Sam McMurray

{{short description|American actor (b. 1952)}}

{{BLP sources|date=July 2012}}

{{Infobox person

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1952|4|15}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| occupation = Actor

| years_active = 1975–present

| spouse = Elizabeth Collins

| children = 2

| parents = Lesley Woods (stepmother)

}}

Samuel McMurray (born April 15, 1952{{cite news |author1=Associated Press |author1-link=Associated Press |title=Celebrity birthdays for the week of April 10-17 |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/national/story/2022-04-04/celebrity-birthdays-for-the-week-of-april-10-17 |work=San Diego Union Tribune |date=April 4, 2022 |quote=April 15: ...Actor Sam McMurray (“The King of Queens,” “The Tracey Ullman Show”) is 70.}}) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Supervisor Patrick O'Boyle in the CBS sitcom series The King of Queens, Glen in the Coen Brothers comedy film Raising Arizona, Trent Culpepper in the sitcom Cristela and for voicing Roy in the family sitcom television series Dinosaurs. He also appeared as Doug on the NBC sitcom Friends, and as Ned on the CBS sitcom Mom.

Early life

Sam McMurray was born in New York City on 15 April 1952, the son of Jane (née Hoffman) and Richard McMurray, both actors.{{cite web |title=Sam McMurray-Biography |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/128506%7C0/sam-mcmurray#biography |website=Turner Classic Movies |access-date=21 May 2024}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/5/Sam-McMurray.html|title=Sam McMurray Biography (1952-)|website=www.filmreference.com}} Lesley Woods was his stepmother.{{cite news |title=Lesley Woods |url=https://variety.com/2003/scene/people-news/lesley-woods-1117891177/ |work=Variety |date= August 19, 2003 |access-date=2008-03-14 }} McMurray is Jewish on his mother's side of the family and Irish on his father's side of the family.

Career

Among McMurray's film credits are C.H.U.D. (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), The Wizard (1989) as Jimmy's stepfather Mr. Bateman, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), L.A. Story (1991), Addams Family Values (1993), and Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999). On television, he was a regular on The Tracey Ullman Show, voiced Roy in the series Dinosaurs, and played recurring roles such as Chandler's boss on Friends, dentist Vic Schweiber on Freaks and Geeks, Doug and Deacon's boss in The King of Queens, and Ned in the sitcom Mom. He was also in episodes of The Jeffersons, Hill Street Blues, The Golden Girls, Who's the Boss?, Home Improvement, Disney's Recess, The Sopranos, The Tick, and Breaking Bad among others. He is also noted for being the first-ever guest star on The Simpsons.

McMurray gained much international recognition among gamers for his role as the voice of two newscasters in the expansion for Command & Conquer: Generals. He also appeared in the 2011 TV film Holiday Engagement. For the 2014–2015 television season, McMurray had a main role as Trent Culpepper in the ABC comedy series Cristela.{{cite web|url=http://www.abcmedianet.com/web/showpage/showpage.aspx?program_id=003859|title=Cristela|publisher=ABC Medianet|accessdate=27 September 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141109161530/http://www.abcmedianet.com/web/showpage/showpage.aspx?program_id=003859|archive-date=9 November 2014}}

Personal life

McMurray was married to actress Elizabeth Collins. They have two daughters. He lives in Bell Canyon, California.[http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/sam-mcmurrays-house/view/bing/ Sam McMurray's House in Bell Canyon, CA (Google Maps) - Virtual Globetrotting] Retrieved 2016-12-09.

Filmography

=Film=

class="wikitable"

! Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

1976

| The Front

| Young Man At Party

| Film Debut

1980

| Union City

| Young Vagrant

|

1983

| Baby It's You

| Mr. McManus

|

1984

| C.H.U.D.

