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Bill Murray’s overlooked, understated role in Tootsie

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11 Jan 2022
5 min read
Question: dustin hoffman's roommate in tootsie was played by...

Sandwiched amid his meteoric comedy rise between Saturday Night Live and Ghostbusters (playing a role originally written for John Belushi), Bill Murray was making a series of building-block silver screen appearances which would springboard his presence as one of the world’s most iconic and beloved movie stars.

Soundly sprung onto the national stage with a myriad of fan favorite sketch roles on SNL (“Nick the Lounge Singer” and “The Nerds” among the leaders), Murray segued his 1977-80 small screen run into a player who was undoubtedly ready for more than primetime.

Making his movie debut as camp counselor “Tripper” Harrison in 1979’s Meatballs, Murray would appear in three more films the year following, including his take on Hunter S. Thompson in Where the Buffalo Roam and, more memorably, as golf course groundskeeper Carl Spackler in Caddyshack.

In 1981, Murray further cemented his unique, zany and lovable comic stardom as John Winger in Stripes, a role which would serve as everyman, counterculture catapult for all manner of starring, co-starring, pop-up and pop-in movie appearances running to modern day.

Yet, not typically counted among Murray’s singular C.V. is his co-starring (if that) role of Dustin Hoffman’s playwright roomie Jeff Slater in 1982’s Tootsie, a gig that Murray reported received at Hoffman’s insistence.  Still, so seemingly underplayed and innocuous was the appearance, that Murray’s contract with Columbia specifically stipulated that he would not receive any billing for the role.  

Among the most revered cultural/critical/financial film successes in the latter-half of the 20th century, the crossdressing yarn of Tootsie would eventually spin to the tune of 10 Academy Award nominations, including nods for “Best Picture,” “Best Director,” “Best Actor,” and “Best Screenplay.”  Ultimately (if not curiously), the film would win but one Oscar, that going to Jessica Lange for “Best Supporting Actress.”

And somewhere among the awards, the stars, the accolades – was Bill Murray, in what is generally viewed upon, considering his career marquee, as the most overlooked role of his life.  In reflecting on the role, Murray has referred to playing Jeff as a “fun practical joke.”

With further contemplation, in an appearance on ABC’s The View in January of 2022, Murray had (much) more to say of appearing in Tootsie:

“Well, that’s a very good movie to talk about, Tootsie,” Murray said on The View. “Because the director, Sydney Pollack, he’s gone now, and Dustin Hoffman was really, really generous as an actor, to me. We had a wonderful relationship.”

Murray would go on to explain to the show’s hosts that the role was totally of the improvisational nature.

“Every scene we did together, we just made up right then and there,” Murray said of working alongside Hoffman. “My character didn’t really exist in the screenplay, it was just a character that was suggested by Elaine May as somebody who would help the audience point of view. Every time we got to work, we just got to do whatever we thought was funny. Because Dustin and Sydney had this crazy relationship where Dustin would be very, very demanding.”