Member-only story
How A Bad Joke And 10 Pounds of Marijuana Turned Bill Murray From A Doctor To Hollywood Legend
The comedic actor got in serious trouble as a young man, which impacted the trajectory of his life
Bill Murray is nothing short of a Hollywood icon. His career as a comedic and serious actor has spanned 50 years and seen him appear in a number of popular television shows and films. However, he wasn’t always on a path to that career. As a young man, he was in college studying to become a doctor when a bad joke while boarding an airplane led to him getting arrested with 10 pounds of marijuana, which incredibly redirected his destiny to becoming a beloved entertainer.
Born in 1950 to a working class family in Evanston, Illinois, Murray was one of nine children. He grew up balancing his education and being involved in theater and music. In high school, he caddied at a local golf course in order to offset the cost of his Jesuit high school tuition, before enrolling at Regis University, where he began taking pre-med classes.
On Murray’s 20th birthday, September 21, 1970, everything changed. His biographer,Robert Schnakenberg, wrote in Esquire about what transpired after the young man parted ways with his family that day following a celebration in Chicago. Before returning to…
