Born: October 31, 1945
Age: 79
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Brian Doyle-Murray (born Brian Murray, October 31, 1945) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is the older brother of actor/comedian Bill Murray and the two have acted together in several films, including Caddyshack, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II, The Razor's Edge and Groundhog Day. He co-starred on the TBS sitcom on Sullivan & Son, where he played the foul-mouthed Hank Murphy. He currently appears in a recurring role as Don Ehlert on the ABC sitcom The Middle.
Doyle-Murray was nominated for three Emmy Awards in 1978, 1979, and 1980 for his work on Saturday Night Live in the category Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program. Two other younger brothers, Joel and John, are actors as well. His oldest brother Ed is a businessman, and brother Andy is a chef, and runs the Murray Brothers "CaddyShack" restaurant located in the World Golf Village resort near St. Augustine, FL. Doyle is his grandmother's maiden name, and he chose to hyphenate in order to avoid confusion with another actor by the name of Brian Murray.
Murray, one of nine children, was born in Chicago, the son of Lucille (née Collins), a mail room clerk, and Edward J. Murray II, a lumber salesman. His parents were Irish American and Catholic. He is the older brother of actors Bill Murray, Joel Murray and John Murray. A sister, Nancy, an Adrian Dominican Sister in Michigan, travels the country portraying St. Catherine of Siena. Doyle-Murray uses his hyphenated name (Doyle was his grandmother's maiden name) to avoid confusion with another actor of the same name. Brian attended Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga, California in the late 1960s.
Murray worked at The Second City comedic stage troupe in the early 1970s. He has appeared in numerous films and television shows since the 1970s, including as a featured player on NBC's Saturday Night Live from 1979 to 1980 and from 1981 to 1982. He wrote for Jean Doumanian from 1980 to 1981, one of the few cast members to work for all three producers of SNL (Lorne Michaels, Jean Doumanian, and Dick Ebersol). He was a regular on The National Lampoon Radio Hour, a comedy program syndicated nationally to 600 stations from 1973 to 1975. Co-workers on the Radio Hour included Richard Belzer, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Harold Ramis and younger brother Bill. He appears in many films with his brother, Bill Murray. However, he has also landed roles in other films. Early on he appeared in Modern Problems alongside Chevy Chase. Again years later he memorably appeared as Chevy Chase's uptight boss, Frank Shirley, in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), and co-starred as arcade tycoon Noah Vanderhoff in the film version of Wayne's World (1992). He landed a small role as assassin Jack Ruby in JFK (1991). He was seen in the movie, Snow Dogs (2002). His most recent role was in 17 Again (2009).
He was Mel Sanger, the bubble boy's dad, on Seinfeld, and played Joe Hackett's high school baseball coach on a 1992 episode of Wings. He co-starred of the Fox TV series Get a Life and Bakersfield P.D. from 1991 to 1992 and 1993 to 1994, respectively, with a recurring role as sports editor Stuart Franklin on the Fox/UPN TV series Between Brothers from 1997 to 1999. He played studio head and Greg Warner's (Anthony Clark) boss George Savitsky on Yes Dear. He played Shawn Spencer's grandfather on the episode "The Old and the Restless" on the USA Network TV series Psych, with an uncredited cameo in the sixth season. He starred in a recurring role as Mr. Ehlert, owner of the car dealership where Frankie and Bob work on the ABC-TV series The Middle. He co-starred on the TBS sitcom on Sullivan & Son, where he played the foul-mouthed Hank Murphy.
Known for his gruff voice, Murray voiced the Flying Dutchman on Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants, a small role as the Grandfather on Lloyd in Space, Coach Gills on Cartoon Network's My Gym Partner's a Monkey, Captain K'nuckles on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, and as Maggie's dad on Disney Channel's The Buzz on Maggie. He has also appeared as "Salty" in the Family Guy episode "A Fish out of Water", the voice of Jack the barber on King of the Hill, the voice of the mayor in the Ghostbusters video game, the voice of "Qui the Promoter" in the 2005 video game Jade Empire, a minor appearance on the Disney show Recess during a YoYo competition, Prince Huge on Adventure Time in the episode "The Hard Easy", Charlie in Mike Judge's The Goode Family and Jacob on Motorcity. Murray was also contracted to voice Eustace in the cancelled reboot of Courage the Cowardly Dog.
