Born in Kumbakonam, Ramamurthy studied at Madras and graduated from the Vivekananda College in 1958. Right from his college days, Ramamurthy had a love for drama. His plays were popular and he won many awards. Through his troupe, he gave first opportunities to many future legends including Cho Ramaswamy, Visu, Delhi Ganesh and Crazy Mohan among others. After playing a cartoonist named Kathadi in the Cho Ramaswamy play If I Get It, he became permanently known as Kathadi Ramamurthy.