 |
Ben Murphy | |
|---|---|
 Murphy in Alias Smith and Jones. | |
| Born | Benjamin Edward Castleberry Jr. March 6, 1942 Jonesboro, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1967–2010 |
| Spouse | Jeanne Davis (1978–81) |
Benjamin Edward Murphy (born Benjamin Edward Castleberry Jr.; March 6, 1942 [1] ) is an American actor. [2] He is best known for his role as Kid Curry in the ABC television series Alias Smith and Jones .
Murphy was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas to Nadine ( née Steele) and Benjamin E. Castleberry. When his mother remarried in 1956, Ben was adopted by his stepfather, Patrick Henry Murphy[ citation needed ] and raised Catholic in the Chicago suburb of Clarendon Hills, Illinois. [1] An alumnus of St. Procopius Academy in Lisle, Illinois, predecessor to today's Benet Academy, [3] he attended eight colleges before deciding to pursue an acting career. [1]
Murphy has a son, Joshua Spriestersbach, from his relationship with Suzanne Bardin. [4]
Murphy appeared in a supporting role in The Name of the Game , a series featuring a rotating leading cast including Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry, and Robert Stack. Murphy played a semi regular role as 'Joseph Sample' assistant to Robert Stack's leading character 'Dan Farrell' in Stack's segments of the show. From 1971–73, he starred in Alias Smith and Jones with Pete Duel (1971–72) and Roger Davis (1972–73). After Alias Smith and Jones, Murphy joined Lorne Greene in the 1973 ABC crime drama Griff .
In the 1983–84 season, Murphy co-starred with Marshall Colt in the ABC drama series Lottery! . Murphy played Patrick Sean Flaherty, the man who informed lottery winners of their stroke of fortune, and Colt, formerly with James Arness on NBC's short-lived crime drama, McClain's Law , portrayed the Internal Revenue Service agent, Eric Rush, who made sure the winners pay the U.S. government up front. In 1985, Murphy co-starred as department store heir, Paul Berrenger, on the short-lived drama, Berrenger's . His character was at odds with his former wife, Gloria (Andrea Marcovicci) and his own father, Simon (Sam Wanamaker) due to his romance with executive, Shane Bradley (Yvette Mimieux). Murphy starred in his own series Gemini Man , in which he played a secret agent who could become invisible for 15 minutes a day through the use of a special wristwatch. The show did not run beyond a single season. Murphy has since appeared in guest-starring parts, including a murder suspect in CBS's Cold Case .
Since the 1980s, when Murphy became a highly ranked tournament tennis player in California, he has continued to travel and compete on the USTA singles and doubles circuit and in celebrity events. [5]
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | The Graduate | Shaving Student | Uncredited |
| 1968 | The Virginian | Mike Bradbury | 2 episodes |
| It Takes a Thief | King Pineau | Episode: "A Matter of Royal Larceny" | |
| Yours, Mine, and Ours | Larry | ||
| The Outsider | Patrick Forrester | Episode: "Tell It Like It Is... and You're Dead" | |
| 1968–71 | The Name of the Game | Joseph Sample | 6 episodes |
| 1969 | The Thousand Plane Raid | Lt. Archer | |
| Anatomy of a Crime | Patrick Forrester | TV film | |
| 1970 | Medical Center | Jerry Lambert | Episode: "His Brother's Keeper" |
| The Mod Squad | Bob | Episode: "A Far Away Place So Near" | |
| 1971–73 | Alias Smith and Jones | Jed 'Kid' Curry (Thaddeus Jones) | 50 episodes |
| 1973 | The Letters | Joe Randolph | TV film |
| Runaway! | Les Reever | TV film | |
| Love, American Style | Bart | Segment: "Love and the Postal Meeter" | |
| 1973–74 | Griff | Mike Murdoch | |
| 1974 | Heatwave! | Frank Taylor | |
| This Is the West That Was | Wild Bill Hickok | ||
| 1975 | Sidecar Racers | Jeff Rayburn | |
