Billy Murray (actor)

Career

Murray was born in Forest Gate, Essex and grew up in Upon Park. He attended St. Edward's Catholic Primary and St Bonaventure's Catholic School. After leaving school, Murray worked at a Co Op supermarket in Canning Town and boxed for the Reggie and Ronnie Kray owned West Ham Boxing Club for 12 years. The Kray twins paid £400 for him to go to the 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.

Murray made his acting debut in the 1963 film Two Left Feet where he played a minor uncredited role. He then had small roles in the films Poor Cow (1967), Corruption (1967), Up the Junction (1968) and Performance (shot 1968, released 1971). 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 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. His notable film roles included the role of "Joey" in the hit 1980 film McVicar. In the film, he was to help McVicar hide after escaping from prison.

In 1995, he got 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 popular BBC soap opera EastEnders, playing gangster Johnny Allen. His first scenes were broadcast in January 2005. Murray's character terrorised numerous characters on the programme, including Peggy Mitchell, Phil Mitchell, Grant Mitchell, Sharon Watts and Pauline Fowler. He also murdered Andy Hunter by pushing him from a motorway flyover, and ordered the killing of Dennis Rickman (carried out by Danny Moon, played by Jake Maskall). He departed from the show in March 2006 when his character was jailed after confessing to ordering the murder of Dennis Rickman and carrying out the murder of Andy Hunter. He won the 'Best Villain' award at the British Soap Awards in May 2006 for his role as Johnny Allen. He made a brief return to EastEnders in October that year when his character was killed off after he succumbed to a heart attack in prison. Before playing Johnny Allen in EastEnders he also appeared as Mr X in two episodes in 1991.

He has since appeared in several British films like Rollin' with the Nines (2006), Rise of the Footsoldier (2007), Doghouse (2009) and Dead Cert (2010).

He has provided the voice of 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. He also fronts the adverts for Injury Lawyers 4 U, a compensation claims company in the UK.

Personal life

Jaime Murray, one of his daughters from his second marriage is an actress who is best known for starring in the television series Hustle, as well as playing Lila Tournay in season two of Dexter.

Selected TV and filmography