Audie Leon Murphy was an American soldier, actor, and songwriter.
74 Facts About Audie Murphy
2.
Audie Murphy was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II.
3.
Audie Murphy received every military combat award for valor available from the United States Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism.
4.
Audie Murphy was born into a large family of sharecroppers in Hunt County, Texas.
5.
Audie Murphy left school in fifth grade to pick cotton and find other work to help support his family; his skill with a hunting rifle helped feed his family.
6.
Audie Murphy first saw action in the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily; then in 1944 he participated in the Battle of Anzio, the liberation of Rome, and the invasion of southern France.
7.
Audie Murphy played himself in the 1955 autobiographical film To Hell and Back, based on his 1949 memoirs of the same name, but most of his roles were in westerns.
8.
Audie Murphy made guest appearances on celebrity television shows and starred in the series Whispering Smith.
9.
Audie Murphy bred quarter horses in California and Arizona, and became a regular participant in horse racing.
10.
Audie Murphy died in a plane crash in Virginia in 1971, shortly before his 46th birthday.
11.
Audie Murphy was interred with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, where his grave is one of the most visited.
12.
Audie Murphy was born on 20 June 1925, in Kingston, a small rural community in Hunt County in northeastern Texas.
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Audie Murphy was the seventh of twelve children born to Emmett Berry Murphy and his wife Josie Bell Murphy.
14.
Audie Murphy grew up in northeastern Texas around the towns of Farmersville, Greenville, and Celeste, where he attended elementary school.
15.
Audie Murphy's father drifted in and out of the family's life and eventually deserted them.
16.
Audie Murphy dropped out of school in fifth grade and got a job picking cotton for a dollar a day to help support his family; he became skilled with a rifle, hunting small game to help feed them.
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Audie Murphy had the most beautiful hair I've ever seen.
18.
Audie Murphy rarely talked; and always seemed to be searching for something.
19.
Audie Murphy was shipped to Casablanca in French Morocco on 20 February 1943.
20.
Audie Murphy was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, which trained under the command of Major General Lucian Truscott.
21.
Audie Murphy participated as a platoon messenger with his division at Arzew in Algeria in rigorous training for the Allied assault landings in Sicily.
22.
Audie Murphy participated in Operation Avalanche, the September 1943 mainland Salerno landing at Battipaglia.
23.
Audie Murphy returned with the 3rd Division to Anzio, where they remained four months.
24.
Audie Murphy then crawled out alone close enough to destroy the tank with rifle grenades, for which he received the Bronze Star with "V" device.
25.
Audie Murphy was awarded a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Bronze Star.
26.
Audie Murphy retrieved a machine gun that had been detached from the squad and returned fire at the German soldiers, killing two and wounding one.
27.
Audie Murphy killed six, wounded two and took 11 prisoner.
28.
Three days later, Audie Murphy crawled alone towards the Germans at L'Omet, carrying an SCR-536 radio and directing his men for an hour while the Germans fired directly at him.
29.
Audie Murphy's actions earned him a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Silver Star.
30.
Audie Murphy captured two before being shot in the hip by a sniper; he returned fire and shot the sniper between the eyes.
31.
Audie Murphy received his first Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Purple Heart for this injury.
32.
On 14 January 1945, Audie Murphy rejoined his platoon, which had been moved to the Colmar area in December.
33.
Audie Murphy was wounded in both legs, for which he received a second Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Purple Heart.
34.
Audie Murphy ordered his men to retreat to positions in the woods, remaining alone at his post, shooting his M1 carbine and directing artillery fire via his field radio while the Germans aimed fire directly at his position.
35.
Audie Murphy mounted the abandoned, burning tank destroyer and began firing its.
36.
Audie Murphy sustained a leg wound during his stand, and stopped only after he ran out of ammunition.
37.
Audie Murphy rejoined his men, disregarding his own injury, and led them back to repel the Germans.
38.
Audie Murphy insisted on remaining with his men while his wounds were treated.
39.
On 16 February, Audie Murphy was promoted to first lieutenant and was awarded the Legion of Merit for his service from 22 January 1944 to 18 February 1945.
40.
Audie Murphy was moved from the front lines to Regimental Headquarters and made a liaison officer.
41.
Audie Murphy received every US military combat award for valor available from the US Army for his World War II service.
42.
Inquiries were made through official channels about the prospect of Audie Murphy attending West Point upon his return to the United States, but he never enrolled.
