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DonMurray’s 1 alma mater celebrates his ‘Unsung Hero’ movie career BY DANIEL BUBBEO [email protected]

t’s been nearly 70 years sinceDon Murray gradu- ated with the Classof 1947 from East Rockaway comes home High School, and the Iprescient senior yearbook hinted at his futuresuccesswith afew notations by his picture: Hangout —Onstage;Lowdown —Acting ability; Last stop — Broadway. Within adecade he’d be an Oscar contender forplaying a roughhewn cowboywooing saloon singer in “Bus Stop” (1956) and afew yearslaterwould earn acco- lades as asenatordestroyed by scandal in ’s “Advise and Consent” (1962). Lesspublicized butequally rewarding has been his role as a social activist whoworkedwith refugees in Italyand Germany. When Murray,87, arguably the school’s most illustrious alumnus, wasinvited by his alma matertoreturn foracele- bration of his work as actor and activist, he couldn’t refuse. “I’m not crazy abouttraveling these days,but East Rockaway High School wassoimportant in starting my career,” says Murray,who livesinLos Ange- les, of the shows he penned every year forthe school. “It wasmyfirst training in theater. That’s howIcould writethe movies Idid.” Thefilm star is being hon- ored at the school on Thursday

with ascreening of anew docu- ne mentary,“Unsung Hero,” which ws da

delvesintohis career and y. philanthropic work,and fea- co m tures interviews with Murray,

familymembersand colleagues, NEW including actorsEva Marie Saint and “Knots Landing” SD AY LFF co-star Michele Lee. Theevent ,S UND WO

LEX See MURRAY on E26 AY /A ,O CT OBER GRAPHY

TO Murray and his son Mick appear onscreen via Skype at a 16, PHO 20

GE sneak previewof“Don Murray —Unsung Hero” at Cinema 16 NCIER Arts CentreinHuntington. CO NEWSDAY,SUNDAY,OCTOBER 16, 2016 newsday.com act twoN1 E2 6 MURR abou ta ce Monr in Don Don is Ac wo Alumni tion tions. pr school,” other scholar Mo Murr dr scr 19 with fo int Ro af didn’t fa drug him re sho Ro tha Murr Malc bulous, te lk rb aliz being esident ama eds 56 “U “I’m Th wh er ck ck eening od tw nr wbiz rd abou an and esting est Murr ta Malc olm aw aw nsung such ay ay ed ad oe ed dr oe ich than “I car ar as kno oing AY “A 36 ships. ft Oscar ’s ama dict. t’s ay ay ,b in As eb ocument host suppor in ther sa er the ro mis tw Murr eer sa ear wo ay ,g olm and of wa Ha of ut an re ys 20 Ed socia fr tha “Bus ots eing to th ys some He ro hat om sed “Don all ed that ew East the nder ly with the not 09 co tf Dan illustrious uca ed . ha nomination th lot wing Ik met ay ul fa ro yg ye ting me by tion, used he’s as at ve E25 tw mil St by ir 19 ew Don ”c no tion of ary ful earned ar pl Ro re abou Marilyn oing Ca ect wa 57 op a the ar oo someone to home aye wM si sear ame ev y( Rain,” up actor ck ent done.” per rr and co or ,” eal st to Fo nE Murr ery rg th his East aw aciolo da to in ve the ch his son. unda cr Ho aril aniz to st ast . one im pr ay and be a rs ea ory I our ay ll yn o- te a- and y- I , ,” - , r, str wa re re on Ta mother Te ma Dr the (af semipr lo his ve port an tt nnes ongl ama te sa de hold da American oo rh of Wa rr da his ,” tic fo ob yo see est at igh had wh r. bu rd hletics danc Br Arts). ask pposed Murr ed th Wi school, activis en ut oa been aft etb is yd lliams’ Ac dw ed he ay er car In (he all) uring ad ir ay wa ,w aZ to listing he ect 19 eer em de and sc pl ho the iegf 51 “The studied or aye yo bu the ,M go alled wa )a wa eld acting ti tp himself d f urr s Ko nd Ro n r, ut gir to ay - se at his l, with ultima as German wh wo ba wh and ev with further wo to land en rbed- “T ge ac rk od, oc om fr ts ha disp It af onscientious of equentl ontinued te housing, alian using tha we te ubsidies AC tw his wir ya ly my rf lac re tw as vo nd ec cause. industries inding go lif ed li his er the lunt yr ving amps. e, It ve dinia. eu re fa ”s int aiding al fo eturned suc rnment most T eer fug rms y, “When He the rp sed ay o‘ fa in object most ce me ed sM ees Bus ar t, Maril 2 ca wo fa in ss and to re import ce to ve me in urr in Sa to rk fug to cr of or St ls of Ig sa wo small Ho ed yn r- fi ea op .H It ay of of ees ot cials nd al te rk , ant ,’ ll e y y- alumnus ye Mu if wo pl wo kis wo me tha Mo ac it arbook sM uldn’t uld uld th rr nr to wa et ay oe er politicians,” aril ob sn’t ask ask ’s name wa phot high ha uy yn me them fo ss ve land, Mo rh o, oa school wh opened go er Clas nr wh mazing tt at .T and oe. en he er wa so he senior an e’s sa We then door f1 si peop ys yw the 94 in tl .“ he ik sf It 7. the I le best et al re or y, y o EASTROCKAWAYHIGH SCHOOL also another peer honor of Mo “L wh disp short tr illusions ad culties, just rat hour thing. doing. she ro of fi Log at Te because sit car pl ther and his ar Martin wa HOLL honor lm ad ed umbing te ea.” et ust Th “I Wo Murr ev Murr Murr ds. eth” making her sa ol eer nr mother’s an ns wo ep ee laced as re sa making og cu didn’t sl ho YW ener ough ble ost oe “W rk co fo ary .A It ju gi than ho casting It we at nded uld tt ub nd led wb in ay ay ay et Murr rL ing nc ve co wa ve OOD in we e, wa e’d abou og to to we Br lications,” ate citiz “T the an methods to we also re wa na entr fi if -st nt Murr fo had to rilliant ta the sn’t ether with him. re sa Anthon oa lms.” e.” br du st turned her up he da rg te ur co ay ke Oscar ar re se oy dir sume artistic tw CALLS en art dw ought him at dt et mo re ex ging, ,H its “I mmer po until Skin ctr thanking sa an ge ve ay ect ou fi ion He Mo al inning. of ay pect wh tha he as fe ys lm ope vie ya shar tt she nm es nt in ro yQ or st lt int by nomina Sa ing his fr .“ ro sa nr ce ha sp wh in at tI sM Is of modern ds op-and- ,i manc he de cializ ent om it “Bus ed She rd ys Jo oS ad le Lang wa oe ne eo an,” yo dn tw she uinn aw 19 Our acting appr wa int ole bu in shua set inia. ary erprise oppo ea ,w Mo Murr 55 ur us s.” It ar fd and o as t, oi had sa the the ei ed St al ,a wa he e, tion, dinia n ho eci wh if fo n- y, t, op t go n nd fi - s r ay a at - - o .” , 20TH CENTURYFOX ACT2 E27 act tw oN 1

