Bill Murray's Big Jump

Bill Murray set to sky-dive over his native Chicago as part of a USO event

By Josh Grossberg Jul 21, 2008 8:41 PMTags
Bill MurrayGian Mattia D'Alberto/LaPresse/ZUMAPress.com

Bill Murray is earning his stripes the hard way.

The funnyman has signed up to parachute out of a plane next month to honor veterans during the 50th Annual Chicago Air and Water Show.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the 57-year-old Windy City denizen will make his tandem jump with the U.S. Army's Golden Knights Parachute Team at 3 p.m. on Aug. 15, (hopefully) landing at North Avenue beach.

The publicity stunt is on behalf of USO Illinois, an organization that provides aid to wounded war vets at home and overseas.

The Golden Knights are the same group that famously accompanied President George Herbert Walker Bush in his freefall last year and a jump to celebrate his 80th birthday back in 2004.

Before the comic actor takes to the sky, Mrs. Brady herself, Florence Henderson, will sing the national anthem.

Also getting in on the act is CSI: NY star Gary Sinise, founder of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, who at 5 p.m. is scheduled to show off his bass guitar skills, performing live with members of his Lt. Dan Band, named for his character in Forrest Gump. Sinise has undertaken several USO trips to Iraq and other war zones to meet and greet troops in harm's way.

The U.S. Navy's famed Blue Angels squadron is scheduled to buzz the North Shore doing their trademark aerial stuntwork. The evening will then wrap up with a massive lakefront fireworks display set for 9 p.m.

When not leaping from planes, Murray has been busy with his day job.

He recently reunited with Dan Akyroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson, the original Ghostbusters gang, to lend their voices to a Ghostbusters video game due out in October. He also has two films coming to theaters soon: the family fantasy adventure City of Ember and the Jim Jarmusch crime thriller The Limits of Control.