Wikipedia

Charlie Murphy (actor)

This article is about the American comedian and actor Charlie Murphy. For the Irish actress also known as Charlie Murphy, see Charlie Murphy (actress). For other people with the same name, see Charles Murphy.

Charles Quinton Murphy (July 12, 1959 – April 12, 2017) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He was best known as a writer and cast member of the Comedy Central sketch-comedy series Chappelle's Show as well as the co-star of the sitcom Black Jesus. He was the older brother of actor and comedian Eddie Murphy.

Charlie Murphy
Murphy in December 2009
Birth nameCharles Quinton Murphy
Born(1959-07-12)July 12, 1959
New York City, U.S.[1]
DiedApril 12, 2017(2017-04-12) (aged 57)
New York City, U.S.
Medium
Years active1980–2017
Genres
Subject(s)
  • Everyday life
  • popular culture
  • politics
  • celebrities
Spouse
Tisha Taylor
​
​
(m. 1997; died 2009)​
Children3
Relative(s)Eddie Murphy (brother)

Early life

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Murphy was born on July 12, 1959, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn.[2] His mother Lillian Murphy was a telephone operator and his father, Charles Edward Murphy, was a transit police officer, actor, and comedian.[3]

As an adolescent, Murphy spent ten months in jail.[4] In 1978 on the day of his release,[5] he enlisted in the United States Navy and served for six years as a boiler technician.[6]

Career

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Murphy made his first film appearance in the 1970 comedy-drama film The Landlord. The film was shot in a neighborhood where Murphy lived and he appears in a brief scene as a boy stealing hubcaps. Murphy had minor roles in several films in the late 1980s and early 1990s and worked behind the scenes with hip hop group K-9 Posse, a duo composed of his half-brother Vernon Lynch Jr. and Wardell Mahone. On their 1988 self-titled debut, Murphy was credited as the album's executive producer as well as songwriter on "Somebody's Brother" and "Say Who Say What."[7] He also made an appearance in the video for the duo's first single, "This Beat Is Military."[8] Murphy's first major role in a motion picture was in the 1993 film CB4, playing the antagonist Gusto.

Murphy gained national attention as a recurring performer on Chappelle's Show, particularly in the Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories sketches. In these, Murphy recounts his misadventures as part of his brother's entourage, including encounters with various celebrities such as Rick James and Prince.[9][10] After Chappelle's Show host Dave Chappelle left the show, Murphy and Donnell Rawlings hosted the "lost episodes" compiled from sketches produced before his departure.

In 2005, he appeared in King's Ransom (alongside Anthony Anderson and Jay Mohr). In the film, Murphy portrayed Herb, a gay ex-con who is hired by King (Anderson) to fake his kidnapping.[11] Murphy also did voiceovers for Budweiser radio commercials, provided the voice for Iraq War veteran/criminal Ed Wuncler III on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim series The Boondocks, and the voice for a pimp named Jizzy-B in Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas video game. Murphy provided the voice for Spock on the G4TV's Star Trek 2.0 shorts, and the dog in his younger brother Eddie's 2007 film, Norbit.[12]

On March 20, 2009, he began his own sketch comedy series Charlie Murphy's Crash Comedy on Crackle.[13] A stand-up special, Charlie Murphy: I Will Not Apologize premiered on Comedy Central in late February 2010.[14] Murphy also made special appearances in 1000 Ways to Die and the TBS sitcom Are We There Yet? as Frank Kingston. In 2014–15, Murphy played Vic on the Adult Swim live-action show Black Jesus.[15]

Personal life and death

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Murphy was a resident of Tewksbury Township, New Jersey.[16] He was married to Tisha Taylor Murphy from 1997 until her death from cervical cancer in December 2009.[1] The couple had two children together, and Murphy had a child from a previous relationship.[1] He was a karate practitioner.[17][18]

Murphy died from leukemia on April 12, 2017, at age 57 in New York City, New York.[19][20][21]