| Officer Crespi

|

1985

| Fast Forward

| Clem Friedkin

|

1987

| Raising Arizona

| Glen

|

1987

| Ray's Male Heterosexual Dance Hall

| Peter Harriman

|

1989

| National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

| Bill

|

1989

| The Wizard

| Bateman

|

1990

| Little Vegas

| Kreimach

|

1991

| L.A. Story

| Morris Frost

|

1991

| Stone Cold

| Lance

|

1992

| Class Act

| Skip Wankman

|

1993

| Addams Family Values

| Don Buckman

|

1994

| Getting Even with Dad

| Detective Alex Serransky

|

1996

| Dear God

| Federal Prosecutor

|

1997

| Savage

| Edgar Wallace

|

1998

| Slappy and the Stinkers

| Anthony Boccoli

|

1999

| Baby Geniuses

| Goon Bob

|

1999

| The Mod Squad

| Tricky

|

1999

| Drop Dead Gorgeous

| Lester Leeman

|

1999

| Carlo's Wake

| Jerry Brock

|

2000

| Lucky Numbers

| Chief Troutman

|

2002

| Lone Star State of Mind

| Mr. Smith

|

2002

| Sunshine State

| Todd Northrup

|

2003

| Stealing Sinatra

| Agent Stamek

|

2010

| A Little Help

| Big Bad Dan

|

2015

| Road Hard

| Burt Crabtree

|

2015

| Pearly Gates

| Sol

|

2015

| Jenny's Wedding

| Denny O'Leary

|

2017

| Americons

| Kerry Stein

|

2019

| Klaus

| Postmaster

|Voice

=Television=

class="wikitable"

!Year

!Title

!Role

!Notes

1976

| Kojak

| Duke Peter Dushan

| Episode: "The Pride and the Princess"

1979

| The Jeffersons

| Howard Benson

| Episode: "Louise's Convention"

1979

| The Ropers

| Charles Remington

| Episode: "All Around the Clock"

1979

| The Edge of Night

| Phil

| 7 episodes

1980

| The Doctors

| Norman Rowan

| 12 episodes July-August

1982

| Baker's Dozen

| Harve Schoendorf

| 6 episodes

1983

| Ryan's Hope

| Wes Leonard

| Recurring role

1984

| Miami Vice

| Jimmy 'Jimbo' Walters

| Episode: "Calderone's Return: Part 2 - Calderone's Demise"

1986

| You Again?

| Stu Angry

| Episode: "The D.J."

1986

| Hill Street Blues

| Officer Gann

| Episode: "More Skinned Against Than Skinning"

1987

| Ohara

| Saxon

| Episode: "Darryl"

1987

| Moonlighting

| Moe Highler

| Episode: "Blonde on Blonde"

1987–1990

| The Tracey Ullman Show

| Various

| 63 episodes

1988

| 21 Jump Street

| Lt. Tony Brandt

| Episode: "Raising Marijuana"

1988

| Head of the Class

| Coach Finelli

| Episode: "The Refrigerator of Filmore High"

1988

| Empty Nest

| Brent

| Episode: "Father of the Bride"

1988–1989

| Dear John

| Mike

| 2 episodes

1989–1991

| Who's the Boss?

| Mark Harper

| 2 episodes

1989

| Matlock

| Bart Hess

| Episode: "The Model"

1990

| The Golden Girls

| Mr. Kane

| Episode: "Cheaters"

1990

| The Simpsons

| Gulliver Dark, SNPP Employee, Duff Commercial VO

| Voice, 2 episodes

1990

| Married... with Children

| Andy

| Episode: "Dance Show"

1991–1994

| Dinosaurs

| Roy Hess

| Voice, 50 episodes

1991

| Home Improvement

| Rondall Kittleman

| Episode: "Satellite on a Hot Tim's Roof"

1991

| Blossom

| Sergio

| Episode: "Run for the Border"

1991

| Civil Wars

| Walter Herrigan

| Episode: "Have Gun, Will Unravel"

1992

| Sibs

| Channing

| 2 episodes

1992

| Parker Lewis Can't Lose

| Mr. Rips

| Episode: "Goodbye Mr. Rips"

1992

| Stand By Your Man

| Roger Dunphy

| 5 episodes

1992

| Likely Suspects

| Detective Marshak

| 9 episodes

1993

| Batman: The Animated Series

| Pierce

| Voice, episode: "Birds of a Feather"{{cite web |title=Sam McMurray (visual voices guide) |url=http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Sam-McMurray/ |access-date=October 19, 2023 |publisher=Behind The Voice Actors}} A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.

