Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan Murphy is an American comedian, actor, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a stand-up comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. He has received several accolades including a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, and an Emmy Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award. He was honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2015 and the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2023.
Murphy shot to fame on the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984 and broke out as a movie star in the 1980s films 48 Hrs., Trading Places, and Beverly Hills Cop. He then established himself as a leading man with starring roles in: The Golden Child, Coming to America, Harlem Nights , Boomerang, The Nutty Professor, 'Dr. Dolittle', Bowfinger, Daddy Day Care, and Norbit. Murphy both won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Dreamgirls.
Murphy has worked as a voice actor, including Mushu in Disney's Mulan, Thurgood Stubbs in the sitcom The PJs, and Donkey in the Shrek franchise, the latter of which earned him a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role nomination. Murphy often takes on multiple roles in a single film, such as in Coming to America, Vampire in Brooklyn, the Nutty Professor films, Bowfinger, The Adventures of Pluto Nash and Norbit. This is intended as Murphy's tribute to one of his idols, Peter Sellers. Following a string of poorly received films, he had a career resurgence with leading roles in films such as Dolemite Is My Name, Coming 2 America, You People, Candy Cane Lane and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.
In 2020, he won his first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for hosting Saturday Night Live. Murphy's films have grossed over $3.8 billion in the United States and Canada box office, and over $6.7 billion worldwide. In 2015, his films made him the sixth-highest grossing actor in the United States. As a singer, Murphy has released three studio albums, including How Could It Be, So Happy, and Love's Alright. He is also known for his 1985 single "Party All the Time", which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
Early life
Murphy was born April 3, 1961, in Brooklyn, New York City, and raised in the borough's Bushwick neighborhood. His mother, Lillian Murphy, was a telephone operator, and his father, Charles Edward Murphy, was a transit police officer and an amateur actor and comedian.His father was murdered in 1969. Murphy later stated:
When Murphy's single mother became ill, eight-year-old Murphy and his elder brother Charlie lived in foster care for one year. In interviews, Murphy has said his time in foster care was influential in developing his sense of humor. Later, he and his brother were raised in Roosevelt, New York, by his mother and stepfather Vernon Lynch, a foreman at an ice cream plant.
Career
1976–1980: Early standup career
When Murphy was fifteen, he listened to Richard Pryor's comedy album That Nigger's Crazy, which inspired his decision to become a comedian. As a child, Murphy developed playing multiple characters in imitation of his acting hero, Peter Sellers. Other early influences included Bill Cosby, Redd Foxx, Robin Williams, Muhammad Ali, Bruce Lee, and Charlie Chaplin.On July 9, 1976, the date with which Murphy marks the beginning of his career, he performed in a talent show at the Roosevelt Youth Center, doing an impersonation of singer Al Green as Green's song "Let's Stay Together" played. This led to work at other clubs within walking distance, and then late-night jobs at locations that required him to commute by train. To do this, he secretly skipped school, and after his mother discovered this at the end of his senior year, he was required to attend summer school.
1980s: Superstar status and career peak
In the early 1980s, Murphy first earned national attention as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and was credited with helping to revitalize the show. His characters included a grown-up version of the Little Rascals character Buckwheat; a streetwise children's show host named Mr. Robinson ; and a morose, cynical Gumby, whose trademark slogan became an SNL catchphrase: "I'm Gumby, dammit!" According to Joseph Clokey, whose father Art Clokey created Gumby, both of them "thought Eddie was a genius in the way he played that character". The Buckwheat character was retired in spectacular fashion—assassinated, on camera, in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza—at Murphy's request, after he grew tired of constant demands from fans to "Do Buckwheat! Do Buckwheat!" In Rolling Stones February 2015 appraisal of all 141 SNL cast members to-date, Murphy was ranked second. "It is customary to say that Eddie Murphy is the only reason SNL survived the five-year wilderness without Lorne Michaels", the magazine noted. Murphy's early comedy was characterized by copious profanity and sketches lampooning diverse groups of people, including WASPs, African Americans, Italian Americans, overweight people, and gay people. He released two stand-up specials. Delirious was filmed in 1983 in Washington, D.C.Due to the popularity of Delirious, his concert film, Eddie Murphy Raw, received a wide theatrical release, grossing $50 million; the movie was filmed in the Felt Forum at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In 1982, Murphy made his big-screen debut in the film 48 Hrs. with Nick Nolte. 48 Hrs. proved to be a hit when it was released during the Christmas season of 1982. Nolte was scheduled to host the December 11, 1982, Christmas episode of Saturday Night Live, but became too ill to host, so Murphy took over. He became the only cast member to host while still a regular. Murphy opened the show with the phrase, "Live from New York, it's the Eddie Murphy Show!" The following year, Murphy starred in Trading Places with SNL original cast member Dan Aykroyd. The movie marked the first of Murphy's collaborations with director John Landis, who would go on to direct Murphy in Coming to America and Beverly Hills Cop III. Trading Places was an even greater box-office success than 48 Hrs.