Murray reunited with an EastRockaway classmateduring filming. caught Murray’s eye, and they were married in April 1956. They hadtwo children but Astar is divorced afterfiveyears. (He’s been married to his wife, Betty, celebrated since1962and theyhavethree children.) “Unsung Hero” After“Bus Stop,” Murray was Don Murray will be at offeredsimilar cowboyand the screening of the action roles, buthefeared being documentary about his typecast. Insteadheaccepted acting career and social the role of astruggling accoun- activism. tant grappling with marital WHEN |WHERE 8p.m. issues in “” Thursday, East Rockaway (1957), and followedthatwith “A High School, 443 Ocean Hatful of Rain.” (1957). Ave. “I turned down ‘Cat on aHot TinRoof’ because Ididn’t want INFO $10; to followthe dope addict in ‘A nwsdy.li/murray Hatful of Rain’ with another introverted, repressed kind of a character,” he says. adeal to produce, writeand “Unsung Hero”spotlights the star in 10 films over afive- diversecast of charactersplayed year period. by Murray,including an Irish “Theywanted to start with a rebel in “ShakeHands With the Western and acop-and-robbers Devil” (1959)oppositeJames film, butthose twostories were Cagney. “Hehad no conceit not unique,” Murray says.In- abouthim. On the set Iwould stead, he wanted to maketwo relax by lifting weights and his sociallyconscious dramas, exercise wasdancing,” Murray neither of which the studio saw says.“He would do ‘Yankee as having strong box-office Doodle Dandy’ in Yiddish.” potential. “Theyrejected my “Advise and Consent” (1962), twoand Irejected their two, and filmed on location in Washing- thatwas that,” he says. ton, D.C., not onlyoffered Mur- rayachoicerole as asenator FORGOTTEN FILMS alleged to be homosexual, but During the and onward, the chancetoindulgehis politi- Murray focused on fewerbig- Top, “The Hoodlum Priest” (1961) wasMurray’s first independent production and his favoriteamong ne cal appetite. “I gotinvited to studio productions and instead his manyfilms. In OttoPreminger’s “Advise and Consent” (1962), bottom, which wasfilmed on ws da

have lunch with the President chose projects thatmeshed location in Washington, Murray playedaUtah senator under threat of blackmail. y. and Jackie Kennedy, and Jackie with his personal beliefs. co m gavemeaprivate showing of Among these wasthe rarely his activism and his compas- then decided not to do the newgeneration. the WhiteHouse. Ialso gotto shown “Call Me by My Rightful sion,” Malcolm says. series. “I hope people getanap- NEW go on the presidential yacht Name” (1972), aboutthe rela- Unfortunately,theynever In “Unsung Hero,” Murray is preciation forthe varietyof with Bobby[Kennedy]. It was tionship between tworoom- found an audience. Murray did quoted thatheleft“Knots thingsthatIdid so thatI SD AY

just an incredible experience,” mates—one black and one have amajor comeback when Landing” to see if he could find would neverbecome typecast ,S

Murray says. white, and the ABC series “The he nabbed aleading role in the morethan fame and fortune. and nevermakeacareer UND Theprevious year he co- Outcasts,” a1968-69Western long-running CBS prime-time “And Idid,” he jokes. “There from apersonality,”hesays. AY

wroteand starred in his aboutawhitebountyhunter soap “Knots Landing” in 1979. wasobscurity, poverty...” “And Ihope thattheywould ,O

favoritefilm, “The Hoodlum whoteams with aformer slave Though Murray enjoyeddoing Nowwith the documentary, appreciate the themes of so CT

Priest,” based on the lifeof in the 1860s. the series, he decided to leave which Malcolm is pegging for manyofthese pictures, such OBER Father Charles Clark, aminis- Murray says his favorite aftertwo seasons to develop a aDVD release and possibly as ‘The Hoodlum Priest,’ tertostreet gangs. Themod- part of “Unsung Hero”isthe family-oriented musical drama packaging it with some of which dealt with capital 16, estlymadedrama earned segment spotlighting those series aboutacountry-western Murray’s rare films like“Call punishment. Perhaps it will 20 solid reviews and United raciallythemed works. star whofalls foraBroadway Me by My Rightful Name,” makepeople curious and see 16 Artists studio offeredMurray “Those films just tie in with dancer.CBS bought the pilot, Murray’s work mayreach a some of these films.”