Donald Patrick Murray

Donald Patrick Murray was born in Hollywood, California, to a Broadway dance director and a Ziegfeld Follies performer. A principled conscientious objector during the Korean War, Murray completed alternative service helping post-war European refugees and orphans in Germany and Italy before graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

In 1956, director Joshua Logan cast Murray as rowdy cowboy Bo Decker opposite Marilyn Monroe in the film adaptation of William Inge's play Bus Stop. His debut performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Murray followed with acclaimed performances in A Hatful of Rain (1957) and Otto Preminger's political drama Advise & Consent (1962). From 1979 to 1981, he starred as moral anchor Sid Fairgate in the hit prime-time soap opera Knots Landing. In 2017, at age 87, he made a triumphant return to screen acting as Bushnell Mullins in David Lynch's Twin Peaks: The Return.