• Advertise
  • Donate
  • Subscribe
    • Become a print subscriber
    • Sign up for e-Newsletter
    • e-Editions
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local News
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
      • Photo of the Week
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Notices
      • Legals
      • Announcements
    • Search MSR Archives
      • Search Minneapolis Spokesman Archives
      • Search the St. Paul Recorder
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local News
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
      • Photo of the Week
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Notices
      • Legals
      • Announcements
    • Search MSR Archives
      • Search Minneapolis Spokesman Archives
      • Search the St. Paul Recorder
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
No Result
View All Result

Bill Murray reflects on his storied career

by Charles Hallman
October 1, 2016
72
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on LinkedIn

Second of a two-part story 

Oscar-nominated actor and St. Paul Saints co-owner Bill Murray spoke with the MSR while in town August 2 for the American Association All-Star Game. Below is the second part of his interview with the MSR.

Related content:  A chat with actor and Saints co-owner Bill Murray — from baseball to films

Bill Murray
Bill Murray (Onika Nicole Craven/MSR News)

Bill Murray’s career started in the late 1970s at Chicago’s Second City. One of his brothers, already a member of the famed improvisational comedy troupe, invited him to join.

“I just saw myself as just making a living,” admitted the actor to the MSR. “We were funny but we didn’t consider ourselves actors.”

- ADVERTISEMENT -

He continued, “John Candy and I started the same week, and the other actors [there] hated us,” remembered Murray. “He and I improvised together every night because they didn’t want to have anything to do with us. We did Stripes together (1981) and he was really great to work with. He was a real good guy,” recalled Murray.

Murray also spoke fondly of the late John Belushi, who recruited Murray to work on The National Lampoon Radio Hour. The two later would work together on NBC’s then-upstart Saturday late night program, Saturday Night Live.

Few remember that Murray’s first television gig was on the so-called “first Saturday Night Live” — as a regular was on Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell, a one-season variety show on ABC in 1975 and cancelled in 1976. Then he became a regular on Saturday Night Live for three seasons (1977 to 1980) before leaving to do movies.

“I’m only partial on ones that weren’t as popular,” stated Murray when asked to single out his best work. “I’d say there are three.”

Actually he offered four: Quick Change (1990), which he also co-directed; The Man That Knew Too Little (1997), Broken Flowers (2005), which he noted was “well written” and Rock the Casbash (2015).

- ADVERTISEMENT -

“Groundhog Day (1993) was one of America’s great movies,” said Murray. “It’s in the Library of Congress — the writing of the movie was incredible.”

But making St. Vincent  (2014), for which he earned a Golden Globe best actor nomination, was literally a hot and cold experience, recalled Murray. “I left South Carolina [where he lives] a couple of years ago to make that movie. It was hotter in Brooklyn — it was hotter than Charleston. I had to get into a cold bathtub every morning just to lower my body temperature to go to work. It was that hot.”

Sometimes actors can get on each other’s last nerve, especially “when you are on a job for a couple of months,” said Murray.  However, he shared with the MSR of some of the actors he enjoyed working with over the years in his decades-long career.

A couple of the names mentioned were Melissa McCarthy, his co-star in St. Vincent. “She’s great, really funny,” he said. “She was good and she was playing straight,” he said of McCarthy, who is best known for her comedy.

“She got her training at The Groundling. L.A.’s version of Second City. More comedians started there, and a lot of fine actors came out of The Groundling. She’s nice to the people. You got to get along and you got to do the work,” he said.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

“John Belushi was really a great actor.  He had enormous talent,” continued Murray.

He also added that Candy “was fun and also a good actor.”

Murray also talked about SNL’s Canadian counterpart, Second City Television (SCTV) that ran between 1976 and 1984. The satirical sketch comedy based on a fictional television station began as a half hour program, and then expanded to 90 minutes. NBC aired it and got it earned 15 Emmy nominations. It twice won the Outstanding Writing Emmy during its 1981-1983 run.

Murry was among the show’s guest stars. Other stars included Candy, Harold Ramis, who starred with Murray in Ghostbusters, and directed him in Caddyshack, Groundhog Day and others.

“That show was fun and hilarious. Joe Flaherty was one of the great actors [on the show],” said Murray. “Rick Moranis is probably one of the best but never really wanted to be [in acting]. [Candy’s] stuff on SCTV was real good.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

“Those guys was very bold. They are some very strong voices and opinions. They were very willful.  They did pieces that had themes that ran for weeks and weeks. They had characters that ran and were developed for weeks and weeks. They had much better special effects, like makeup and prosthetics.

“We [SNL] didn’t have time to do it because we were live,” said the actor. “They (SCTV) were taped so they could do things, shoot film and a lot of different things that we couldn’t do. More like Monty Python.”

 

Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.

 

Update: A previous version of this article incorrectly listed the date of Quick Change as 1980 instead of 1990. The error has been corrected.

 

Support Black local news

Help amplify Black voices by donating to the MSR. Your contribution enables critical coverage of issues affecting the community and empowers authentic storytelling.

Donate Now!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

Lynx take 2-0 lead against Mercury in semifinals series

Next Post

MSR Top Five | Twin Cities Black Film Fest, Twin Cities Nappy Hour & more!

Charles Hallman

Charles Hallman is a contributing reporter and award-winning sports columnist at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.

You Might Also Like

Zaila Avant-garde
Featured

14-year-old Zaila Avant-garde becomes first African American to win Scripps National Spelling Bee

A chat with actor and Saints co-owner Bill Murray — from baseball to films
Sports

A chat with actor and Saints co-owner Bill Murray — from baseball to films

Next Post
MSR Top Five | Twin Cities Black Film Fest, Twin Cities Nappy Hour & more!

MSR Top Five | Twin Cities Black Film Fest, Twin Cities Nappy Hour & more!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Read our latest e-Edition!

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Subscribe

  • Home/Office Delivery
  • Weekly e-newsletter
  • e-Editions

Support

  • Donate
  • Subscribe
  • MSR Newsstand Locations

Connect

  • About
    • MSR Staff
  • Contact
  • Send a news tip
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

No Result
View All Result
  • News & Features
    • Local News
    • National
  • All Sections
    • Arts + Culture
    • Health & Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • MN Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Business
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
      • Small Business Month Celebration
    • Opinion
    • Sports
  • Calendar
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • Donate
  • Subscribe

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: