Charles Edward Murphy Passed Away at the Age of 28 & Was a Police Officer

Eddie Murphy's dad Charles Edward Murphy did not live long enough to affect the comedic actor's life significantly, and anyone who suggests otherwise will have to answer to the actor's lawyers.

Charles Edward Murphy met his tragic end when Eddie Murphy was eight. If humor is coded into one's genes, the policeman passed on golden comedy chops to the Hollywood star and his late comedian brother Charlie Murphy.

The "Coming to America" actor himself is a father to ten and has a tumultuous relationship with women in general and their five mothers in particular.

Eddie Murphy Inherited His Sense of Humor from His Father

According to Murphy family lore, matriarch Rosa V. Boykins Murphy received a prophecy from a fortune-teller in the forties that the family would produce an entertainer whose name would be known worldwide. Her progeny believed this applied to them and they formed various acts.

Charles was born on October 30, 1940, in Kings County, Brooklyn, New York, to Rosa and Henry Roosevelt Murphy. He was a police officer for the New York City Transit Authority by trade and moonlighted as an emcee, comedian, and actor on the weekends.

His marriage to a telephone operator Lillian Laney produced two sons, Charlie Murphy and Edward "Eddie" Regan Murphy, who both became famous comedians to fulfill the "prophecy."

Charlie Left the Family When Eddie Was a Toddler

The policeman and Laney divorced when their youngest son was three years old. She remarried Vernon Lynch, a truck driver, Breyer's Ice Cream plant foreman, and retired featherweight prize fighter.

The weekend comedian succumbed to what Eddie sardonically called the "Murphy charm."

One line one will never hear from Eddie is a story beginning with "Once my father…" because, sadly, his memories of his biological father are "dim." After his parent's divorce, his recollection of Charles is limited to their weekend movie outings.

Eddie lost his biological father when he was eight years old without really getting to know him. He was told that he walked and had the same demeanor as his father.

Though his dad's brothers were in his life, the only real father the "Shrek" voice actor knew was Lynch, who installed his strong worth-ethic.

His uncle Raymond Leon Murphy Sr, also known as Uncle Ray or Sugar Rays, became the "Nutty Professor" star's head of security in the eighties when he proved his worth at a sold-out Radio City Music Hall gig.

Charles Edward Murphy Was a Victim of Domestic Violence

The weekend comedian succumbed to what Eddie sardonically called the "Murphy charm." At 28, ironically the same year his father was murdered by the woman he was reportedly in a romantic relationship with, the comedian opened up about his father in a Rolling Stone profile:

"I never got all the logistics. It was supposed to be one of those crimes of passion: "If I can't have you, then no one else will” kind of deal."

Eddie, who would become a dad to ten children, did not believe his father's untimely death at the hands of a lover impacted his view on relationships. However, he admitted to being affected by his murder, "It was really traumatic."

Three years before his revealing Rolling Stone interview, Eddie had sued The National Enquirer for $60 million over a November 1985 article that claimed that he was "haunted" by his father's slaying and feared he would suffer the same fate.

The tabloid claimed that the actor had nightmares about Charles, who died in Manhattan on August 22, 1969, following a fatal stabbing.

In his multimillion filing, Eddie Murphy slammed The National Enquirer for its sensationalized and false report that wrote him as juvenile, paranoid, and unusable.

The weekly rag cited friends of the "Saturday Night Live" alums and insiders for the article that gave brutal descriptions of the policeman's passing.