Billy Murray (actor)

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. 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. The Kray twins paid £400 for him to go to East 15 Acting School as a teenager, because they "liked his attitude". 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. ==Career==

Murray made his acting debut playing a minor uncredited role in the 1963 film The Wrong Arm of the Law, followed by minor uncredited roles in What a Crazy World (1963) and Two Left Feet (1965). He started playing 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. He also played Mickey Steele in three films from the Rise of the Footsoldier film series, those being Rise of the Footsoldier (2007), Rise of the Footsoldier 3: The Pat Tate Story (2017) and Rise of the Footsoldier: Origins (2021). He also provided the voice of Captain John Price in the video games Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011) and fronted the adverts for Injury Lawyers 4 U, a compensation claims company in the UK. Murray's later career has mainly consisted of film roles, including The Rise and Fall of a White Collar Hooligan (2012), One in the Chamber (2012) and We Still Steal the Old Way (2016). He headlined the crime film Nemesis (2021) and starred alongside Lee Majors, Danny Trejo and Ian Ogilvy in the action-thriller film Renegades (2022). ==Personal life==

Murray has four children. A son and daughter from his first marriage to Maureen, and two daughters from his second marriage to Elaine. Murray said that he suffered a nervous breakdown and slept rough on the set of The Bill for months as a court order banned him from living in his home county of Essex after he was charged with intimidating a witness involved in the case. He also admitted that the court case had put a strain on his marriage. One of the men attacked was quoted as saying that they wished the case had never gone to court, stating "I deserved everything I got". In April 2011, it was reported that Murray had been charged with assault of his wife and daughter. In July 2011, it was confirmed that the assault case against Murray had been dropped. Outside of acting, Murray is involved in property investment and owns and rents out lock-ups, flats and garages across east London. He is a West Ham United football club fan, and a supporter of the Conservative Party. ==Filmography==

Film Television Video games ==References==