Joseph Murphy (May 16, 1877 – July 31, 1961) was an American comic stage actor. He went on to become a

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

actor, notably playing Andy Gump in the shorts The Gumps during the mid-1920s. His unusual tall, thin stature and extraordinary facial features were instantly recognizable.

Personal life

Joe Murphy was born Joseph J. Murphy on 16 May 1877 in San Jose,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. His mother Anna (Mahoney) and father John Murphy were married in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, January 13, 1875 before moving to San Jose, California. On October 30 ,1920, his son Russell, aged 16, was shot and killed by a police officer after he and his friends were mistaken for robbers. Murphy filed a $18,000 lawsuit against a patrolman of the L.A. Police Department, after criminal charges against the police were dropped by the district attorney claiming that the officer killed the boy in the line of duty. Joe continued to live in California where he worked as a silent moving picture star in Hollywood. He died at the age of 84 on 31 July 1961 in Santa Clara, leaving his wife, Marie, who was of Irish birth.

Professional life

Murphy began his career in

Vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

. He was half of a

Mutt and Jeff ''Mutt and Jeff'' is a long-running and widely popular American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Bud Fisher in 1907 about "two mismatched wikt:tinhorn, tinhorns". It is commonly regarded as the first daily comic strip. The concept o ...

act alongside Little

Bobby Vernon Bobby Vernon (born Sylvion de Jardin) (March 9, 1897 – June 28, 1939) was an American comedic actor in silent films. He later became a writer and comedy supervisor at Paramount for W. C. Fields and Bing Crosby, when the sound era arrived. Blu ...

and he was also one the original Keystone Cops. From the 1910s through the 1940s Joe worked in many comedy short films, playing for most of the major studios, including Fox, National and L-Ko. His biggest success came during the five years (1923–1928) in which he played the very popular main character Andy Gump in

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

silent film shorts. The Gumps was a silent short where the misadventures of its main character, Andy Gump, a pompous bungler whose cry of "Oh! Min!" when he was in trouble became a 1920s catchphrase. Murphy's unusual and distinctive physical appearance (he was 6'3" tall and lanky), as well as being a naturally gifted slapstick comedian, made him ideally suited to playing the role (aided by an artificial nose). The Gumps elevated him to a relatively short period of stardom. He was described as "one of the best known comedy actors of the screen, and loved by thousands of moving picture fans". At the height of his popularity Murphy, as Andy Gump, would draw large crowds at promotional events. The Gumps shorts were based on the extremely popular newspaper comic strip, written and drawn by Sidney Smith. The Gumps was first published on February 12, 1917. The popularity of the comic strip eventually led to the making of nearly 50 silent film shorts, produced by Samuel Von Ronken and released by Universal Studios. Many of "The Gumps" silent shorts were directed by

Norman Taurog Norman Rae Taurog (February 23, 1899 – April 7, 1981) was an American film director and screenwriter. From 1920 to 1968, Taurog directed 180 films. At the age of 32, he received the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Skippy (film), Skippy' ...

, with Joe Murphy as Andy Gump, Fay Tincher as Min (Minerva), Jack Morgan as Chester, and Slim Hamilton as Uncle Bim.

Carl Laemmle Carl Laemmle (; born Karl Lämmle ; January 17, 1867 – September 24, 1939) was a German-American film producer and the co-founder and, until 1934, owner of Universal Pictures. He produced or worked on over 400 films. Regarded as one of the ...

, owner of Universal Pictures at the time, recognized Joe Murphy's physical suitability for playing the Andy Gump character. Carl knew Joe was an ex-vaudevillian who had experience with L-KO, Keystone, FOX, Triangle, Reelcraft, and Educational Studios. The producers had thought it would be nearly impossible that they would find a character who could play the comic strip character until Laemmle recommended Joe. The Gumps series is now part of the National Film preservation effort. After 1930 Murphy continued to appear in films, but he never again achieved the success that he reached with The Gumps, returning to working as an extra. This continued up to the 1940s, notably with the

Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short-subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical, farce, and slapstick comedy. Six total ...

in ''

You Nazty Spy! ''You Nazty Spy!'' is a 1940 comedy film directed by Jules White and starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges ( Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard). It is the 44th short film released by Columbia Pictures starring the c ...

'' (1940). Murphy's career is slowly being rediscovered after a period of neglect, most notably through the work of the

National Film Preservation Foundation The National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) is an independent, nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress to help save America's film heritage. Growing from a national planning effort led by the Library of Congress, the NFPF began o ...

