Murray Hamilton was one of those character actors whose face would be familiar to most movie buffs at an instant, yet his name may not. That's a shame, because Hamilton was one of the most versatile and prolific of performers who was never anything less than completely convincing in any role he took on, from priests to gangsters, soldiers to politicians, ordinary men to aliens. His characters would rarely fail to evoke emotion, whether that be sympathy or dislike. He particularly excelled at hard-edged, street-wise tough guys on either side of the law. His own dictum was to be always 'true to the part as it is written'. Born and schooled in Washington, North Carolina, Murray originally studied graphic design but had an early yearning for the acting profession. Barely out of his teens, he took a bus to Los Angeles, eventually arriving in Hollywood with just $50 to his name. He gained a foothold at Warner Brothers . Murray Hamilton died too soon, aged 63, in September 1986.
Uncle of Stephen Pisani and Melissa Brasselle.
Son, David Honeycutt Hamilton (born 1963), with Terri DeMarco.
Appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Anatomy of a Murder , The Hustler , The Graduate and Jaws .