Bill Murray is 70 years old and will go ghost hunting again. This is how he went from being a trash comedian to a cult actor.
There are few actors who can say as much as he can with just their facial expression: Bill Murray (70). His naturally crumpled face, the melancholy look, the often tangled protruding hair – Murray always seems a bit absent, fallen out of time, with a distance to what is happening around him. Added to this is the self-irony that he often gives his roles and the unexcited manner. The actor will be 70 years old on September 21 – but there is still no question of retirement.
Thanks to "Ghostbusters" to success
William James "Bill" Murray was born in 1950 as the fifth of nine children in his family in the state of Illinois in the USA. He grew up in simple circumstances. Murray wanted to be a doctor. But while he was studying medicine, the police caught him with marijuana and after his drug offense he had to give up his dream of working "as an emergency doctor in the Caribbean". However, he took a different – successful – path.
Murray started out as a stage actor, later he went to the US comedy show "Saturday Night Live" (SNL) – a springboard for many comedians and actors who would later make it into the US entertainment circus. At first he was seen in supporting roles in films. Until he met Ivan Reitman (73), who shared his style of humor and cast him in his films. First in the chaotic, anarchic comedy film "I think a moose smooches me" (1981).
The next film was then a breakthrough for Murray: In "Ghostbusters – Die Geisterjäger" from 1984 he mimes the less successful parapsychologist Dr. Peter Venkman, the film became a worldwide box-office hit and is now considered a cult. As a result, Murray starred in several successful Hollywood films – always comedies. In 1993 he took on the leading role in "Groundhog Day". To this day, it is one of his most famous films and at the same time a turning point. In the following years he was unable to build on these successes.
From slapstick to melancholy
His choice of roles changed, the humor of the people he embodied became more subtle. He often played people who had a certain basic melancholy in them. After Ivan Reitman, his preferred director is Wes Anderson (51). Murray is an integral part of the director's eccentric ensemble. He appears in numerous of his films, including "Rushmore" (1998), "The Royal Tenenbaums" (2001), "Moonrise Kingdom" (2012) and "Grand Budapest Hotel" (2014). Anderson and Murray's humor seems to be almost identical.
Murray seems to have found his cinematic home. His best films, however, include two works from 2003 and 2005. At first he played the lead role in Sofia Coppola's (49) "Lost in Translation", fittingly he mimes an aging star in the film who is in a life crisis. In Jim Jarmusch's (67) "Broken Flowers" he started a journey into his past as a rich but bored man. Murray played men in both films who are obviously past the zenith of their lives and are in a crisis of meaning.
Murray defies the customs of the movie business, as well as those of modern life. He shouldn't have a lawyer or an agent. According to filmmaker Theodore Melfi, 49, who worked with the actor on "St. Vincent" (2014), Murray only has a "1-800" number. But there shouldn't be a voice message stored there, so that after the call you don't even know whether you've left a message to the right person.
Murray and Coppola are back together
Murray just does what he wants. An Oscar is not yet on his mantelpiece – it has been nominated once for "Lost in Translation". The film earned him his only Golden Globe Award to date. Murray was most recently seen in German cinemas in "Zombieland: Double Holds Better" (2019) and "The Dead Don't Die" (2019). He already has other projects in the pipeline.
In the comedy drama "On the Rocks," slated for October 23, 2020 on Apple TV +, he plays the charming father of a young woman (played by Rashida Jones) who believes she is her husband (played by Marlon Wayans) is cheating. Directed by Sofia Coppola. The film reunited the duo after "Lost in Translation" and the Netflix Christmas film "A Very Murray Christmas".
At the age of 70 again on a ghost hunt
In 2021, Bill Murray will play his legendary role as parapsychologist Dr. Peter Venkman hatch. The fantasy comedy was actually supposed to appear in summer 2020, but it was postponed to the beginning of March 2021 due to the corona pandemic.
In the comedy drama "The French Dispatch" by – how should it be otherwise – Wes Anderson, Murray is part of the cast alongside Adrien Brody, Timothée Chalamet, Benicio del Toro, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Liev Schreiber. It should be a love letter to journalists. The film is set in a fictional French city and is about a branch of an American newspaper. Due to the Corona crisis, the film does not currently have an official theatrical release.