James Murray (actor)

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For other persons named James Murray, see James Murray (disambiguation).

James Murray (February 9, 1901 – July 11, 1936) was an American movie actor.

Born in The Bronx, New York, James Murray went to Hollywood in the 1920's to try to succeed as an actor. After several years of work as an extra with little hope of a starring role, he was "discovered" by director King Vidor, who saw Murray walking by on the MGM lot. Vidor was about to begin work on a new film and thought Murray might look right for the lead. Murray, however, failed to show up for the meeting he arranged with Vidor, apparently thinking it to be a joke. Vidor subsequently tracked him down, and Murray's performance in The Crowd was lauded by both the critics and the public. Before his work in The Crowd, Murray had starred alongside Joan Crawford in Rose Marie in 1928.

Despite success in subsequent MGM films such as Lon Chaney's Thunder, Murray's life soon took a turn for the tragic that eerily mirrored his role in The Crowd. Excessive drinking led to a scarcity of roles, and by 1934 he was homeless and panhandling on the street. In an instance of extreme coincidence, he tried begging from a man who turned out to be King Vidor. Vidor offered Murray a role in his upcoming film, Our Daily Bread, but Murray turned it down, deeming it an act of pity. Decades later, Vidor was still so haunted by Murray's tragic decline that he wrote an unrealized screenplay about his life, "The Actor".

In 1936, Murray drowned after falling from the string-piece of a pier into the Hudson River. It was unclear to authorities as to whether Murray's drowning was accidental or a suicide. He was interred at the Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens, New York, USA. His death was ruled a suicide.