Texas Originals

Audie Murphy

June 20, 1925–May 28, 1971

Born in 1925 in a Hunt County sharecropper’s shack, Audie Murphy recalled being "thrown into the struggle for existence" as a child. Orphaned at sixteen, he escaped a life of poverty when the United States entered World War II. The undersized Murphy lied about his age to enlist in the army.

Murphy’s courage and ferocity earned him multiple honors throughout the war in Europe. In January 1945, he single-handedly fought off six Panzer tanks and 250 German infantry for over an hour, earning the Medal of Honor for his actions.

Returning home a national hero, Murphy was convinced by film legend James Cagney to take up acting and became one of the most popular movie stars of the 1950s, playing the lead in many westerns and in director John Huston’s epic The Red Badge of Courage. Murphy also wrote a best-selling memoir about his wartime experiences and played himself in the movie adaptation.

But the war dogged Murphy. Gambling debts and unpaid taxes complicated his postwar life, and he struggled with insomnia and outbursts of violence that landed him in legal trouble. In 1971, a private plane on which he was a passenger crashed in Virginia, killing all aboard.

Murphy, one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II, was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He was forty-five years old.

For More about Audie Murphy

The Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum in Greenville, Texas, documents the history of Hunt County, with special emphasis on the impact of the cotton industry and the stories of county residents who served with honor in the military, especially Audie Murphy.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History features Murphy's Medal of Honor Citation as part of its exhibition The Price of Freedom: Americans at War. The citation, which was awarded on January 26, 1945, recognized Murphy for "Conspicuous Gallantry and Intrepidity Involving Risk of Life Above and Beyond the Call of Duty in Action with the Enemy."

The Audie Murphy Research Foundation, founded by Murphy’s oldest son, is a non-profit that collects, preserves, and shares historical information about Murphy’s life and career. Their website features an extensive collection of photographs, interviews, and documents related to Murphy.

The Internet Movie Database lists each of the fifty movies and television series in which Murphy appeared between 1948 and 1969, along with facts related to his life and career and quotations from his interviews and writings about his experiences as an actor.

Selected Bibliography

"Audie Murphy, Medal of Honor recipient." Arlington National Cemetery.

Graham, Don. No Name on the Bullet: A Biography of Audie Murphy. New York: Viking, 1989.

Murphy, Audie. To Hell and Back. New York: Holt & Co., 1949.

Smith, David A. The Price of Valor: The Life of Audie Murphy, America’s Most Decorated Hero of World War II. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2015.

Simpson, Harold B. Audie Murphy: American Soldier. Hillsboro: Hill College Press, 1975.

Simpson, Harold B. "Murphy, Audie Leon." Handbook of Texas Online.