The third-season premiere of Black Jesus and his brother's film, Dolemite Is My Name, were dedicated to Murphy. Murphy was the one who piqued his brother's interest in the biopic's subject, Rudy Ray Moore.[22]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1989 Harlem Nights Jimmy The Muffin Man[23]
1990 Mo' Better Blues Eggy[24]
1991 Jungle Fever Livin' Large[24]
1993 CB4 Gusto[25]
1996 The Pompatus of Love Saxophone Man[24]
1998 The Players Club Brooklyn[24]
1999 Unconditional Love Detective
2002 Paper Soldiers Johnson[24] Also writer
2003 Death of a Dynasty Dick James/Dukey Man/Sock Head[24]
2005 Lovesick Damian
2005 King's Ransom Herb Clarke[24]
2005 Roll Bounce Victor[24]
2006 Night at the Museum Taxi Driver[24] Cameo
2007 Three Days to Vegas Andre[24]
2007 Mattie Fresno and the Holoflux Universe Griss[26]
2007 Norbit Lloyd the Dog[24][27] Voice cameo / also writer
Nominated — Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay
2007 Unearthed Hank[24]
2007 Twisted Fortune Angel Robbins
2007 Universal Remote Various
2007 The Perfect Holiday J-Jizzy[24]
2008 Bar Starz Clay the Doorman/Arnie[24]
2008 The Hustle Junior Walker
2009 Frankenhood Franklin[24]
2010 Our Family Wedding T.J.[28]
2010 Lottery Ticket Semaj[29]
2012 Moving Day Cedric[30]
2016 Meet the Blacks Key Flo[31] Final film role

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1990 The Kid Who Loved Christmas TV movie
1995 Martin Big Bro 1 episode
1995 Murder was the Case: The Movie JC Direct-to-video
2003–2006 Chappelle's Show Various 14 episodes, also writer
2004 One on One Senator Larry Eldrige
2005 Denis Leary's Merry F#%$in' Christmas Himself TV special
2005–2010 The Boondocks Ed Wuncler III (voice)[32] 10 episodes
2006 Thugaboo: Sneaker Madness Big Kid (voice) TV movie
2006 Thugaboo: A Miracle on D-Roc's Street Big Kid (voice) TV movie
2006 Wild 'n Out Himself
2007 Beef IV Himself/narrator (voice) Video documentary
2007 We Got to Do Better Host Unknown episodes
2007 Pauly Shore's Natural Born Komics Himself Direct-to-video
2009 Nite Tales: The Series Samson Episode: "Pill Time"
2010 Freaknik: The Musical Al Sharpton,[33] Perminator (voice) TV movie
2010 Charlie Murphy: I Will Not Apologize Himself Video documentary
2010 Lopez Tonight Himself
2010–2012 Are We There Yet? Frank Kingston 5 episodes
2010 1000 Ways to Die Himself Episode: "Today's Menu: Deep Fried Death"
2011 The Cookout 2 Coach Ashmokeem TV film
2012–2014 Black Dynamite A Cat Named Rollo (voice) 2 episodes
2013 Hawaii Five-0 Don McKinney
2014–2015 Black Jesus Vic[24] Main cast
21 episodes
2016 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vrax Belebome / Bellybomb (voice)[34] Episode: "Journey to the Center of Mikey's Mind"
2017 Power Marshal Clyde Williams 5 episodes
2017 The Comedy Get Down Himself Posthumous release
5 episodes

Video games

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Year Title Role Notes
2004 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Jizzy B.[32]
2006 Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure White Mike[32]
2021 Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition Jizzy B.[32] Archival recordings
Remaster of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas only.

Music videos

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Year Title Role
1994 Murder Was the Case JC

