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Billy Murray (actor)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Billy Murray

Born William Albert Murray

6 October 1941 (age 81)

Forest Gate, Essex, England

Alma mater East 15 Acting School

Occupation Actor

Years active 1963–present

Spouse(s) Maureen (divorced)

Elaine Hoyer (?–present)

Children 4, including Jaime Murray

Website billyamurray.com

William Albert Murray (born 6 October 1941)[1] is an English actor, best known for
playing Don Beech in The Bill from 1995 to 2004, Johnny Allen in the BBC soap
opera EastEnders from 2005 to 2006, and Captain John Price in the video games Call
of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and Call of Duty: Modern
Warfare 3.
Often known for portraying "hard man" characters, he has also starred
in McVicar (1980), Essex Boys (2000), One in the Chamber (2012), We Still Steal the
Old Way (2016), Nemesis (2021) and the Rise of the Footsoldier film series (2007–
2021).

Early life
Murray was born in Forest Gate, Essex and grew up in Upton Park, East London, one of
three children of Timothy and Vera Murray; his father was
a plasterer, nightclub bouncer and a boxing champion. Murray attended St. Edward's
Catholic Primary and St Bonaventure's Catholic School.[2] After leaving school at
fourteen, Murray worked as a shelf-stacker at a Co-Op supermarket in Canning
Town and at the local docks cleaning the dirt out of oil tankers. He also
had football trials for West Ham United and boxed for the Reggie and Ronnie Kray-
owned West Ham Boxing Club. Murray became good friends with the Krays to the
extent that he accompanied them on holiday to Spain.[citation needed] The Kray twins paid £400
for him to go to East 15 Acting School as a teenager, because they "liked his attitude".
[3]
 They never asked for the money back, and Murray later appeared as a character
witness for Charlie Kray who had been accused of smuggling cocaine.[4][1]

Career
Murray made his acting debut in the 1963 film The Wrong Arm of the Law before having
minor uncredited roles in What a Crazy World (1963) and Two Left Feet (1965). This
was followed by larger roles in the films Poor Cow (1967), Corruption (1968), Up the
Junction (1968) and Performance (1970). From the 1970s through to the early 1990s,
he made appearances in a wide variety of television series such as Softly, Softly, The
Sweeney, The Professionals, Minder, Bergerac and Casualty. He was also among
those considered for the role of Derek "Del Boy" Trotter in the BBC TV series Only
Fools and Horses before it finally went to David Jason.[5] Other notable film roles include
the role of Joey in the hit 1980 film McVicar (1980).
In 1995, he took on the role of DS Don Beech in the ITV police drama series The
Bill appearing as a regular cast member from early 1995 to late 2000. In 2001 he
reprised the role in a special spin-off episode entitled "Beech on the Run". This was
followed by the six-part mini-series Beech is Back. In 2004 he made his final
appearance as Beech for a guest stint in five episodes, in which his character escaped
from prison and is now back 'on the run'. Before playing Don Beech in the series,
Murray played a different character, DI Jackson, in an episode in 1989.
In late 2004, he joined the cast of BBC soap opera EastEnders and played gangland
figure Johnny Allen. This was Murray's second role within the series, as he previously
appeared as loan shark Mr. X for two episodes in 1991. Murray's character as Johnny
Allen made his first appearance on 4 January 2005, and became the show's
main antagonist upon terrorizing numerous characters on the programme -
including Peggy Mitchell; her sons Phil Mitchell and Grant Mitchell; their cousin Billy
Mitchell, whom Johnny initially employed in his criminal empire; Phil and Grant's ex-
lover Sharon Watts; her godmother Pauline Fowler; his daughter's best friend Stacey
Slater; and even his own henchman Jake Moon. During his time on the show, Johnny
killed fellow mob boss Andy Hunter on the show's 20th anniversary episode by throwing
him from a motorway bridge. His character later arranged for Jake's brother Danny
Moon to kill Sharon's husband Dennis Rickman on New Year's Eve 2005. He departed
from the show in March 2006 when his character was jailed after his daughter Ruby
Allen forced him to confess to having Dennis murdered and killing Andy himself. He
made a brief return to EastEnders in October 2006 when his character was killed off
after he succumbed to a heart attack in prison, though not befo