WATCH: Bill Murray slammed as “Irish drunken bully” by former co-star

Richard Dreyfuss recalls an altercation with a drunken Bill Murray

Bill Murray has been slammed as an “Irish drunken bully” by his former co-star Richard Dreyfuss.

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Dreyfuss was speaking with Yahoo Entertainment when he recalled a drunken interaction between the two co-stars who starred in the 1991 film ‘What About Bob?”

In the interview, Dreyfuss said: “I didn’t talk about it for years.”

“Bill just got drunk at dinner. He was an Irish drunken bully, is what he was.” 

“He came back from dinner [one night] walked in and I said, ‘Read this [script tweak], I think it’s really funny.’ And he put his face next to me, nose-to-nose. And he screamed at the top of his lungs, ‘Everyone hates you! You are tolerated!’”

“There was no time to react because he leaned back and he took a modern glass-blown ashtray. He threw it at my face from [only a couple feet away]. And it weighed about three-quarters of a pound. And he missed me. He tried to hit me. I got up and left.”

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Dreyfuss is not the first actor that Murray has come to blows with. In 1978, Murray, who was at the time starring on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ came toe to toe with former SNL cast member Chevy Chase, who had returned to host (after leaving SNL on not great terms) in February 1978.

The tension, coupled with rampant drug use backstage at SNL, came to a head right before show time: “Just before the show was set to air, Chase confronted Murray in Belushi's dressing room and challenged him to a fight. Murray lunged and Belushi leaped between the two larger men, drawing most of the punishment as the fists were flying.”

The two later worked on 'Caddyshack' together and are understood to be on good terms.

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You can watch Dreyfuss’s interview with Yahoo Entertainment here:

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