What Was Charlie Murphy's Net Worth?
Charlie Murphy was an American comedian and actor who had a net worth of $2.5 million at the time of his death in 2017. Charlie Murphy is perhaps best known for his appearances on "Chappelle's Show." He was also known for being the older brother of Eddie Murphy, one of the biggest legends in comedy history.
Charlie managed to achieve a lower level of fame than his legendary brother, though, first as a recurring player and writer on the hit sketch comedy series "Chappelle's Show." Murphy made his screen debut in the movie "Harlem Nights" in 1989 and also appeared in films such as "Mo' Better Blues," "Jungle Fever," "The Players Club," "Paper Soldiers," "King's Ransom," "Roll Bounce," "Night at the Museum," "Three Days to Vegas," "The Perfect Holiday," "Our Family Wedding," "Lottery Ticket," "Moving Day," and "Meet the Blacks."
Early Life
Charlie Quinton Murphy was born on July 12, 1959, in Brooklyn, New York. He was the son of Charles and Lillian Murphy. His mother worked as a telephone operator, and his father was a police officer, comedian, and amateur actor himself. As mentioned above, Charlie is the older brother of Eddie Murphy. Their parents split when Charlie was five years old.
The Murphy brothers' father was tragically murdered in 1969 when Charlie was ten years old and Eddie was eight. Their mother later became ill, and Charlie and Eddie subsequently lived in foster care for a year. They were raised in Roosevelt, New York, after their mother recovered and married Vernon Lynch. They were very close to their stepfather, who raised the boys as his own. Tragedy touched the Murphy family again when Vernon died of lung cancer.
Charlie spent ten months in jail as a teenager and enlisted in the Navy on the day of his release in 1978. He served for six years in the military as a boiler technician.
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1980s and 1990s Career
Murphy began his career in show business in the 1980s, appearing in bit parts in movies like "Short Circuit 2." He worked behind the scenes with the rap duo K-9 Posse and was credited as the executive producer on their 1988 debut album. He was also a songwriter on their tracks "Somebody's Brother" and "Say Who Say What." K-9 Posse could frequently be seen on the TV show "Yo! MTV Raps." Charlie also appeared in the music video for "The Beat is Military," K-9 Posse's first single.
Murphy landed his first role in a major motion picture in 1993, playing Gusto in "CB4." In 1989, he worked with his brother, Eddie, on the film "Harlem Nights," featuring Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor.
(Photo by M. Tran/FilmMagic)
'Chappelle's Show"
Murphy began appearing as a regular performer on "Chappelle's Show" in 2003. His most famous contribution to the show was the sketch "Charlie Murphy True Hollywood Stories," in which he recounted presumably true stories about his encounters with celebrities in the 1980s, complete with "reenactments" featuring Murphy and the show's star Dave Chappelle. Many of these encounters involved celebrities like Prince and Rick James.
After Chappelle's Show, Murphy continued to work steadily, with his own stand-up special on Comedy Central and an online comedy series titled "Charlie Murphy's Crash Comedy." He appeared alongside Jay Mohr in 2005's "King's Ransom," portraying gay ex-con Herb.
Murphy also did voice work during his career, providing voiceovers for Budweiser commercials and voicing Ed Wuncler III on the Cartoon Network series "The Boondocks." He also voiced a pimp named Jizz-B in the "Grand Theft Audio" video games. Charlie played Vic on the Adult Swim show "Black Jesus." His last film role came in 2016 when he played Key Flo in "Meet the Blacks."
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Personal Life
Charlie married Tish Taylor in 1997, and they were together until Tish sadly died of cervical cancer in December 2009. The pair had two children. Murphy also had a child from a former relationship. In his free time, Charlie was an avid karate practitioner.
Unfortunately, Charlie Murphy died on April 12, 2017, in Brooklyn after a battle with leukemia. He was 57 years old.
