2006).
Robert DoQui was an American actor who starred in film and on television. He is best known for his roles as King George in the 1973 film Coffy, starring Pam Grier; as Wade in Robert Altman's 1975 film Nashville; and as Sgt. Warren Reed in the 1987 science fiction film RoboCop, the 1990 sequel RoboCop 2, and the 1993 sequel RoboCop 3. He is also known for his voice as Pablo Robertson on the cartoon series Harlem Globetrotters from 1970 to 1973.
Thomas Ernest Aldredge was an American television, film and stage actor.
Colin Friels is a Scottish-born Australian actor of theatre, TV, film and presenter.
Bharat Nalluri is a British–Indian film and television director.
Robert Reed Altman is an American cinematographer. He has served as a camera operator and director of photography on feature films and television series since the 1970s. He is the son of filmmaker Robert Altman and Kathryn Reed.
Riccardo Cucciolla was an Italian actor and voice actor. He appeared in 60 films between 1953 and 1999. He won the Best Actor Award at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival for the film Sacco & Vanzetti.