| Marcus Welby, M.D. | Alan Peterson (1 | Episode: "Four Plus Hot" | |
| 1976 | Code Name-Minus One | Sam Casey | TV film |
| Gemini Man | Sam Casey | 11 episodes | |
| Bridger | Kit Carson | ||
| 1979 | $weepstake$ | Episode: "Cowboy, Linda and Angie, Mark" | |
| 1979, 1983 | Fantasy Island | Billy Blake | 2 episodes - 1979 and 1983 |
| 1979–80 | The Chisholms | Will Chisholm | |
| 1979–84 | The Love Boat | Gregory King/Paul in S2 E18 | 5 episodes |
| 1980 | Secret War of Jackie's Girls | Buck | TV film |
| 1981 | Riding with Death | Sam Casey | TV film |
| 1982 | Trapper John, M.D. | Ned Travers | Episode: "Medicine Man" |
| Time Walker | Prof. Douglas McCadden | ||
| 1983 | Uncommon Valor | Jim Merritt | TV film |
| The Winds of War | Warren Henry | 7 episodes | |
| Matt Houston | Terry Noble | Episode: "The Beverly Hills Social Club" | |
| The Cradle Will Fall | Dr. Richard Carroll | ||
| 1983–84 | Lottery! [2] | Patrick Sean Flaherty | 17 episodes |
| 1984 | Finder of Lost Loves | David Carson | Episode: "Losing Touch" |
| Hotel | Robbie Joe Carson | Episode: "Fantasies" | |
| 1985 | Berrenger's | Paul Berrenger | 11 episodes |
| Gidget's Summer Reunion | Ron Levering | TV film | |
| Scarecrow and Mrs. King | Alan Chamberlin | Episode: "A Lovely Little Affair" | |
| Murder, She Wrote | Scott Lodge | Episode: "Reflections of the Mind" | |
| 1986 | Stark: Mirror Image | Steve Graves | TV film |
| 1988 | Dirty Dozen: The Series (FOX) | Major Danko | 6 episodes |
| 1989 | The Twilight Zone | Jack Haines | Episode: "Love Is Blind" |
| 1990 | Shades of L.A. | Chuck Yellin | Episode: "Shades of L.A." |
| 1991 | Life Goes On | Jordan Parnell | Episode: "Proms and Prams" |
| In the Heat of the Night | Tom Dalton | Episode: "The More Things Change" | |
| 1992 | FBI: The Untold Stories | Agt. Jack Simpson | Episode: "Colonel Penn" |
| 1993–95 | Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman | Ethan Cooper | 3 episodes |
| 1995 | High Sierra Search and Rescue | Roger Harmon | Episode: "Past, Present" |
| 1996 | Silk Stalkings | Senator Grant Hemmings | Episode: "Family Values" |
| Baywatch Nights | Robert Houston | Episode: "Epilogue" | |
| 1997–2004 | JAG | Lt. Col. John Farrow Captain Neilsen | 3 episodes Episode: "Ghosts of Christmas Past" |
| 1998 | Air America | Cornelius Stratton | Episode: "Hostage Situation" |
| 1999 | E! Mysteries and Scandals | Himself | Episode: "Peter Duel" |
| Pacific Blue | Chief Frank Swerdlow | Episode: "Swimming in the Dead Pool" | |
| Seven Days | Col. Seth Mattinger | Episode: "HAARP Attack" | |
| 2000 | Hanging Up | Richard | (scenes deleted) |
| 2001 | To Protect and Serve | Officer Friendly | |
| The District | Congressman Phillip Hallett | Episode: "Lost and Found" | |
| 2003 | The Drew Carey Show | Reverend Henderson | Episode: "Two Girls for Every Boy" |
| Navy NCIS | Capt. Veitch | Episode: "Sub Rosa" | |
| 2004 | Judging Amy | Brad Vickers | Episode: "My Little Runaway" |
| 2005 | Freezerburn | General Dwight Rourke | |
| 2006 | Cold Case | Travis Whitman - 2006 | Episode: "Debut" |
| The Uniform Motion of Folly | Vincent | ||
| 2007 | McBride Semper Fi | General Dwight Rourke | TV film |
| 2010 | The Genesis Code | Professor Campbell |
Robert Stack was an American actor and television host. Known for his deep voice and commanding presence, he appeared in over forty feature films. He starred in the ABC television series The Untouchables (1959–1963), for which he won the 1960 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Series, and later hosted/narrated the true-crime series Unsolved Mysteries (1987–2002). He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film Written on the Wind (1956). Later in his career, Stack was known for his deadpan comedy roles that lampooned his dramatic on-screen persona, most notably as Captain Rex Kramer in Airplane! (1980).
