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Charlie Murphy dies of leukemia at age 57

Eddie Murphy’s older brother is known for roles in movies and ‘Chappelle’s Show’

Clinton Yates @clintonyates
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All Day Eddie Murphy Dave Chappelle In Remembrance Charlie Murphy

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    3:42 PMBefore Chappelle’s Show, a lot of people had no idea who Charlie Murphy was. The thought of Charlie, Eddie Murphy’s older brother, being an actor and comedian was almost a joke in itself. He created a second career through that Comedy Central program, and on Wednesday, TMZ reported that Murphy died at age 57 after a battle with leukemia.

    But long before he was telling True Hollywood Stories of legend, Charlie was another dude trying to make it in L.A. He had roles in several black movie classics, including Harlem Nights, Mo’ Better Blues and Jungle Fever, but his breakout role was with Chris Rock in CB4. Charlie also co-wrote Vampire in Brooklyn, another film directed by Eddie, as well as 2007’s Norbit. Charlie Murphy also appeared in 1998’s The Players Club, directed by Ice Cube.

    His role as a writer and cast member on Chappelle’s Show transformed him from a famous person’s family member into a household name. It was his stories that kicked off the resurgence of love for Rick James and the infamous Prince basketball story. Those were his actual life experiences, forget the bits. In many ways, Charlie was much easier to like than Eddie because he seemed so much more real.

    Charlie was the funny dude on the basketball team in high school. He was the brother at work you wanted to talk trash with about sports. Charlie was a real one.

    He brought the phrase “habitual line stepper” into our lives. Don’t forget that. He was also directly responsible for “game, blouses.”

    Being completely honest, I had no idea he was sick. I’m fairly certain most people didn’t. But he managed to do the one thing that’s nearly impossible in today’s media landscape that will always be impressive to me: He made a name for himself that wasn’t directly tied to Eddie. I’m sure there’s an entire generation of people who still don’t know they’re related. And understandably so.

    A while back, Uproxx broke down his five greatest sketches. But the thing about Charlie Murphy is that he never really seemed to be out of character, no matter what role he was playing. Which is what made him so dope.

    Looking Back At Charlie Murphy’s Greatest ‘Chappelle’s Show’ Moments

    http://on.cc.com/1takHYK

    He told stories about meeting the greats. I wonder if he knew he’d become a legend himself.

    Clinton Yates is a tastemaker at Andscape. He likes rap, rock, reggae, R&B and remixes — in that order.