Brian Murray was born Brian Bell to British parents in September 1937 in Johannesburg, South Africa. There, he first graced the stage in 1950 as Taplow in The Browning Version. He continued to act in South African theaters until, at age 18, he was accepted at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and moved to England. Before he even enrolled, though, he joined a repertory company, which he calls his real education. Though he had a promising, early start in film, with The League of Gentlemen and The Angry Silence (both 1960), he has remained committed above all to the theatre. Mr. Murray would return to film now and again, such as with supporting roles in Bob Roberts and City Hall; he can also be heard as Long John Silver in Disney’s animated film Treasure Planet. However, as a young man, instead of taking the path to cinematic stardom, he chose to join the Royal Shakespeare Company in London where his impressive credits – including Romeo in Romeo & Juliet, Horatio in Hamlet, Cassio in Othello, Edgar in King Lear and Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream – have cemented his reputation as one of the world’s pre-eminent Shakespearean thespians.

Peter Brook’s production of King Lear at Lincoln Center was the Royal Shakespeare Company’s first appearance in the United States – and it was also Mr. Murray’s first visit to New York City. He returned soon thereafter to act in The Knack, directed off Broadway by Mike Nichols, and made his Broadway debut in 1965 in All in Good Time. There was no looking back. A three-time Tony Award nominee as Featured Actor (for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Little Foxes and The Crucible), not to mention a recipient of multiple Obie (Ashes and The Play About the Baby) and Drama Desk (Noises Off, Travels with My Aunt and The Little Foxes) awards, this hard-working and esteemed theater veteran continues to mesmerize live audiences with his talent in a wide range of parts, both classical and contemporary. If he is not acting, he is directing. His directorial debut was the 1973 revival of The Waltz of the Toreadors; he has also helmed productions of Hay Fever, Arsenic and Old Lace, Blithe Spirit and The Show Off. In 1998, Mr. Murray received the Lucille Lortel Award for his outstanding body of work, and in 2004, he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.