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Charlie Murphy's Wife, Tisha Taylor Murphy, Dies". MTV News. Archived from the original on April 14, 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  2. ^ "The other funny Murphy, Eddie's brother Charlie". The Daily Telegraph. March 11, 2012. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  3. ^ Zehme, Bill (August 24, 1989). "Eddie Murphy: the Rolling Stone interview". Rolling Stone. p. 131.
  4. ^ Murphy, Charlie (December 1, 2009). The Making of a Stand-Up Guy. Contributions by Chris Millis. Simon & Schuster. pp. 81–83. ISBN 9781439123140. On the spur of the moment, for what in our minds amounted to nothing more than a lark, we decided to rob the driver at gunpoint. [...] I was charged as a youthful offender on my first offense and handed three years' probation. [...] [I]n the third year I was arrested for petit larceny, loitering, and a few other misdemeanors. Taken all together, the crimes were a violation of my probation. [...] I was sentenced to serve out the remainder of my probation in Nassau County Jail. I was going away for ten months.
  5. ^ Kugel, Allison (December 15, 2007). "Charlie Murphy Shares His True Hollywood Stories and Passion for Comedy with PR.com". Retrieved January 18, 2013. I got out on a Monday and I signed up for the Navy the same day.
  6. ^ Murphy, Keith (2017-04-13). "The hilarious and self-aware glory of Charlie Murphy". Andscape. Retrieved 2019-10-19.
  7. ^ "So Corny It's Good Part Five: The K-9 Posse". Bloggerhouse.net. Archived from the original on April 17, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  8. ^ "K-9 Posse- This Beat Is Military (Video)". YouTube. 18 June 2011. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  9. ^ "Remembering Charlie Murphy's Epic Story About Prince On Chappelle's Show". MTV. Archived from the original on April 22, 2016. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  10. ^ Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories: Rick James & Prince - Chappelle's Show (Video). Comedy Central. October 4, 2018. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  11. ^ Hartlaub, Peter (23 April 2005). "Come on – kidnap me. I'm worth every penny". Sfgate. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  12. ^ Andrew Williams (July 17, 2012). "Charlie Murphy: I wasn't happy being one of Eddie's troops – I'm a general". Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  13. ^ "Charlie Murphy taking comedy to Crackle.com". The Hollywood Reporter. March 3, 2009. Archived from the original on March 9, 2009. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
  14. ^ ""COMEDY CENTRAL FEBRUARY PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS" The Futon Critic December 21, 2009". Thefutoncritic.com. Retrieved June 23, 2010.
  15. ^ "Charlie Murphy on the Black Jesus Controversy and 10 Years of Hearing About Rick James". August 22, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  16. ^ Charlie Murphy at Pepper Belly's Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, SFstandup.com. Accessed January 21, 2011.
  17. ^ Huntington, Heather. "Exclusive interview with Charlie Murphy". Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  18. ^ S. Pajot (June 25, 2010). "Charlie Murphy Discusses His Brother, Bitch-Slaps, and the Death of Chappelle's Show". Miami New Times. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  19. ^ "Eddie Murphy's brother Charlie Murphy dead at 57: TMZ". fox5sandiego.com. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  20. ^ "Comedian Charlie Murphy Dead at 57 After Leukemia Battle". TMZ. 2017-04-12. Retrieved 2017-04-12.
  21. ^ Melas, Chloe (April 13, 2017). "Comedian Charlie Murphy dies at 57". CNN. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  22. ^ Guerrasio, Jason. "Why Netflix's 'Dolemite Is My Name' is dedicated to Eddie Murphy's brother, Charlie". Business Insider. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  23. ^ Cook, Brian (April 12, 2017). "Comedian Charlie Murphy Dies at 57". Sheridan Broadcasting Networks. Archived from the original on April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  24. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "Charlie Murphy". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  25. ^ Ebert, Roger (June 6, 1993). "CB4 Movie Review & Film Summary (1993)". Roger Ebert.
  26. ^ "Mattie Fresno and the Holoflux Universe". River Front Times. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  27. ^ Gettell, Oliver (April 12, 2017). "Eddie Murphy and family mourn Charlie Murphy: 'Our hearts are heavy'". Entertainment Weekly.
  28. ^ "Our Family Wedding (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. 12 March 2010. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  29. ^ Barker, Andrew (August 12, 2010). "Review: 'Lottery Ticket'". Variety.
  30. ^ Punter, Jennie (July 20, 2012). "Moving Day: Not as moving as it wants to be". The Globe and Mail.
  31. ^ Lemire, Christy (April 1, 2016). "Meet the Blacks Movie Review & Film Summary (2016)". Roger Ebert.
  32. ^ a b c d Hornshaw, Phil (April 12, 2017). "RIP Charlie Murphy: 6 Things You Probably Didn't Know He Was In (Photos)". The Wrap.
  33. ^ Isler, Ramsay (March 8, 2010). "'Freaknik: The Musical' Review". IGN.
  34. ^ Nicholson, Max (January 17, 2016). "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: "Journey to the Center of Mikey's Mind" Review". IGN.
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