1993

| Down the Shore

| Ron

| Episode: "Life's a Drag"

1993

| A League of Their Own

| Coach Jimmy Dugan

| 6 episodes

1993

| Bonkers

| Additional voices

| 3 episodes

1995

| The Critic

| Cyrus Tompkins

| Voice, episode: "Sherman, Woman and Child"

1995

| Medicine Ball

| Dr. Douglas McGill

| 7 episodes

1995

| Maybe This Time

| Gary

| Episode: "Maybe This Time"

1995–1997

| Deadly Games

| Detective Dorn

| 4 episodes

1995

| Party of Five

| Thomas

| Episode: "Change Partners... and Dance"

1995–1997

| Pinky and the Brain

| Video Teacher, Tax Man #1, Shawn

| Voice, 3 episodes

1996

| Matt Waters

| Charlie Sweet

| 6 episodes

1996

| Aaahh!!! Real Monsters

| Mickey, Fred

| Voice, episode: "Krumm Gets Ahead / It's Only a Movie"

1997

| Wings

| Dennis Lundy

| Episode: "Hosed"

1997

| The Pretender

| Morris Clancy

| Episode: "Prison Story"

1997

| Chicago Hope

| Dr. David Stockton

| 2 episodes

1997

| Soul Man

| Oliver Marley

| Episode: "Cinderella and the Funeral"

1997–2001

| Friends

| Doug

| 3 episodes

1997

| Pearl

| Freddy Rizzo

| Episode: "The Two Mrs. Rizzos"

1997

| Johnny Bravo

| Pilot, Clown, Keith Doll

| Voice, 6 episodes

1997–2000

| Recess

| Lt. Griswold, Bob Spinelli, Various

| Voice, 12 episodes

1997–2002

| Hey Arnold!

| Buckley Lloyd, Robby Fisher

| Voice, 4 episodes

1997–1998

| Living Single

| Marco McCulloch

| 2 episodes

1998

| Diagnosis: Murder

| Bob Bare

| Episode: "Baby Boom"

1998

| The New Batman Adventures

| Ernie

| Voice, episode: "Joker's Millions"

1998

| Cosby

| Ken

| Episode: "On The Rocks"

1998

| The Angry Beavers

| Rodrick Snootwell

| Voice, episode: "Open Wide for Zombies" / "Dumbwaiters"

1999–2000

| Batman Beyond

| Chelsea's Dad, Burn, Harry Tully

| Voice, 4 episodes

1999

| Tracey Takes On...

| Dentist

| Episode: "Scandal"

1999

| Rugrats

| Zookeeper

| Voice, episode: "Zoo Story"

1999

| The Wild Thornberrys

| Flip

| Voice, episode: "You Otter Know"

2000

| Freaks and Geeks

| Dr. Vic Schweiber

| 3 episodes

2001

| The Lot

| Milton Maxwell

| Episode: "The Accident"

2001

| Malcolm in the Middle

| Officer Stockton

| Episode: "Traffic Ticket"

2001

| Yes, Dear

| Dr. Bernstein

| Episode: "Doctor, Doctor"

2001

| Deadline

| {{n/a}}

| Episode: "Somebody's Fool"

2001

| The Sopranos

| Dr. John Kennedy

| Episode: "Second Opinion"

2001-2004

| Lloyd in Space

| Coach Antonio

| 5 episodes

2001–2006

| The King of Queens

| Supervisor Patrick O'Boyle

| 16 episodes

2001

| Spin City

| Daniel Bryant

| Episode: "You've Got Male"

2001

| The Tick

| The Immortal

| Episode: "The Funeral"

2001

| The Zeta Project

| Larry Lux

| Voice, episode: "Ro's Reunion"

2001

| Reba

| Mr. Montgomery

| Episode: "Tea and Antipathy"

2002

| Touched by an Angel

| Norris

| Episode: "The Sixteenth Minute"

2003

| Greetings from Tucson

| Mr. Modica

| Episode: "Student Council"

2003

| Free for All

| Douglas Jenkins

| 7 episodes

2004

| Justice League Unlimited

| Gilbert Halestrom

| Voice, episode: "Fearful Symmetry"

2005

| NYPD Blue

| Lieutenant Jeff Henry

| Episode: "Bale to the Chief"

2005

| Head Cases

| Al Girard

| Episode: "S(elf) Help"

2005–2014

| The Boondocks

| The Principal, Ed Wuncler II, Various

| Voice, 7 episodes

2006

| That '70s Show

| Larry

| Episode: "My Fairy King"