43.
Audie Murphy was one of several military personnel who received orders on 8 June 1945 to report to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, for temporary duty and reassignment.
44.
Audie Murphy witnessed her husband being guilt-ridden and tearful over newsreel footage of German war orphans.
45.
Audie Murphy briefly found a creative stress outlet in writing poetry after his Army discharge.
46.
Audie Murphy drilled new recruits in the summer training camps, and granted the Guard permission to use his name and image in recruiting materials.
47.
Audie Murphy was promoted to the rank of major by the Texas Army National Guard in 1956 and returned to inactive status in 1957.
48.
Audie Murphy remained with the USAR until his transfer to the Retired Reserve later in 1969.
49.
Audie Murphy later worked with acting coach Estelle Harman, and honed his diction by reciting dialogue from William Shakespeare and William Saroyan.
50.
Audie Murphy moved into Terry Hunt's Athletic Club in Hollywood where he lived until 1948.
51.
Hollywood writer David "Spec" McClure befriended Audie Murphy, collaborating with him on Audie Murphy's 1949 book To Hell and Back.
52.
The agent of Wanda Hendrix, whom Audie Murphy had been dating since 1946, got him a bit part in the Alan Ladd film Beyond Glory directed by John Farrow earlier that same year.
53.
The film's financial backers refused to bankroll the project unless Audie Murphy was given the lead; thus, Allied Artists put aside their reservations about using an inexperienced actor and gave him the starring role.
54.
Audie Murphy wrapped up that year making Sierra starring Wanda Hendrix, who by that time had become his wife, and Kansas Raiders as outlaw Jesse James.
55.
The only film Audie Murphy made in 1952 was The Duel at Silver Creek with director Don Siegel.
56.
Audie Murphy worked with Siegel one more time in 1958 for The Gun Runners.
57.
The Hibbs-Audie Murphy team proved so successful in To Hell and Back that the two worked together on five subsequent films.
58.
The partnership resulted in Audie Murphy appearing as John Phillip Clum in the 1956 western Walk the Proud Land, and the non-westerns Joe Butterfly and World in My Corner.
59.
Audie Murphy formed a partnership with Harry Joe Brown to make three films, starting with The Guns of Fort Petticoat.
60.
In 1957 Audie Murphy was cast as The Utica Kid along with James Stewart and Dan Duryea in the western Night Passage.
61.
Audie Murphy was featured in three westerns in 1959: he starred opposite Sandra Dee in The Wild and the Innocent, collaborated as an uncredited co-producer with Walter Mirisch on the black and white Cast a Long Shadow, and performed as a hired killer in No Name on the Bullet, a film that was well received by critics.
62.
Audie Murphy received the 1960 Outstanding Civilian Service Medal for his cooperation in the episode Broken Bridge, which featured his visits to military installations in Germany, Italy, Turkey and the US state of New Mexico to showcase the military's latest weaponry.
63.
Audie Murphy collaborated on Bullet for a Badman in 1964 and Arizona Raiders in 1965.
64.
The Willinghams as a team wrote the screenplay for Gunpoint as well as the script for Audie Murphy's last starring lead in the western 40 Guns to Apache Pass in 1967.
65.
Audie Murphy first met director Budd Boetticher when Murphy requested to be his boxing partner at Terry Hunt's Athletic Club.
66.
Audie Murphy subsequently appeared in the 1951 title role of Boetticher's first western The Cimarron Kid.
67.
In spite of his financial difficulties, Audie Murphy refused to appear in commercials for alcohol and cigarettes, mindful of the influence he would have on the youth market.
68.
Audie Murphy was accused of firing a shot at the man, which he denied.
69.
On 28 May 1971, Audie Murphy was killed when the private plane in which he was a passenger crashed into the side of a mountain 14 nautical miles northwest of Roanoke, Virginia, in conditions of rain, clouds, fog and zero visibility.
70.
On 7 June 1971, Audie Murphy was buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
71.
Audie Murphy previously requested that his stone remain plain and inconspicuous, like that of an ordinary soldier.
72.
In 2013, Audie Murphy was honored by his home state with the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor.
73.
The latter was part of a speech Audie Murphy had written at a 1968 dedication of the Alabama War Memorial in Montgomery, and later set to music by Scott Turner under the title "Dusty Old Helmet".
74.
Audie Murphy was a fan of country music, in particular Bob Wills and Chet Atkins, but was not a singer or musician himself.