Affable George Murphy, an actor and song-and-dance man turned politician, is probably best remembered as a performer for the movies in which he teamed with Shirley Temple, Eleanor Powell and Judy Garland. Although never a major star, Murphy worked steadily in Hollywood from his movie debut in 1934 until his retirement from acting in 1952. His Irish heritage made him a natural at playing spunky Irish types, and even his dancing was said to have been of the lively "Irish vaudeville" style.

A Yankee Doodle Dandy born on the Fourth of July (in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1902), Murphy was the son of an Olympic track coach. He attended Yale but did not graduate, working as a tool maker, miner and real estate agent before settling in as a professional dancer. He married fellow dancer Juliet Henkel (professional name Johnson) in 1926, and the pair made it to Broadway the following year. After his wife's retirement in the early 1930s, Murphy became a star solo dancer and made his movie debut in the musical comedy Kid Millions (1934), taking the tap-dancing honors in this musical comedy which also featured Eddie Cantor, Ethel Merman and Ann Sothern.

When not performing in musicals Murphy tried his hand at comedy in such films as The Public Menace (1935), in which he plays a gangster involved with a manicurist (Jean Arthur); and The Women Men Marry (1937), in which he is a reporter mixed up in star-crossed love affairs. In Little Miss Broadway (1938), Murphy nimbly partners little Shirley Temple in the "We Should Be Together" number. He paired with Eleanor Powell in both Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), in which the fleet-footed pair danced "I'm Feeling Like a Million"; and Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940) in which Murphy and Fred Astaire are dancing partners competing for Powell's favors. A highlight of the latter film is the "tap dancing cane duel" between a well-matched Astaire and Murphy.

Judy Garland plays a double role as both mother and look-alike daughter in Little Nellie Kelly (1940), based on the George M. Cohan musical of the early 1940s. Murphy gives an amiable performance as the man who is the husband of one Garland and the father of the other. In his other Garland co-starrer For Me and My Gal (1942), Garland plays a vaudevillian who must choose between two dancers -- Murphy as the selfless, reliable one and Gene Kelly (in a smashing movie debut) as the inconsiderate heel who needs reforming. Naturally, she chooses the latter.

Murphy, who played straight dramatic roles with some success in Border Incident (1949) and Battleground (1949), won an honorary Academy Award in 1951 for "his services in interpreting the film industry to the country at large." Although only nine years the junior of his friend Ronald Reagan, he had played Reagan's father in the wartime musical This Is the Army (1943). Like Reagan, he changed his politics from Democrat to Republican and served as President of the Screen Actors Guild. He entered the political arena in 1953 as chairman of the California Republican State Central Committee and in 1964 was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served until 1971. During his term, he suffered from throat cancer and had part of his larynx removed, leaving him able to speak only in a hoarse whisper. He died in 1992.

Murphy had two children by his first wife, who died in 1973, and was married from 1982 until his death to Betty Blandi.

by Roger Fristoe