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
1973-1974 | The National Lampoon Radio Hour | Radio series |
1975 | Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell | Also cast member |
1976 | The TVTV Show | Television series |
1976-1979 | SCTV | |
1977-1982 | Saturday Night Live | Also cast member Television series Nominated—Outstanding Writing in a Comedy - Variety or Music Series Nominated—Outstanding Writing in a Comedy, Variety, or Music Series Nominated—Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program |
1980 | Caddyshack | Writer with Harold Ramis and Doug Kenney Film |
1982 | The Rodney Dangerfield Show: It's Not Easy Bein' Me | Television series |
1986 | Club Paradise | Writer with Harold Ramis Film Also cast member |
1993 | The Chevy Chase Show | Television series |
2002 | The Sweet Spot |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1975 | Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell | Various characters | Television series Television debut Also writer |
1979-1980 1981-1982 |
Saturday Night Live | Television series Also writer |
|
1980 | Caddyshack | Lou Loomis | Film debut |
1981 | Modern Problems | Brian Stills | |
1983 | National Lampoon's Vacation | Kamp Komfort Clerk | |
1984 | The Razor's Edge | Piedmont | |
Sixteen Candles | Reverend | ||
1985 | Head Office | Colonel Toliver | |
1986 | Legal Eagles | Shaw | |
Club Paradise | Voit Zerbe | ||
1988 | Scrooged | Mr. Cross | |
1989 | The Experts | Mr. Jones | |
The Brave Little Toaster Goes To Mars | Wittgenstein | ||
How I Got Into College | Coach Evans | ||
Ghostbusters II | Psychiatric doctor | ||
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation | Frank Shirley | ||
The Brave Little Toaster To the Rescue | Wittgenstein | ||
1991 | JFK | Jack Ruby | |
Nothing but Trouble | Brian | ||
Good Sports | John "Mac" MacKinney | Television series | |
1991-1992 | Get a Life | Gus Borden | |
1992 | Wayne's World | Noah Vanderhoff | |
Married... with Children | Wayne | Television series | |
Wings | Coach Snyder | Television series | |
Frosty Returns | Mr. Twitchell | Television film | |
Seinfeld | A kindly father | Television series Episode: The Bubble Boy |
|
1993 | Groundhog Day | Buster Green | |
1994 | Jury Duty | Harry | |
1995 | Cabin Boy | Skunk | |
Ellen | Burt Kovak | Television series | |
1996 | Waiting for Guffman | Red Savage | |
Multiplicity | Walt | ||
Duckman | Agnes | ||
1997 | Smart Guy | Pete Gilroy | Television series |
1997-1999 | Between Brothers | Stuart Franklin | |
1997 | As Good as It Gets | Handyman | |
1998 | Mr. Show with Bob and David | Referee | Television series Episode: "It's Perfectly Understandishable" |
Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story | Baloo | ||
Dennis the Menace Strikes Again | Professor | ||
The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars | Wittgenstein | ||
1999 | The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue | ||
1999-2000 | Love & Money | Finn McBride | |
1999-present | SpongeBob SquarePants | The Flying Dutchman | Television series |
1999 | Stuart Little | Cousin Edgar Little | |
2000 | Jackie Chan Adventures | Gnome Cop | Television series |
Bedazzled | Priest | ||
2001-2006 | Yes, Dear | Mr. George Savitsky | Recurring role Television series |
2001 | Getting Hal | Phil | |
Justice League | Artie Bauman | Voice Television series |
|
2002 | A Gentleman's Game | Tomato Face | |
Snow Dogs | Ernie | ||
Teamo Supremo | The Chief | Main role Television series |
|
2005-2006 | The Buzz on Maggie | Chuck Pesky | Main role Television series |
2005 | My Gym Partner's a Monkey | Coach Tiffany Gills | |
Jade Empire | Qui the Promoter | Voice Video game |
|
2006 | Tom Goes to the Mayor | Bernie Fusterillo | Voice Television series |
2007 | Daddy Day Camp | "Uncle" Morty | Main role |
Love Comes Lately | Boss | ||
2008-2010 | The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack | Captain K'nuckles | Main role Television series |
2009 | 17 Again | The Janitor | |
The Goode Family | Charlie | Television series Main role |
|
Ghostbusters: The Video Game | Mayor Jock Mulligan | Video Game | |
2009-present | The Middle | Don Ehlert | Television series Recurring role |
2010 | WordGirl | Police officer | Television series |
Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil | Glenn | ||
2011 | Supernatural | Robert Singer | |
2012-2014 | Sullivan & Son | Hank Murphy | Main role Television series |
2012 | Motorcity | Jacob | |
Eye of the Hurricane | Harvey Miken | ||
Adventure Time | Prince Huge | Television series | |
The Three Stooges | Monsignor Ratliffe | ||
2013 | Raising Hope | Walt | Television series |
2014 | 2 Broke Girls | Blarney Bill | Television series |
Christmas Under Wraps | Mr. Holiday/Santa Claus | Made for TV Movie | |
2015 | Underdogs | The Boss | |
2016 | Veep | George Huntzinger | Television series |