Who Is Bill Murray and What Is His Net Worth? Meet His Wife and Children

If there is one man who makes deadpan humor in comedy come alive better than anyone else, it would be Bill Murray, the American comedian, actor, and writer. The septuagenarian who kicked off his career as a part of an improvisational comedy troupe, rose to fame on Saturday Night Live then went ahead to cement his fame as one of the funniest actors in Hollywood. He began his show business career as one of the early casts on Saturday Night Live! far back in the second season of the show but unlike many others with who he was cast, Murray did not slow his roll.

Considering his massive success in his chosen career path, one would think the award-winning actor has things all figured out in his personal life, but that has not been the case seeing as he has tried matrimony twice but none of it worked out. That notwithstanding, the actor is a proud father of six children, all sons who are doing quite well in their own fields.

William James “Bill” Murray was born on September 21, 1950, in Evanston, Illinois. Murray and his 8 siblings, three of whom are also actors were raised in Wilmette, Illinois. Murray had it quite rough during his teenage years. While the family struggled to make ends meet, his mother battled incessant miscarriages that took a toll on the entire family and their finances. At the age of 17, he lost his father to diabetes and what was initially a rough early life became even tougher as he had to struggle to sustain himself while chipping in what he can at home especially for the care of one of his sisters who was suffering from polio at the time.

With the many difficulties surrounding the family, Murray worked as a golf caddy in order to afford his tuition at Loyola Academy. In high school, he was active in theater and was part of a rock band named Dutch Masters where he was the lead singer. A natural troublemaker, Murray occasionally got caught up in trouble especially with the law. On his 20th birthday, he was arrested at O’Hare airport, Chicago for trying to smuggle marijuana, for which he was placed on probation. Murray briefly took pre-medical courses at Regis University in Denver, Colorado before dropping out to pursue other endeavours that interested him more.

When you take into account the 5 decades of work Bill Murray has in his portfolio, then you would better understand why he has such an impressive net worth. That notwithstanding, many have equally argued that his worth should have been higher, but considering the fact that he did not start out a star and have definitely dipped his hands into some endeavours that took money from him, then you would better understand why his net worth sits pretty at $180 million. Here is a breakdown of all the sources of income that contributed to his worth since his comedy and acting career kicked off in 1970.

Murray began his comedy career after his older brother Brian Doyle-Murray invited him to join the improvisational comedy troupe, “The Second City” in Chicago which Brian himself was also part of. Eventually, Murray relocated to New York City where he became part of the radio show “The National Lampoon Radio Hour” from 1973 to 1974. The turning point for Murray’s comedy career came when sportscaster Howard Cosell discovered him on the set of a Lampoon off-Broadway show.

Cosell who had just begun “Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell” recruited Murray for the show which aired on ABC at the time. Cosell’s show faced competition from a similar, more-successful show of the same name which ran on NBC and as a result, was only short-lived. However, it aired long enough to attract attention to Murray, who was later selected to join the NBC version, replacing Chevy Chase who had left to focus better on his budding movie career.

Bill Murray made his SNL debut on NBC in the second season in 1977 and remained on the show for two more seasons, leaving in 1980. In his debut year, Murray received a Primetime Emmy Award for “Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program”. There has been no disclosure of how much he earned on the show but considering the fact that he was still trying to find his feet in the comedy sphere at the time, it’s been speculated that his yearly earnings on SNL were lower than his weekly earnings of $250,000 filming Caddyshack in 1980.

Murray Has an Impressive Film Career with Huge Earnings That Contributed To His Net Worth

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After three outstanding years with the popular sketch comedy show, Murray did a Chevy Chase, turning his focus towards film roles. He had previously made an uncredited appearance and a voice role, but his debut in a major starring role came in Meatballs (1979) which was a box office hit. He continued his success with hits like Caddyshack (1980), Stripes (1981), and Tootsie (1982) which were interspersed by a few flops.

Subsequently, 1984 proved to be quite a successful year for Bill Murray when his eagerness to adapt the Somerset Maugham novel titled “The Razor’s Edge” led to his signing a deal with Columbia Pictures. The deal involved his starring in “Ghostbusters” in return for the studio financing for his project.

Ghostbusters turned out to be the best decision he made at the time as it was a massive hit critically and among audiences, grossing about $300 million to become the year’s highest-grossing movie. The incredible success produced an equally successful cartoon series and action figures. Its theme song was a hit as well, featuring on the charts. Basically, it is safe to say that everything about the first instalment of Ghostbusters was a success because it further bolstered Murray’s fame. He has since gone on to star in two sequels of Ghostbusters.

Despite the success of Ghostbusters, Murray’s adaptation of “The Razor’s Edge” which Columbia Pictures financed as agreed, was nowhere near the success of Ghostbusters, it turned out to be a huge flop, forcing him to take a four-year hiatus from Hollywood. When he eventually returned in 1988, he went ahead to star in countless other big hits like What About Bob? (1991) and Groundhog Day (1993) for which he earned $8 million and $10 million respectively. Here are some movies he earned big from.

Although his first adaptation work The Razor’s Edge (1984) flopped so terribly that Bill Murray took a four-year break from all things movies, he returned invigorated not just as an actor but also as a writer. It would be right to point out that before the flop, he did very well as a writer for his acts on SNL. In 1990, he tried his hands-on production and co-directing Quick Change which he also acted in. The movie received good reviews from critics with some going as far as claiming the role of Grimm was one of Murray’s best yet. Rotten Tomatoes gave it an 82% score from 33 reviews.

Staying true to form, Murray released A Very Murray Christmas in 2015, a Christmas comedy with an ensemble cast that made it come alive much to the delight of viewers who had many good things to say about it.

