Murray Hamilton (March 24, 1923 - September 1, 1986) was an American character actor who worked across stage, film, and television for four decades. He is best remembered as Mayor Larry Vaughn in Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) and its sequel Jaws 2 (1978), a role that became a cultural shorthand for bureaucratic denial in a crisis. He also appeared in acclaimed films including The Hustler (1961), The Graduate (1967), and Anatomy of a Murder (1959), and earned a Tony Award nomination on Broadway for Absence of a Cello (1965).
Murray Hamilton died on September 1, 1986, at the age of 63 from lung cancer in his native North Carolina.
Hamilton's friend and acting colleague George C. Scott secured him a role in the television film The Last Days of Patton (1986) in the last year of his life.
In the last year of his life, Hamilton played the role of Curtis 'Big Daddy' Hollingsworth in the first season of the series The Golden Girls.
Hamilton was nominated for a Tony Award for his role in the Broadway production Absence of a Cello (1965).
