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Don Murray, known for his breakthrough role opposite Marilyn Monroe in the 1956 film Bus Stop, has died at the age of 94.
His son, Christopher, confirmed Murray’s death to The New York Times, providing no further details.
He secured an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the movie, depicting a tale of a smitten cowboy (Murray) enamored with a saloon singer (Monroe) who harbors an aversion towards him. Murray was also one of Monroe’s last leading men still alive.
Born in Hollywood on July 31, 1929, Murray debuted on Broadway in 1951 in Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo and returned to the stage in 1955’s The Skin of Our Teeth. This performance attracted director Joshua Logan’s attention and was one reason he scored Bus Stop.
During the Korean War, Murray, a conscientious objector, fulfilled his service commitment by working in German and Italian refugee camps. Known for his contributions to “message” movies with socially responsible themes, he portrayed a morphine-addicted war veteran in Fred Zinnemann’s A Hatful of Rain (1957). He took on the role of a closeted (and blackmailed) gay senator in Otto Preminger’s Advise & Consent in 1962.
Several subsequent films followed, including a co-starring role alongside Steve McQueen in the 1965 film Baby the Rain Must Fall. In 1972, he was featured in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes as a governor determined to eradicate a pair of earth-stranded apes. In 1986, he portrayed the father of Kathleen Turner’s titular character in Peggy Sue Got Married.
Murray also enjoyed a prolific television career, notably as a lead in Knot’s Landing from 1979 to 1981. He co-starred with Otis Young in the short-lived 1968-69 Western series The Outcasts, recognized for its groundbreaking pairing of a Black actor with a white actor, portraying characters who had been adversaries in the Civil War before becoming bounty-hunting partners. He also has additional TV credits that date back to 1973’s Police Story and include 2017’s Twin Peaks: The Return.
Returning to Broadway over two decades, Murray participated in more than five productions, including plays like Same Time and Next Year and, in 1975, the Norman Conquests trilogy.
In 1970, Murray co-wrote and directed The Cross and the Switchblade, a drama featuring Pat Boone as a minister striving to bring religion to Chicago street gangs.
Details about survivors were not immediately available. Murray’s first of two marriages was with Hope Lange, his co-star in Bus Stop alongside Monroe.