2006

| Huff

| Dr. Hoffman

| 2 episodes

2007

| Cold Case

| Tom 'Z' Zimmerman

| Episode: "Blood on the Tracks"

2007

| The Suite Life of Zack & Cody

| Bud

| 2 episodes

2007

| Boston Legal

| General Mark 'Fitz' Fitzgerald

| Episode: "Do Tell"

2008–2009

| Head Case

| Dr. Goode's Father

| 3 episodes

2008

| ER

| Mike Landry

| Episode: "Tandem Repeats"

2009–2010

| Tracey Ullman's State of the Union

| Various

| 5 episodes

2009

| Breaking Bad

| Dr. Victor Bravenec

| 2 episodes

2009

| Glenn Martin, DDS

| Tucker Wade

| Voice, episode: "From Here to Fraternity"

2010

| The Secret Life of the American Teenager

| {{n/a}}

| Episode: "The Sound of Silence"

2010–2011

| Pound Puppies

| Rover, Dad

| Voice, 2 episodes

2011

| Raising Hope

| Doctor Burwitz

| Episode: "Snip Snip"

2011

| Lights Out

| Priest at Confession

| Episode: "War"

2011

| Then We Got Help!

| Jan

| 2 episodes

2011

| Desperate Housewives

| Father Dugan

| Episode: "Secrets That I Never Want to Know"

2011

| NCIS

| Vince Westfal

| Episode: "The Penelope Papers"

2011

| Grey's Anatomy

| Gus Moser

| Episode: "Poker Face"

2012

| Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

| Attorney

| Episode: "Rhodium Nights"

2012

| Scandal

| Pat Wexler

| 4 episodes

2013

| Wendell & Vinnie

| Howard

| Episode: "Fathers of Fathers & Sons"

2013–2018

| The Fosters

| Frank Cooper

| 5 episodes

2014

| Murder in the First

| Dexter Wesley

| Episode: "Blunt the Edge"

2014–2015

| Cristela

| Trent Culpepper

| 22 episodes

2015

| Masters of Sex

| Mr. Avery

| Episode: "Surrogates"

2016

| Devious Maids

| Hugh Metzger

| 4 episodes

2016

| Bull

| Errol Windemere

| Episode: "Callisto"

2017

| Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

| Doug Gozer

| Episode: "Kimmy Pulls Off a Heist!"

2017

| Ghosted

| Campbell McMasters

| Episode: "The Machine"

2018

| The Good Fight

| Joe Swoboda

| Episode: "Day 415"

2018–2019

| Mom

| Ned

| 3 episodes

2019

| Grace and Frankie

| Vince

| 2 episodes

2019

| Elementary

| Cameron Manarek

| Episode: "Red Light, Green Light"

2020

| United We Fall

| Dave Plonker

| 2 episodes

2022

| The Young and the Restless

| Dwight

| 1 episode (May 23, 2022)

2024

| General Hospital

| Congressman McConkey

| 1 episode (Fri. May 3rd, 2024)

2024

| Law & Order

| Judge Steve Nelson

| season 23 episode 12 "No Good Deed"

2024

| NCIS

| Harold Lamb

| Episode: "Hard Boiled" {{cite web | url = https://ew.com/ncis-recap-sometimes-being-a-ci-really-sucks-season-22-episode-7-8754058? | title = NCIS recap: Sometimes being a CI really sucks | last = Netzley | first = Sara | date = December 2, 2024 | publisher = Entertainment Weekly | access-date = December 9, 2024 }}

==Television films==

class="wikitable"

! Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

1985

| Out of the Darkness

| Morrison

|

1986

| Adam: His Song Continues

| Police Lieutenant

|

1987

| Hands of a Stranger

| Pearson

|

1987

| The Hope Division

| Frank McGee

|

1988

| Take My Daughters, Please

| {{n/a}}

|

1994

| Attack of the 5 Ft. 2 In. Women

| Dick Langley

|

1996

| The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas

| Herman Munster

|

1999

| {{interlanguage link|Soccer Dog: The Movie|es

fr|Soccer Dog|hy|Ֆուտբոլի արքան|ru|Король футбола|uk|Король футболу}}

| Coach Shaw

|

2000

| The Amati Girls

| Brian

|

2003

| Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales

| Skip Westland

|

2003

| Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade

| Bob Spinelli

|Voice

2003

| Recess: All Growed Down

| Gus's Dad

|Voice

2005

| McBride: Anybody Here Murder Marty?

