Billy Murray (actor)

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Billy Murray

Born October, 1941
London, United Kingdom
Notable roles Johnny Allen in Eastenders, DS Don Beech in The Bill

Billy Murray (born October 1941) is an English actor.

Contents

[edit] Career

Murray was born in East London and knew the Krays from Bethnal Green, who are said to have funded him to train at East 15 Acting School, London.

Billy made his acting debut in the 1963 film Two Left Feet where he played a minor uncredited role. He then had a small roles in the films Poor Cow (1967), Corruption (1967) and Up the Junction. In the 1970s, 80s and 90s he made appearances in many television series such as Softly, Softly, The Sweeney, The Professionals, Minder, Bergerac and Casualty.

Murray then went on to play the corrupt DS Don Beech in the ITV police drama series The Bill, playing the role regularly from 1995 to 2000. In 2001 he returned as Don Beech in a one-off special episode Beech on the Run and later that year in a spin-off six-part mini-series entitled Beech is Back. In 2004 he returned as Don Beech in The Bill for a guest stint in five episodes, in which his character escaped from prison and is now back 'on the run'.

In 2005, he joined the cast of popular BBC soap opera EastEnders, playing retired gangster Johnny Allen. He was reported to be the nastiest gangster ever to appear in the soap, but after a good start few months into the character's arrival — due to constant script re-writes, poor storylines, and changing executive producers — the character of Johnny was often inconsistent.

He departed from the show in March 2006 when his character was jailed after confessing to the murder of Dennis Rickman and countless other murders in the past. He won the 'Best Villain' award at the British Soap Awards in May 2006 for his role as Johnny Allen. He made a brief return to EastEnders in October that year when his character was seen in prison and later died of a heart attack. He recently appeared in the film Rollin' with the Nines.

[edit] Trivia

  • His daughter Jaime Murray is also an actress best known for starring in the series Hustle and (like her father) once had a role in The Bill.
  • He played small roles in both The Bill and EastEnders before going on to play more well-known regular characters many years later. Before playing Don Beech in The Bill he appeared as DI Jackson in 1989 and before playing Johnny Allen in EastEnders he appeared as Mr X in 1991.
  • He currently lives in Brentwood, Essex and often dines at a local carvery.

[edit] Selected filmography

[edit] External links

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