Charles Quinton Murphy (July 12, 1959 – April 12, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, and writer. He was best known as a writer and cast member of the

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy program ...

sketch-comedy series '' Chappelle's Show'' as well as the co-star of the sitcom '' Black Jesus''. He was the brother of actor and comedian Eddie Murphy.

Early life

Murphy was born on July 12, 1959, in the New York City borough of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

. His mother Lillian Murphy was a telephone operator and his father, Charles Edward Murphy, was a transit police officer, actor, and comedian. As an adolescent, Murphy spent ten months in jail. In 1978 on the day of his release, he enlisted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

and served for six years as a boiler technician.

Career

Murphy had minor roles in several films in the late 1980s and early 1990s and worked behind the scenes with hip hop group K-9 Posse, a duo composed of his half-brother Vernon Lynch Jr. and Wardell Mahone. On their 1988 self-titled debut, Murphy was credited as the album's

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...

as well as songwriter on "Somebody's Brother" and "Say Who Say What." He also made an appearance in the video for the duo's first single, "This Beat Is Military." Murphy's first major role in a motion picture was in the 1993 film '' CB4'', playing the antagonist Gusto. Murphy gained national attention as a recurring performer on '' Chappelle's Show'', particularly in the '' Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories'' sketches. In these, Murphy recounts his misadventures as part of his brother's entourage including encounters with various celebrities such as

Rick James James Ambrose Johnson Jr. (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004), better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, James began his musical career in ...

and

Prince A prince is a Monarch, male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in s ...

. After ''Chappelle's Show'' host

Dave Chappelle David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his satirical comedy sketch series '' Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006), which he starred in until quitting in the middle of ...

left the show, Murphy and Donnell Rawlings hosted the "lost episodes" compiled from sketches produced before his departure. In 2005, he appeared in '' King's Ransom'' (alongside

Anthony Anderson Anthony Anderson (born August 15, 1970) is an American actor, comedian and game show host. He is best known for his leading roles in drama series such as Marlin Boulet on '' K-Ville'', and as NYPD Detective Kevin Bernard on the NBC crime drama ...

and

Jay Mohr Jon Ferguson "Jay" Mohr (born August 23, 1970) is an American actor, comedian and radio host. He is known for his roles as film producer Peter Dragon in the TV comedy series ''Action'', Professor Rick Payne in the TV series ''Ghost Whisperer'' (2 ...

). In the film, Murphy portrayed Herb, a gay ex-con who is hired by King (Anderson) to fake his kidnapping. Murphy also did

voiceover Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non- diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentation ...

s for

Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, part of AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. ''Budweiser'' may also refer to an unre ...

radio commercials, provided the voice for Iraq War veteran/criminal

Ed Wuncler III The following is a partial list of characters who have appeared in the animated television series, ''The Boondocks''. Main characters The Freeman family The Freeman family in ''The Boondocks'' series is portrayed as an all-male, African-American ...

on Cartoon Network's

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

series '' The Boondocks'', and the voice for a

pimp Procuring or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term pimp has still ...

named Jizzy-B in

Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...

' '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'' video game. Murphy provided the voice for

Spock Spock is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. He first appeared in the original ''Star Trek'' series serving aboard the starship USS ''Enterprise'' as science officer and first officer (and Kirk's Second-in-command) and ...

on the G4TV's ''Star Trek 2.0'' shorts, and the dog in his younger brother Eddie's 2007 film, ''

Norbit In electronics, the NORBIT family of modules is a very early form (since 1960) of digital logic developed by Philips (and also provided through and Mullard) that uses modules containing discrete components to build logic function blocks in r ...

''. On March 20, 2009, he began his own sketch comedy series '' Charlie Murphy's Crash Comedy'' on

Crackle Crackle or crackling may refer to: Foods * Cracklings, the tissue remaining after lard and tallow have been extracted from animal fats ** Pork rinds in American English, pork scratchings in British English when served in small pieces as a snack ...

. A stand-up special, ''Charlie Murphy: I Will Not Apologize'' premiered on

in late February 2010. Murphy also made special appearances in ''

1000 Ways to Die ''1000 Ways to Die'' is an American anthology television series that aired on Spike from May 14, 2008 to July 15, 2012, and also aired on Comedy Central during its run. The program recreates unusual supposed deaths, true events, and debunked ...

'' and the TBS sitcom '' Are We There Yet?'' as Frank Kingston. In 2014–15, Murphy played Vic on the Adult Swim live-action show '' Black Jesus''.

Personal life and death

Murphy was a resident of

Tewksbury Township, New Jersey Tewksbury Township is a township located in Hunterdon County, New Jersey and is located within the New York Metropolitan Areabr>As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 5,993, reflecting an increase of 452 (+8.2%) fro ...

. He was married to Tisha Taylor Murphy from 1997 until her death from

cervical cancer Cervical cancer is a cancer arising from the cervix. It is due to the abnormal growth of cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. Early on, typically no symptoms are seen. Later symptoms may include abnormal ...

in December 2009. The couple had two children together, and Murphy had a child from a previous relationship. He was a

karate (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fuj ...

practitioner. Murphy died from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

on April 12, 2017, at age 57 in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Music Videos

References

External links

* *
Charlie Murphy on the end of Chappelle's Show
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Charlie 1959 births 2017 deaths African-American male comedians American male comedians American male film actors American male screenwriters American stand-up comedians African-American screenwriters Screenwriters from New York (state) American male voice actors People from Brooklyn People from Tewksbury Township, New Jersey United States Navy sailors African-American male actors American male television actors Male actors from New York City People from Roosevelt, New York Comedians from New York City Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Deaths from leukemia American male karateka 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people African-American male writers African-American United States Navy personnel