CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Bill Murray

American actor and comedian

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 22, 2026
Entity authorityQ29250
Source-derived summary

William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian, known for his deadpan delivery in roles ranging from studio comedies to independent dramas. He has received several accolades including a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards as well as a nomination for an Academy Award. Murray was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2016.

Murray became a national presence on Saturday Night Live from 1977 to 1980, receiving a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. He established his stardom by acting in a string of successful comedy films, including Meatballs (1979), Caddyshack (1980), Stripes (1981), Scrooged (1988), What About Bob? (1991), and Groundhog Day (1993). He also had supporting roles in Tootsie (1982), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Ed Wood (1994), Kingpin (1996) and Osmosis Jones (2001). Murray also starred as Dr. Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters (1984), and Ghostbusters II (1989) and has reprised his role in various projects within the Ghostbusters franchise. He has done voice acting work in films, such as Garfield (2004), Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006), and The Jungle Book (2016).

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Bill Murray” as american actor and comedian. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1950, 2016, 1977, 1980—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1950-09-21. The account is most persuasive where Bill, Murray and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american actor and comedian. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q29250. VIAF identifies the subject as 38338048. The Library of Congress control number is n85039269. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1950, 2016, 1977 and 1980.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Bill Murray”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Bill Murray primary sources, Bill Murray archive and Bill research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Bill Murray”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Bill Murray” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.