Across the internet, there are many accounts of what he was like. As far as I know, Jim was never interviewed about himself. This means that information about him as a person, outside of acting, is very scarce. Although, there are a few newspaper articles, accounts online, and published reports about what he was like.
In various newspapers, Jim is reported as enjoying golf – one of the very few things that is known about what he did outside of acting.
Newspaper clippings for above
In the book ‘An American Cowboy: The Biography of Sheb Wooley’, Suzanne Gould speaks to Jack Lilley and some details about Jim are shared. Firstly, it is stated that Jim “had a drug problem” when he was on Rawhide (1959-1965), with Lilley saying that he was “always on dope”. It is also stated that Jim “stood out for taking harder drugs than the others.”
On the (now unavailable) Rawhide forum, Alan Lee Haggard shared some details about Jim. Alan’s sister was married to Jim’s younger brother, William/Bill.
Alan Haggards posts
(Big thanks to ‘wendy on swing’ for sharing these on The Rawhide Trail on tapatalk)
“Hello
Never knew this site existed. If anyone was a fan of Mushy maybe I can answer a few questions about him. My sister was married to his brother so I did have the opportunity to meet him. His real name was Baker and he is from Bloomington Illinois originally. When his mother passed away my wife and I had the job of clearing out her house and returning to the family articles related to Rawhide. They included his spurs, rebel cap, boots, and a huge collection of autographed 8 by 10’s of actors that appeared in Rawhide. It was very interesting going thru all the memorabillia.”
“Jim didn’t quit acting after Rawhide, he switched to the stage and appeared in plays around the country until he became ill. He appeared in a few movies. One was a non speaking role as a crewman in the movie Run Silent Run Deep. To address the person who posted that he thought Jims character as Mushy was close to his true life personality the answer is no. It was just the role he was playing.”
“Before I go into a biography I would have to confer with both my sister and my niece. Both of which know more about him than I do. Like I said before though, he definitely wasn’t “slow”. He has two children living in California whom my niece still keeps in touch with. After a divorce, his long time significant other was the actress Julie Harris. I can tell a story about myself when I was maybe 13 years old. He came and stayed with us during a filming break for about a week. I was so awestruck that a movie star was staying with us I hardly spoke a word to him. What could a mere mortal like myself say to a movie star anyway. :-). I vividly remember going out to breakfast one morning with my brotherinlaw and him. His hair was longer than society felt acceptable at the time due to his acting roles. He had his back to the cashier and a fellow paying for his meal told the cashier to give the change to the guy at the table so he could afford to get a haircut. I thought fireworks were going to fly but Jim said nothing. He just let it pass. I realize there are very few photo’s of him on the internet but my sister has four or five 8 by 10 studio photo’s that I will scan and post.”
“Thanks for the information, Alan. He sounds like he was a really nice guy. BTW, just to clear up any confusion, I didn’t mean by my earlier post that I thought the actor James Murdock was “slow”-only that the Mushy character was and that he played him very well and very naturally. It must have been a hard thing to do. In fact, in the earlier episodes, before the character solidified, he played him a little bit sharper. You can see a bit of a difference. Anyway, thanks again Alan. What happened to all his memorobilia? Nancy”
The memorabilia went to his kids in California. One other item she had was lots of episodes of Rawhide on the regular movie film in the metal cannisters. This was back about 14 years ago and it seems like ancient history already. I have a spur used in the series and thats it. She only had one. Where the second one is, who knows. Oh yes, I have his copy of the script to the Godfather II.
“So James Murdock was just a ‘stage name’ and David Baker was his ‘real name?’ I wonder why he changed it. Also, I am having a hard time getting those pictures. I’m not sure how to ‘cut and paste’. Is there some other way to view the photos? Is there any way you could put them in the “photos” section? Also, how did your sister get pictures of him? Sorry for all the questions, but I am curiously fascinated by James Murdock aka David Baker. I also feel bad that he died so young, especially on Christmas Eve, no less. That is so sad. Of course, it was very sad that Eric Fleming died at even a younger age, and in such a violent way. Oh well, enough sad thoughts. Thanx for your help. Deb”
My sister was married to his brother so she and her children probably have many items related to Jim. I have no idea why he went back to David Baker. I do know that he chose Murdock because to him it sounded “Rugged”. Before he left Bloomington to try to land movie roles he thought his best opportunity was to play “heavys”. Turned out to be totally opposite.
Trust me on this. The internet is filled with misinformation. Jim, AKA Mushy died of cancer. Not pneumonia. No idea where that came from. For that matter if you put in my name in Yahoo search, Alan Lee Haggard, it will take you directly to my obituary. Unless someone knows something I don’t, I think I’m still here.
On James Murdock’s page on the Western Series Wiki, a user commented that Jim apparently came into the gas station in which the user worked in, wanting to sell his watch. The price he was offering was $25, which would have been close to $200 today, and Jim was introducing himself saying that he was on Rawhide. This may not be accurate, but with the little amount there is about Jim it is worth to at least consider it as truth. As well as this, there is no year/date given, so it is unknown when this happened, although needing $200 could link to an issue he had during his years on Rawhide (see section including Sheb Wooley’s biography)
In David R Greenland’s book ‘Rawhide – A History of Television’s Longest Cattle Drive’ Gregory Walcott stated that “He did seem very simple, but he seemed nice. He didn’t seem dumb.” As well as this, Walcott recalls that Jim “took up” with him and “always wanted to talk”, it was because of this Walcott believed that Jim was “impressed with older men”. This seemed to be the case, as Jim accompanied Walcott and his wife to the First Baptist Church of Beverly Hills one Sunday.
Paul Brinegar was reportedly overhead telling a fan that ‘Mushy’ was not much different to Jim’s real personality.
One small idea that I had was that he changed his birth year to 1935 to make himself younger and more appealing for certain acting roles. This is not confirmed, but a few sources could link to my idea. Firstly in 1961, newspapers reported that Jim was born in Chicago and also in 1935. It’s unknown where this information came from. I personally own a signed headshot, with information on the reverse that states his birthdate is June 22 1935. I can confidently say that the handwriting on the back is his, meaning that he wrote his own birthdate wrong, for an unknown reason.
Another instance of Jim changing himself for acting roles is with his surname Murdock, reportedly changing it to sound more ‘rugged’ in order to get ‘heavy’ acting roles. One large question I still have around his name is why he began going by Jim, with the only appearance of his birth name ‘David’ being in a newspaper in 1948. Throughout the majority of his life he was known as Jim, although it is unknown why he changed his name to this, and then in the late 60s – early 1970s changed his name back to David Baker.
Something that I have found is that he “originally wanted to be a singer”, although the only place I have come across Jim wanting to be a singer is in an archived Japanese site. Despite this, there is some support for this as some of his first acting jobs on stage were musical-comedies, and an ebay listing (archived by WorthPoint) included a handwritten song written by Jim named ‘I Want My Loving From You’ dated 1/2/80. Again, I have seen no other proof of this being one of his previous aspirations, but it is something worth considering.
Some headshots + newspaper clippings of Jim out of character!
Leave a Reply