| Arnie

|

2007

| Lake Placid 2

| Struthers

|

2008

| Ring of Death

| Wheaton

|

2011

| The Craigslist Killer

| Dr. Janeway

|

2011

| Holiday Engagement

| Roy Burns

|

2012

| Cupid, Inc.

| Harvey Mitford

|

2012

| Blue Eyed Butcher

| Dr. Sheffield

|

2012

| Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

| Anchor Ted

|Voice

==Pilots==

class="wikitable"

! Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

1982

| Not Necessarily the News

| Various

| Episode: "Not Necessarily the News"

1999

| Chaos Theory

| {{n/a}}

|

2000

| Those Who Can

| {{n/a}}

|

2013

| Dads

| {{n/a}}

|

==Specials==

class="wikitable"

! Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

1990

| The Best of the Tracey Ullman Show

| {{n/a}}

|

1996

| Teenage Confidential

| {{n/a}}

|

1998

| Tracey Ullman Backstage

| {{n/a}}

|

==Episodic==

class="wikitable"

!Year

!Title

!Role

!Notes

1976

| Ourstory

| {{n/a}}

|

1986

| Easy Street

| {{n/a}}

|

1998

| Pulp Comics

| {{n/a}}

| "Pulp Comics: Dana Gould" December 22, 1998

==Video games==

class="wikitable"

! Year

! Title

! Voice role

2000

| Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2

| BBC newscaster, American newscaster

2001

| Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge

| Additional voices

2003

| Command & Conquer: Generals

| BBC Newscaster, American Newscaster

2004

| Law & Order: Justice is Served

| Jack Foster, Henry Haskins

2005

| True Crime: New York City{{cite video game | developer=Luxoflux | title=True Crime: New York City | publisher=Activision | scene=Pause menu credits, 4:30:27 in, VOICE TALENT | year=2005}}

|

2014

| Sunset Overdrive

| Walter

==Web==

class="wikitable sortable"

! Year

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable"|Notes

2016

| Kevin Pollak's Chat Show

| Himself/Guest

| Episode: "255"

=As producer=

class="wikitable"

! Year

! Title

! Notes

1998

| Slappy and the Stinkers

| Co-producer

=Stage Appearances=

  • The Merry Wives of Windsor, Delacorte Theatre, Joseph Papp PublicTheater/New York Shakespeare Festival, New York City, 1974
  • (Off-Broadway debut) Lonnie, The Taking of Miss Janie, New York Shakespeare Festival, Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, 1975
  • Otis Fitzhugh, Ballymurphy, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City,1976
  • Bobby Wheeler, Clarence, Roundabout Theatre, New York City, 1976
  • Doalty, Translations, Manhattan Theatre Club, 1981
  • The Great Magoo, Hartford Stage Company, Hartford, CT, 1982
  • Mick Connor, Comedians, Manhattan Punch Line Theatre, New York City, 1983
  • Man Overboard, Sargent Theatre, New York City, 1983
  • Benjamin "Kid Purple" Schwartz, Kid Purple, Manhattan Punch Line Theatre, 1984
  • Homesteaders, Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven, CT, 1984
  • Phil, Desperadoes, in Marathon '85, Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York City, 1985
  • Mike Connor, The Philadelphia Story, Hartman Theatre, Stamford, CT, 1985
  • Union Boys, Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, CT, 1985
  • L.A. Freewheeling, Hartley House Theatre, New York City, 1986
  • Savage in Limbo, O'Neill Theatre Center, New London, CT, 1987, then Cast Theatre, Los Angeles
  • Also appeared as Phil, The Dumping Ground, Ensemble Studio Theatre; and in Welfare, The Store, and Lucky Star, all Ensemble Studio Theatre; A Soldier's Play, New York City; The Connection, New York City.

Awards and nominations

class="wikitable sortable"

|+Awards and nominations

! Year 1987

! Award Drama Desk

! Category Drama

! Savage in Limbo

! Result winner

1997

| Daytime Emmy Award

| Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special

| ABC Afterschool Specials

| {{nom}}

2012

| Indie Series Awards

| Best Guest Appearance

| Then We Got Help!

| {{nom}}

References

{{Reflist}}