Murphy appeared in Best Defense, co-starring Dudley Moore. Credited as a "Strategic Guest Star", Murphy was added to the film after an original version was completed but tested poorly with audiences. Best Defense was a major financial and critical disappointment. When he hosted SNL, Murphy joined the chorus of those bashing Best Defense, calling it "the worst movie in the history of everything". The same year, he won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording for his album Eddie Murphy: Comedian. Murphy starred in the successful action comedy film Beverly Hills Cop. The film was Murphy's first solo leading role. Beverly Hills Cop grossed over $230 million at the U.S. box office, becoming the highest-grossing film released in 1984, the highest-grossing comedy of all time, and the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time;, it was 46th in the list of all-time U.S. box-office grossers after adjusting for inflation. Murphy chose to do that film instead of Ghostbusters. Murphy was offered a part in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, a role that, after being heavily rewritten from one of comic relief to one of love interest, went to Catherine Hicks. By this time, Murphy's near-exclusive contract with Paramount Pictures rivaled Star Trek as Paramount's most lucrative franchise.
By 1986, he launched Eddie Murphy Television Enterprises with a deal at Paramount Television. In his next subsequent role, he starred in the supernatural comedy The Golden Child. Although The Golden Child performed well at the box office, the movie was not as well received as 48 Hrs., Trading Places, and Beverly Hills Cop. The Golden Child was considered a change of pace for Murphy because of the supernatural setting instead of the "street smart" settings of his previous efforts. Not long afterward, he reprised his role of Axel Foley in the Tony Scott–directed Beverly Hills Cop II. It was a box-office success, grossing almost $300 million worldwide. By the end of the decade, Murphy was Hollywood's biggest box-office star. At that time, Murphy was offered the lead role in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but he turned it down and later came to regret that decision, explaining: " sounded ridiculous to me, and I passed on it. And afterwards, I was like, 'Oh, that's fucking amazing. In 1988, Murphy and his Eddie Murphy Television Enterprises company had struck a deal with CBS.
1990–1998: Commercial decline and rebound
From 1989 onward, critical praise for Murphy's films declined; it hit a low point with the critically panned Beverly Hills Cop III, a movie that Murphy denounced during an appearance on Inside the Actors Studio. Box-office receipts also declined compared to his previous films, although he did find some box office success with Another 48 Hrs. and Boomerang. During this period, Murphy also starred in The Distinguished Gentleman, a political comedy, and Vampire in Brooklyn, a horror-comedy directed by Wes Craven. Though Vampire in Brooklyn was met with negative reviews upon release, it has since gained a cult following. On Harlem Nights, Murphy worked as director, producer and star, as well as sharing co-writer duties with his brother, Charlie Murphy. The film featured Murphy's comic idols Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx in supporting roles.During this period, Murphy was criticized by filmmaker Spike Lee for not using his status to help Black actors break into film. However, as Murphy's prominence increased, his films often had a mainly Black cast. Many Black actors who later received greater recognition made early appearances in Murphy's films, such as Damon Wayans in Beverly Hills Cop, Halle Berry and Martin Lawrence in Boomerang, Samuel L. Jackson and Cuba Gooding Jr. in Coming to America, Dave Chappelle in The Nutty Professor, and Chris Rock in Beverly Hills Cop II. Naming The Nutty Professor as his favorite comedy, Rock regards Murphy's performance in the film as being so great, he had "been robbed of an Oscar", adding that his various performances were "Peter Sellers–esque".
Although Murphy owes his initial breakout success to Saturday Night Live, he did not participate in the making of the Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live retrospective book by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller, nor did he ever attend cast reunions or anniversary specials until his appearance on the SNL 40th anniversary special. Murphy told Rolling Stone he had distanced himself from the show because he was angry with David Spade over the latter's joke about Murphy's career during a segment on SNL; he was also angry with Lorne Michaels and the production staff for allowing the joke in the first place. Murphy and Spade have since reconciled.