Bill Murray has certainly not spent five decades in the entertainment sphere without making efforts to broaden his earning power in the business world. In 2001 he partnered with his actor brothers to open the Murray Bros. Caddy Shack restaurant at the World Golf Village in Florida. The success of this first effort soon birthed a second outlet in 2018 at the Crowne Plaza Rosemont Hotel in Chicago.

Next, the actor ventured into the world of sports when he made a show of owning a part in four well-known baseball teams including St. Paul Saints, Charleston RiverDogs, the Hudson Valley Renegades, and the Brockton Rox. He also has investments in four other minor league teams and all of these culminated in his being inducted into the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame.

Still on his business ventures, Bill and his brothers took on a new challenge when they founded a clothing company that produces golf apparel. Their designs have been praised for being comfortable and versatile especially as they have credited their early life efforts as caddies as the inspiration for the line.

Despite how high the actor’s net worth has risen, there have equally been instances when his net worth took a hit that saw him lose a good chunk of money. Although he is famously single at the moment, Murray has been married twice and both times, it ended in a divorce. Although there are no records of how much it cost him to leave his first wife, his divorce from his second wife cost a little fortune.

After being married for a decade, Jennifer Butler Murray filed for divorce from Bill Murray citing infidelity and abuse. Unlike the many other acrimonious divorce proceedings we’ve heard of, theirs was quick. Barely one month after the suit was officially filed, the former couple came to an agreement about who would get what. Jennifer Butler was given primary custody of their children with visitation rights for Murray, their home in Hemet, Califonia, another of the couple’s home in Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, an undisclosed amount in support for their four kids, and the $7 million she was entitled from the prenup they signed before the got married.

The talented actor may be single at the moment by his choosing, but he has a rather large family considering the fact that he grew up alongside 8 siblings, has been married two times and has a total of six children, all boys. They may not all live under one roof, but Murray has certainly done his absolute best to be in his children’s lives even while being divorced from their mothers. As discussed above, he followed through on the terms of his divorce paying child support and doing everything to right the wrongs that broke his marriage apart.

At the age of 31 in 1981, a young Bill whose career was still on the rise, took his first stab at matrimony when he married Margaret Kelly while they were shooting the movie Stripes. They later had a second ceremony in which family and friends attended. For thirteen years, they lived happily and were a celebrity couple many envied. The couple soon expanded their family when they had their first child, a son they named Homer and years later, a second son they named Luke.

Thirteen years down the line, the couple’s marriage hit a snag when it came to light that the then young and hunky actor was cheating on his wife with Jennifer Butler. Following this, they went their separate ways in 1994 and eventually finalized their divorce in 1996 with Margaret getting custody of the couple’s sons.

One year after his divorce from his first wife, Bill Murray’s affair with Jennifer came to a head when they tied the knot and officially became man and wife in 1997. They went on to have four sons. This was not to last either owing to a lot of difficulties the couple faced mostly stemming from Murray’s constant issues with mood swings, alcohol, and drug abuse as alleged by his then-wife Jennifer. She eventually filed for a divorce in 2008 with a request for a restraining order on the grounds of his incessant cases of violence against her. A month later, the proceedings were finalized and they went their separate ways.

Although his wives both got full custody of their sons when their marriages with Bill crashed, the veteran actor has admitted that he did his absolute best to remain a big part of his children’s lives. He may not have been a big influence on their career choices but all six children seem to be doing well in their own respective fields.

Homer Murray

Homer was born in 1982 and was raised mostly by his mother Margaret Kelly after his parents got divorced. He started out his career endeavours as an actor but has since expanded his horizon to other interesting endeavours. As the story goes, he caught a love for cooking while doing a side job flipping eggs. He followed this up by going deeper and feeding his love for the restaurant business in general and working side jobs as a sous chef. Eventually in 2016, he opened his own restaurant and bar in Brooklyn which he named the 21 Greenpoint. His very proud father Bill graced the opening and made a very touching toast to his son.

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Luke Murray

Bill Murray’s second son Luke was born in 1985 and was equally raised by his mother Margaret. But unlike Homer, he was more inclined to sport and has since built his career as an assistant coach for the Louisville Cardinals at the University of Louisville. Other teams he had worked with in the past include Rhode Island, Xavier, Towson, Arizona and Wagner. Luke has been married to Kara Cassidy since 2015.

Caleb Murray

Not much has been heard about Caleb Murray, Bill’s first son with Jennifer Butler. News about him only surfaced in June 2020 when he was arrested at a Black Live Matter protest in Vinyard Haven Massachusetts for spitting on, biting a police officer, and threatening arson. He was then charged with three counts of assault and battery on a police officer, threat to commit a crime, malicious destruction of property, making terroristic threats, and disorderly conduct. Although some of the charges were thrown out, he was tried for assault and battery on a police officer, made to pay a bail fee of $10,000, and was later given a year of pretrial probation.

Jackson Murray

There is next to no information about Murray’s fourth son and second son with Jennifer Butler. Besides his avid interest in Golf, there are no details about what he does for a living. Jackson got married to Elena Mpougas in 2015.

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Cooper & Lincoln Murray

The youngest sons of Bill Murray are Cooper born in 1997 and Lincoln born in 2001. They are the last of his children with Jennifer Butler and there seems to be no information on their whereabouts or what they do for a living.

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The talented actor comes from a large family and has eight siblings. Just like Bill, three of his brothers, John Murray, Joel Murray, and Brian Doyle-Murray also work in the entertainment industry as actors.

Having been raised in a strong Roman Catholic Irish-American family, one of his sisters, Nancy chose to become an Adrian Dominican nun in Michigan.

In 2016, the Oscar nominee and his five brothers launched another franchise of their Murray Bros. Caddyshack restaurants in their native Illinois.

They had launched the first of its kind in 2001 near Florida’s World Golf Hall of Fame.