MICHAEL MURPHY as Judge Maxwell Fraser

For over thirty-five years, Michael Murphy has performed in film, television and the theatre. He has appeared in major roles in many award-winning pictures, and has worked with some of the most respected filmmakers of his generation, including Robert Altman, Woody Allen, Paul Mazursky, Peter Weir, Tim Burton, Oliver Stone, Elia Kazan, Peter Bogdanovich, Martin Ritt, Robert Aldrich, Orson Welles and Paul Thomas Anderson.

Murphy has worked in over one hundred television productions, the highlight of which was the Robert Altman - Gary Trudeau cult series Tanner ‘88 in which he played the title role. He also appeared in the classic Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, with Cicely Tyson. The film won nine Emmy Awards.

A partial list of Murphy’ credits include: Magnolia, Kansas City, Batman Returns, Salvador, The Year of Living Dangerously, Manhattan, The Front, An Unmarried Woman, Nashville, What’s Up Doc?, Brewster McCloud and M*A*S*H*. Over the last couple of years, Murphy has turned his attention to the independent arena, where he now has three films in various stages of completion. They are: Three Janes, by Jim & Iris Klein, Tart, by Christina Wayne, and Norma Jean, Jack & Me, by Cyrus Nowrasteh. Murphy and Nowrasteh recently reunited for The Day Regan Was Shot, also starring Richard Dreyfus.

Murphy has been busy narrating some highly acclaimed programs for Public Broadcasting that include: Long Journey Home: The Irish in America, The Last Stand of Tallgrass Prairie, and the forthcoming Mount Rushmore. He has also committed many well-known novels to tape including the Nero Wolfe series.

With co-writer David Fineman, Murphy recently completed an original screenplay entitled Crashing, and it appears to be making big waves in Hollywood. Since his recent move to Canada, Michael has had a recurring role on The Eleventh Hour, the critically acclaimed series for CTV, as well as leading roles in the CBC MOW Footsteps, In The Dark for Shaftesbury Films and in Don McKellar’s feature, Childstar.

"I think I am George's alter ego," says Michael Murphy was established himself as the darling of auteur directors such as Robert Altman and Woody Allen. He plays Judge Maxwell Fraser, a man who enjoys exercising the notion of free speech. "George tells me that he gets his aggression out writing Fraser, and no longer has to confront people on the street for littering. So I hope for the sake of his mental health...and mine...they leave us on air for a while."

"I think the unsung hero of Judge Fraser's court is Kathryn Winslow (Menon). There is a reason they put us on the screen together, and I'm grateful for that. She's just a terrific, inventive actor, and I'd hate to be up there without her."

Murphy, an extraordinarily generous actor who enjoys his work enormously, is often caught up in the texture of the show. "More often than not, I'll read a script and wonder how I can finesse this or that. I never have to do that on this show. Really, the heart of any show is the writing, and I believe we have the best in the business putting it on the page for us."