Murphy Dunne
Biography
Murphy Dunne is an American actor and musician who grew up in Chicago and began performing as a pianist in the late 1960s. He joined the improvisational theater company The Second City in 1968 and later performed with the comedy ensemble The Conception Corporation. In 1969 he co-produced Chicago's first Free Blues Festival, where he met Willie Dixon and Albert King. He won the role of keyboardist Murph in The Blues Brothers (1980) after Paul Shaffer could not take it, and he reprised the part in Blues Brothers 2000. He toured with the Blues Brothers in 1980 and appears on their live album Made in America. His film work includes The Big Bus (1976), High Anxiety (1977), Old Boyfriends (1979), Perfect (1985), and Hero and the Terror (1988). He has also acted on television in Night Court and done voice work for Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and the game Star Trek: Klingon Academy.
84years old
Turns 85 on June 22in 223 days
- Born Chicago
- Star sign: CancerThe sign runs June 21 to July 22
- Also credited as Murph and George Murphy Dunne, Jr.
Movie Career
- Films
- 8
- Career span
- 16 years1976 to 1992
First and latest
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Early training
Murphy Dunne became a member of the improvisational theater company The Second City in 1968, joining the group that year.
A change of course
Dunne helped organize Chicago's first Free Blues Festival in 1969, held at the Grant Park Band Shell. There he crossed paths with Willie Dixon, Albert King and Steve Cropper, who would later join him in the Blues Brothers band.
About the name
Under the pseudonym Lars Svenki, Dunne was the keyboard player for Lenny and the Squigtones in 1979, on the album Lenny & Squiggy Present Lenny and the Squigtones.
Big break
In 1977 Dunne played a keyboard player in Joan Tewkesbury's Old Boyfriends, a small role, and it was there that he met John Belushi.
Beyond film
Dunne co-wrote "Murphy Dunne Nevertheless" with Lewis Arquette, and in September 1992 he performed this solo piece at the Globe Playhouse in West Hollywood, California.
Murphy Dunne movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Worked with
Murphy Dunne shares two films with John Candy, and one with each of the others. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
John Candy's page
John Belushi's page
Alec Baldwin's page
Ed Harris's page
Dan Aykroyd's page
John Travolta's page
All films by John Landis
James FoleyDirector, 1 film, 1992
All films by James Foley
All films by Mel Brooks
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.