Brittany Anne (Bertolotti) Monjack (1977 - 2009)

Brittany Murphy was born Brittany Anne Bertolotti on November 10, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia, to Sharon Kathleen Murphy and Angelo Joseph Bertolotti.^[1] Her father's ancestry is Italian, and her mother is of Irish and Slovak descent.

She was known professionally as Brittany Murphy.

Brittany attended Verne Fowler School of Dance and Theatre Arts in Colonia, New Jersey, in 1982

She was in a band called Blessed Soul with Eric Balfour in the early 1990s. On June 6, 2006, Murphy and Paul Oakenfold released the single "Faster Kill Pussycat", from the album A Lively Mind. The song became a club hit and hit number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart.

From the age of four, she trained in singing, dancing, and acting until her move to California at thirteen. Murphy made her Broadway debut in 1997 in a revival of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge.

Murphy landed her first job in Hollywood when she was thirteen, starring as Brenda Drexell in the series Drexell's Class. She then went on to play Molly Morgan in the short-lived The Torkelsons spinoff Almost Home. Murphy also guest-starred on several television series. She also had recurring roles on Party of Five, Boy Meets World, and Sister, Sister.

Murphy's breakthrough role was in her second feature film, the teen comedy Clueless (1995). She followed this with roles in Freeway (1996), and Bongwater (1998). In 1999, she had a supporting role in Interrupted and in Drop Dead Gorgeous. She also voiced the character Luanne Platter on Fox's animated sitcom King of the Hill from 1997 to 2009, and Joseph Gribble until the fifth season. She was nominated for an Annie Award for voice acting in the King of the Hill episode "Movin' On Up".

She began the 2000s with a leading role in Don't Say a Word (2001), The Devil's Arithmetic (2001); 8 Mile (2002), and Uptown Girls (2003). In 2003, she starred in the romantic comedies Just Married and Little Black Book (2004) and the critically acclaimed Sin City (2005).

Murphy followed with several independent films, including as Spun (2002), Neverwas (2005), and Karen Moncrieff's The Dead Girl (2006), as well as Sidewalks of New York (2001) and The Groomsmen (2006). She returned to voice acting with the critically acclaimed 2006 animated feature Happy Feet. In 2009, she was cast in the Lifetime TV movie Tribute, as the main character, Cilla. Murphy completed the thriller/drama Abandoned in June 2009 and it was released in 2010, after her death. Something Wicked, her final film, was released in 2014.

In May 2007, Brittany married British screenwriter Simon Monjack in a private Jewish ceremony in Los Angeles, California.

Brittany died at the young age of 32, with some mystery surrounding her cause of death. Her husband Simon Monjack was also found dead six months later.

Brittany died December 20, 2009 after going into cardiac arrest due to pneumonia at her home in Los Angeles, California. On December 24, 2009 she was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ United States Public Records, 1970-2009 B Murphy Bertolotti, 2004-2007.
2. ↑ Memorial: Find a Grave (has image)
   Find A Grave: Memorial #45645726 (accessed 18 July 2022)
   Memorial page for Brittany Murphy Famous memorial (10 Nov 1977-20 Dec 2009), citing Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles County, California, USA (plot: Bright Eternity section, Map #H63, Lot 7402, Single Ground Interment Space 1); Maintained by Find a Grave.

• https://www.imdb.com, accessed 23 Nov 2014
• Wikipedia:Brittany Murphy, accessed 24 Nov 2014

Acknowledgements