Victor Jay Garber, is a Canadian actor. Known for his work on stage and screen, he has been nominated for three Gemini Awards, four Tony Awards, and six Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2022, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Alias Smith and Jones is an American Western television series that originally aired on ABC from January 1971 to January 1973. The show initially starred Pete Duel as Hannibal Heyes and Ben Murphy as Jedediah "Kid" Curry, outlaw cousins who are trying to reform. The governor offers them a clemency deal on two conditions: that they keep the agreement a secret, and that they will remain wanted fugitives until the governor decides that they should receive a formal amnesty.
Peter Ellstrom Deuel, known professionally as Pete Duel, was an American stage, television, and film actor, best known for his starring role as outlaw Hannibal Heyes in the television series Alias Smith and Jones.
Jon Roger Davis is an American actor and entrepreneur. He is best known for acting in the television series Dark Shadows and Alias Smith and Jones. He has also appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone.
Courtney Bernard Vance is an American actor. He started his career on stage before moving to film and television. Vance has received various accolades, including a Tony Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as nominations for a Grammy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award.
Kenneth Edward Olin is an American actor, television director, and producer. As an actor, Olin is known for his role as Michael Steadman in the ABC drama series Thirtysomething (1987–1991), for which he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama nomination in 1990. Olin later began working behind the scenes, as a director and producer. His credits as a producer include Alias (2001–2006), Brothers & Sisters (2006–2011), and This Is Us (2016–2022). Olin is married to actress Patricia Wettig.
Paul Benjamin Mendelsohn is an Australian actor. He first rose to prominence in Australia for his break-out role in The Year My Voice Broke (1987). He gained international attention for his starring role in the crime drama Animal Kingdom (2010). He has since had roles in films such as The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Starred Up (2013), Lost River (2014), Mississippi Grind (2015), Rogue One (2016), Darkest Hour (2017) and Ready Player One (2018).
Robert Martin Culp was an American actor and screenwriter widely known for his work in television. Culp earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy (1965–1968), the espionage television series in which co-star Bill Cosby and he played secret agents. Before this, he starred in the CBS/Four Star Western series Trackdown as Texas Ranger Hoby Gilman in 71 episodes from 1957 to 1959. The 1980s brought him back to television as FBI Agent Bill Maxwell on The Greatest American Hero. Later, he had a recurring role as Warren Whelan on Everybody Loves Raymond, and was a voice actor for various computer games, including Half-Life 2. Culp gave hundreds of performances in a career spanning more than 50 years.
Robert Lindsay Stevenson, known professionally as Robert Lindsay, is an English actor. He is the recipient of a British Academy Television Award, a Tony Award, and two Laurence Olivier Awards.
Shalom "Sam" Jaffe was an American actor, teacher, musician, and engineer. In 1951, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Asphalt Jungle (1950). He also appeared in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and Ben-Hur (1959), and is additionally known for his roles as the titular character in Gunga Din (1939) and as the "High Lama" in Lost Horizon (1937).
Strike Force is an American action-adventure/police procedural television series that aired on ABC during the 1981–1982 television season, and was produced by Aaron Spelling Productions. The program starred Robert Stack as Capt. Frank Murphy, the leader of a specialized unit of detectives and police officers whose job is to stop violent criminals at any cost.
Benjamin Shenkman is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the comedy-drama series Royal Pains and the acclaimed HBO miniseries Angels in America, which earned him both Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations.
Steve Forrest was an American actor who was well known for his role as Lt. Hondo Harrelson in the hit television series S.W.A.T. which was broadcast on ABC from 1975 to 1976. He was also known for his performance in Mommie Dearest (1981).
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).
Lottery! is an American anthologic drama that premiered on ABC on September 9, 1983. The series aired for one season of 17 episodes and starred Ben Murphy as Patrick Sean Flaherty, and Marshall Colt as Eric Rush. Lottery! centered on ordinary people who have won the lottery—all of a sudden becoming millionaires—and how it changes their lives.
Mike Road was an American voice actor and Warner Bros. television series contract player whose television career dates back to the 1950s and in films to the 1940s.
Bruce Gordon was an American actor best known for playing gangster Frank Nitti in the ABC television series The Untouchables. His acting career ranged over a half century and included stage, movies, and a varied number of roles on the small screen.
John Smith was an American actor whose career primarily focused on westerns. He had his leading roles in two NBC western television series, Cimarron City and Laramie.
Marshall Colt is an American management consultant and combat-decorated, former captain in the United States Navy in San Diego, who was an actor in film and television from 1976 to 1995.
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