Celebrity Settings

Our Weird Bill Murray Sighting Was Just the Tip of the Iceberg

In an issue that (oops!) tells readers to “do brunch” at the Neptune Room despite the fact that it’s closed for the rest of the year and may reopen as something else, Page Six Magazine examines Bill Murray’s supposed midlife crisis, which entails “hanging out with rock stars [and] hitting on twentysomething women at bars.” Though it fails to mention our bizarre encounter with the man at BEast, it does tell the story of a drop-in at the Half King.

A few weeks before Halloween, on the night before the October 7 New York premiere of his film City of Ember, Bill popped up again, seemingly adrift, at the Half King, the West Chelsea pub co-owned by author Sebastian Junger. Sophie Ellis, a petite brunette 22-year-old in town from London for journalism work-study and two pretty young friends were having a quiet drink, when the actor walked in and unexpectedly joined the table, buying them two bottles of champagne. As Sophie remembers, ‘I suppose he was slightly flirtatious, but really, it was more like he obviously wanted a bit of a chat. He seemed a little lonely. We started talking about Mexican food and he said, ‘Right, later this week I’ll take you all out for Mexican food. I’ll send you the best avocados in the mail so you can make fresh guacamole. He was very gentlemanly, even though he looks quite grumpy—like a granddad.” At the end of the night he walked the girls out to the curb and hailed them a cab. “It was surreal,” Sophie says. “I was like, ‘Why are you here, talking to us?”




The story preposterously describes Murray as a “ghost” who spends his time “trawling for serendipity in the New York night.” Hilarious! A celebrity gets a drink at two places that aren’t the Beatrice and suddenly he’s Frances Farmer.



Is Bill Murray NYC’s New Party Boy? [NYP]

Related: Bill Murray Shows Up at Broadway East, Discovers East Broadway

Our Weird Bill Murray Sighting Was Just the Tip of the Iceberg