Filmography - The Gumps

*''Out in the Rain'' (Short) 1928 Andy Gump *''The Cloud Buster'' (Short) 1928 Andy Gump *''Any Old Count'' (Short) 1928 Andy Gump *''A Case of Scotch'' (Short) 1928 Andy Gump *''The Mild West'' (Short) 1927 Andy Gump *''Andy Nose his Onions'' (Short) 1927 Andy Gump *''A Total Loss'' (Short) 1927 Andy Gump *''Ocean Bruises'' (Short) 1927 Andy Gump *''And How!'' (Short) 1927 Andy Gump *''When Greek Meets Greek'' (Short) 1927 Andy Gump *''A Battle Scared Hero'' (Short) 1927 Andy Gump *''Too Much Sleep'' (Short) 1927 Andy Gump *''All Wet'' (Short) 1927 Andy Gump *''Circus Daze'' (Short) 1927 Andy Gump *
I'm the Sheriff
' (Short) 1927 Andy Gump *''Broke Again'' (Short) 1927 Andy Gump *''Youth and Beauty'' (Short) 1927 Andy Gump *''Up Against It'' (Short) 1927 Andy Gump *''Rooms for Rent'' (Short) 1927 Andy Gump *''I Told You So'' (Short) 1926 Andy Gump *''A Close Call'' (Short) 1926 Andy Gump *''The Big Surprise'' (Short) 1926 Andy Gump *''Better Luck'' (Short) 1926 Andy Gump *''Lots of Grief'' (Short) 1926 Andy Gump *''Never Again (Short) 1926 Andy Gump *''Tow Service (Short) 1926 Andy Gump *''Dumb Luck'' (Short) 1926 Andy Gump *''Min's Away'' (Short) 1926 Andy Gump *''Shady Rest'' (Short) 1926 Andy Gump *''California Here We Come'' (Short) 1926 Andy Gump *''Min Walks in Her Sleep'' (Short) 1926 Andy Gump *''Min's Home on the Cliff'' (Short) 1926 Andy Gump *''The Smash Up'' (Short) 1925 Andy Gump *''Andy takes a Flyer'' (Short) 1925 Andy Gump *''Dynamited'' (Short) 1925 Andy Gump *''Chester's Donkey Party'' (Short) 1925 Andy Gump *''Andy's Lion Tale'' (Short) 1925 Andy Gump *''Andy in Hollywood'' (Short) 1925 Andy Gump *''Andy's Stump Speech'' (Short) 1924 Andy Gump *''Andy's Hat in the Ring'' (Short) 1924 Andy Gump *''Westbound'' (Short) 1924 Andy Gump *''A Day of Rest'' (Short) 1924 Andy Gump *''Andy's Temptation'' (Short) 1924 Andy Gump *''What's the Use'' (Short) 1924 Andy Gump *''Oh! Min!'' (Short) 1924 Andy Gump *''Aggravatin' Mama'' (Short) 1923 Andy Gump *
Oh! What a Day!
'' (Short) 1923 National Film Preservation Andy Gump *''Watch Papa'' (Short) 1923 Andy Gump *''Uncle Bim's Gifts'' (Short) 1923 Andy Gump

Filmography - Other

*''

'' (Short) 1940 Peasant (uncredited) *'' Mooching Through Georgia'' (Short) 1939 Tall Union Soldier (uncredited) *'' When G-Men Step In'' 1938 Phone Man (uncredited) *''

The Man Who Laughs ''The Man Who Laughs'' (also published under the title ''By Order of the King'' from its subtitle in French) is a Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, originally published in April 1869 under the French title ''L'Homme qui rit''. It takes place in Engl ...

'' 1928 Hardquanones Messenger (uncredited) *''Benson at Calford'' 1927 Man in Crowd (uncredited) *'' The Cat and the Canary'' 1927 The Milkman (uncredited) *'' The Red Lily'' 1924 Wagon Driver (uncredited) *'' Open All Night'' 1924 Bicycle Race Spectator (uncredited) *'' Souls For Sale'' 1923 Motorist (uncredited) *''

Shadows A shadow is a dark area on a surface where light from a light source is blocked by an object. In contrast, shade occupies the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross-section of a shadow is a two-dimensiona ...

'' 1922 Townsman at Engagement (uncredited) *''Please Be Careful'' (Short) 1922 *'' The Playhouse'' 1921 One of the Zouaves (uncredited) *''

Skirts A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards. At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of fabric (such as pareos). However, most skirts are fit ...

1921'' *''Dynamite'' (Short) 1920 *''Trouble'' (Short) 1920 *''

Nurse Marjorie ''Nurse Marjorie'' is a 1920 American silent film, silent drama film directed by William Desmond Taylor and starring Mary Miles Minter. Based on a 1906 play, ''Nurse Marjorie'', by Israel Zangwill, with a scenario by Julia Crawford Ivers, it is o ...

'' 1920 Cook (uncredited) *''The Heart Snatcher (Short)'' 1920 Bass Fiddle Player *''

A Little Princess ''A Little Princess'' is a children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, first published as a book in 1905. It is an expanded version of the short story "Sara Crewe: or, What Happened at Miss Minchin's", which was serialized in '' St. Nicholas ...

'' 1917 Leader of Forty Bandits (uncredited) *''Her Candy Kid'' (Short) 1917 Joe "Mutt" Murphy *''Her Fame and Shame'' (Short) 1917 Audience Spectator (uncredited) *''When Hearts Collide'' (Short) 1917 *''Heart Strategy (Short) 1917 *''Cold Hearts and Hot Flames'' (Short) 1916 Bald Man in Lobby *'' The Mystery of the Leaping Fish'' (Short) 1916 Footman on vehicle (uncredited) *''Scars and Stripes Forever'' (Short) 1916 *''Love Wires and Short Sparks'' (Short) 1916

Personal life

Professional life

Filmography - The Gumps

Filmography - Other

References

External links