Bill Murray and his ex wife in 2004. Credit: Splash News

Bill Murray has brought laughter to audiences for more than 30 years, introduced to the public at large on Saturday Night Live in 1976 and starring in movies as diversely funny as Caddy Shack and Lost In Translation.  In roles from his most juvenile to his most quirky, he’s put smiles on people’s faces.  But last May the smile disappeared from Murray’s face when his wife filed for divorce.

It was last May that Murray says the bottom dropped out when his wife of nearly 11 years filed for divorce. In the papers filed by Jennifer Butler Murray, she alleged that Murray abused her and was addicted to alcohol and marijuana.

“That was devastating,” Murray said.  “That was the worst thing that ever happened to me in my entire life.”

A judge ruled that Murray’s four children would live with their mother, plummeting the actor into months of depression.

“I was just dead, just broken,” he said of the situation.  “When you’re really in love with someone and this happens–I never had anything like this happen.  It’s like your faith in people is destroyed because the person you trusted the most you can no longer trust at all…The person you know isn’t there anymore.”

[From OK! Magazine]

It wouldn’t be a stretch to believe that there was some substance use interspersed in that, in looking over Murray’s Wikipedia, it says he dropped out of med school after being busted in an airport for marijuana possession.  But Murray seems genuinely surprised and hurt by the level of accusations levied in the divorce.  Much to his credit, though, he seems to have come out the other side of it with a higher level of insight and positivity.

”I’ve had a great deal of success in life — not just money or fame or anything like that — I just feel like I’ve done well in many areas of life,” said Murray. ”I’ve learned how to live and I think I’ve learned things about living. It’s almost like: `OK, you learned that much, now let’s try this. Let’s see how you can do if this happens to you.”’

[From OK! Magazine]

Murray has certainly grown past his What About Bob? style of humor in recent years and I’ve held the belief since Lost In Translation that he’s entered a more introspective, somewhat sad phase of life.  Still funny, but understated and melancholy.  A much more enjoyable genre of movie has resulted in my opinion, but the old sophomoric form of humor that made Murray famous certainly had, and has, it’s place. 

A third installment of the extremely popular Ghostbusters movies is in discussions.  I admit I would weather the movie theatre-going experience to see Ghostbusters 3 as long as the central characters are reprised by the original actors and they don’t try to recast it.  I was surprised to hear that Bill Murray was excited about the prospect of playing Venkman again, but maybe it’s part of the healing to go back and reprise one of his zanier, more free and fun characters. 

Here’s Bill Murray at the City of Ember premiere in NY on 10/7/08. Credit: Sylvain Gaboury / PR Photos