DALAI LAMA

Tibetan spiritual leader whose fictitious golfing prowess supplied the grist for one of Murray’s most memorable speeches in Caddyshack. In reality, His Holiness does not play golf, has never seen Caddyshack, and claims to be ignorant of the rules of most competitive sports. In his youth, he did enjoy the occasional game of badminton and went through a brief but avid table tennis phase in the 1950s. In a 2014 interview, the Dalai Lama boasted that he had once defeated Chinese premier Zhou Enlai in a game of ping-pong.

DARJEELING LIMITED, THE

DIRECTED BY: Wes Anderson

WRITTEN BY: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, and Jason Schwartzman

RELEASE DATE: October 26, 2007

FILM RATING: **

MURRAY RATING: *

PLOT: Three grieving brothers embark on a curry-scented journey of self-discovery.

STARRING BILL MURRAY AS: The Businessman, a passenger to India

Murray has a mostly silent cameo as a well-dressed train traveler in this self-indulgent fifth feature from director Wes Anderson. Anderson told Rolling Stone he modeled Murray’s character on Karl Malden’s traveller’s check–wielding tourist in a series of American Express TV commercials from the 1970s. For his part, Murray was intrigued by the offer of an all-expenses-paid trip to India on the studio’s dime. Scheduled for three days of filming, he completed his scenes in a day and a half and spent the next month visiting tourist sites. He later called the no-drama shoot “a great experience.”

NEXT MOVIE: Get Smart (2008)

DEAD ZONE, THE

Murray was author Stephen King’s first choice for the lead role of Johnny Smith, a small-town schoolteacher with clairvoyant powers, in this 1983 movie adaptation of King’s novel. Producer Dino DeLaurentiis also wanted Murray to play the part, but Murray couldn’t fit the film into his jam-packed early-’80s schedule. Christopher Walken eventually got the role.

DEATH

As a young man, Murray kept a large moose head on the wall of his New York City apartment as a reminder of his mortality. In 1984, he told an interviewer for McCall’s: “I once read: Whenever you sit down for dinner, if you pull up a chair for Death, he will finally come and you’ll be ready for him. That’s what I’d like to teach my son. Be ready for death. Treat every day as if it is your last day.”

In a 2008 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Murray revealed that he would like to have his skull put on display after his death: “If I felt myself getting ill, I’d like to have that paperwork sorted out before I went to the end. I love the idea of my skull being somewhere. It’s not going to do anybody any good anywhere else. ‘A fellow of infinite jest’—that would be a great thing to be known as.”

DEMPSEY & CARROLL

High-end New York City stationery engravers whose products Murray has touted in interviews as the finest stationery in Manhattan.

DILAMUCA, TODD

Antic noogie-dispensing nerd played by Murray in thirteen Saturday Night Live sketches between 1978 and 1980. The character was originally called Todd LaBounta, after a high school classmate of SNL writer Al Franken. Murray was forced to change the name after the real-life LaBounta threatened to sue NBC. John Belushi was the first choice to play DiLaMuca but declined the part.

DiLaMuca is the boyfriend of Lisa Loopner, played by Gilda Radner. The Nerd sketches were often used as a vehicle for Murray and Radner to work out issues in their on-again, off-again romantic relationship. In an interview conducted for the book American Nerd: The Story of My People, writer Anne Beatts revealed that Murray would occasionally leave telephone messages for Radner, saying “Todd called.” Beatts noted, “I think that mild sadism of Todd toward Lisa was a reflection of the dynamic of their relationship.”

It was also a reflection of his suburban Chicago upbringing. Murray’s sister Laura once revealed to an interviewer that Todd DiLaMuca’s penchant for giving people noogies was based on her brother’s own adolescent proclivities. “We just couldn’t believe it,” she said of her family’s initial reaction to the sketches. “He was just in the kitchen giving us those, and now there he is suddenly doing it on national television and getting standing ovations. I actually felt sorry for those other cast members any time I saw him doing that, because they were painful.”

DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS

Murray was one of several actors considered for the co-lead in this 2010 comedy. Steve Martin, Robin Williams, and Sacha Baron Cohen were also up for parts in the film, which gestated for more than a decade before finally being made with Steve Carell and Paul Rudd as the titular schmegeggies.

DIRECTING

Most actors aspire to direct at some point in their careers. Murray is no exception. “Directing is where the action is,” he once observed. “It’s like being the catcher in baseball. I was the catcher when I played, and you were in on every play. You called every play.” To date, however, he has stepped behind the camera only one time, for 1990’s Quick Change, and that was in collaboration with his good friend Howard Franklin. Murray’s oft-stated aversion to hard work may have something to do with it. “It was like four times more work being the director,” he told an interviewer on the eve of Quick Change’s release. “You can’t even compare it. It’s just ridiculous. It’s the difference between being a child and being a parent.” After his debut opened to mostly favorable reviews, Murray expected to direct again. “I thought I would do it all the time. I thought it would be a regular thing,” he said. But he lost his yen to sit in the big chair after his proposed sophomore effort, Beat, went down in flames because of studio indifference. “I wrote a really funny script with my friend Mitch Glazer,” Murray told the Australian. “Disney said, ‘This is the greatest script we’ve seen in five years,’ then, three days later, went, ‘We don’t want to make that movie.’ It was such a low blow. It knocked the wind out of me.”

DIRECTOR OF FUN

Murray’s official title with the Charleston RiverDogs, the minor league baseball team in which he has had an ownership stake since the mid-1990s. Murray described his duties to the Boston Globe: “It means I have a portfolio. It means that if I’m arrested I’m to be taken to an embassy someplace. Like in a fun place. Monte Carlo or someplace where they have crimes of passion. I think then I have a chance of getting off.”

DOGMA

Murray was one of the finalists for the role of Cardinal Ignatius Glick, a cynical Catholic prelate, in director Kevin Smith’s 1999 comedy. Robin Williams and Chevy Chase were also considered for the part, which ultimately went to stand-up comedy legend George Carlin.

DOYLE-MURRAY, BRIAN

See Murray, Brian.

DUMB AND DUMBER TO

DIRECTED BY: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly

WRITTEN BY: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly, Sean Anders, John Morris, Bennett Yellin, and Mike Cerrone

RELEASE DATE: November 14, 2014

FILM RATING: *

MURRAY RATING: *

PLOT: Two imbeciles travel the country in search of a kidney donor.

STARRING BILL MURRAY AS: Icepick, a methamphetamine cook

Unrecognizable in a gas mask and yellow hazmat suit, Murray has a brief cameo as Harry Dunne’s meth-making roommate in this sequel to the 1994 Farrelly brothers hit.

DUTCH MASTERS, THE

Murray’s high school rock band, which specialized in cover versions of the hits of the 1950s and ’60s.