5 Reasons to Love Bill Murray - and Not Just Because He's from Illinois

Born in Evanston, raised in Wilmette, Bill Murray‘s dad sold lumber and his mom was a mail-room clerk. Maybe that’s why we love him so much — he comes from humble Illinois stock. He’s a regular guy’s irregular guy.

He was a Boy Scout and a Little Leaguer. Until he got kicked out. But still.

In 1970, before his career in comedy took off, a 20-year-old Murray was busted trying to smuggle 9 pounds of pot through O’Hare International Airport. In the 1980s, after the wild success of Ghostbusters, he took a few years off to study philosophy in France.

Perhaps his appreciation for the study of reality, existence and values motivates his real-life antics and attitudes, the ones that make him possibly the coolest person ever. The folks over at Suggest.com, to prove the case, assembled a list of 19 True Stories About Bill Murray that Prove He is the Coolest Person Ever.

Our top 5:

1. Bill Murray has his own 1-800 number where people can call and pitch him movie ideas on a voicemail.
   
2. He walked in on a student house party in Scotland, drank vodka with the partiers, then washed their dishes and left.
3. Legend has it that Murray walked up to a man dining at a Wendy’s, snatched a french fry from his meal, swallowed the fry and as he left said, “No one will ever believe you.”
4. Bill Murray can bowl. For a scene in his movie “Kingpin,” in which he portrays a champion bowler, Murray nails three strikes in a row. No stunt bowler or breaks required.
5. While filming “Groundhog Day,” producers asked him to hire a personal assistant to improve his communication with the studio. Murray hired a deaf-mute who only spoke in American Sign Language.

We also love that he completely backs the idea of an all-female “Ghostbusters” cast, featuring fellow Illinoisan Melissa McCarthy, saying the Plainfield native would be “spectacular.”

» read 14 more Cool Bill Murray Stories via Suggest.com

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