Bill Murray is a famous actor and comedian, but before he became well known, was he in the military?
Although he has appeared in multiple military movies, including his role as John Winger in the war comedy movie ‘Stripes’, Bill Murray has not served himself.
Read more about Bill Murray and his life before fame below.
Before Finding Fame
Bill Murray was born in Illinois in 1950. He is the middle child of nine siblings.
As a youth, his behavior could be troublesome. He played in Little League baseball as a child but was kicked out after he got into a physical altercation with another child.
He was a keen baseball player, however, and played with other children from his community. “We’d ride an hour from home on bikes to find a ballpark with home run fences. I’d spend hours at night making phone calls to round up eighteen players,” he said later.
He remains a keen baseball fan and in adulthood, has become the part-owner of several teams. He prefers to follow minor league baseball, explaining, “I like rejects, and I like the carny part of minor league baseball.”
After high school, he began studying at Regis College. It was during his studies that he had a brush with the law when he was arrested for marijuana possession.
On his 20th birthday, after visiting a family party, Murray was waiting to board a flight when he was found with $20 thousand worth of marijuana in his luggage. He was charged and appeared in court, but because he didn’t have a criminal record, he was able to avoid serving time in prison.
He spent the next five years on probation, and as the story had been reported in the media, he feared he would be kicked out of college. He ultimately decided to drop out of college of his own accord.
Career
His college career over, Murray decided to join the Second City theatre group in Chicago, where his brother was already an attendee.
A key moment in his career cave when he moved to New York and bagged a job in radio on the show ‘National Lampoon Hour’. He also worked alongside his brother, Brian, in a second radio show.
Soon, he was spotted and recruited for the show ‘Saturday Night Live With Howard Cossell’. The following year, he joined the similarly named (yet much more famous) ‘Saturday Night Live’.
With a now established comedy character, he began landing roles in movies. In 1979, he appeared in ‘Meatballs’, with ‘Where the Buffalos Roam’ following in 1980.
In 1981, he appeared in ‘Stripes’, a comedy that follows the story of two companions who decide to join the US military. He again played a serviceman in the 2014 movie ‘St. Vincent’.
In ‘St. Vincent’, he plays the character role of Vincent, a veteran who befriends his young neighbor.
Murray has starred in a host of hit movies, with other notable names including ‘Groundhog Day’ and the iconic ‘Ghostbusters’.
Throughout his career, he has won a host of awards and been nominated for dozens more. His accolades include a Golden Globe award for best actor, which he won in 2004, two Emmy awards for both acting and comedy writing, a BAFTA, and an American Comedy Award.
Throughout his career, he has been involved in multiple high profile feuds, which he accepts have given him a reputation as someone who is difficult to work with. “I only got that reputation from people I didn’t like working with, or people who didn’t know how to work, or what work is,” he says in his defense.
“People think because they employed you they’re allowed to treat you like a dictator, or whatever the worse word for dictator is.” And that’s always been a problem for me,” he says.
Despite his stardom, it appears that he has not forgotten about the importance of humanity. “Opening the door for someone behind you is as important as designing a building,” he says.