LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Eddie Murphy: Trading Places
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Eddie Murphy vaulted onto the exhibitors annual poll of top ten boxoffice stars in 1983, placing 2nd. He subsequently made the list for the next six years, placing 4th in 1984, 2nd in 1985 and 1986, 1st in 1987, 2nd in 1988 and 7th in 1989.
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[I]n 1984, Murphy appeared in Best Defense, co-starring Dudley Moore. Murphy, who was credited as a "Strategic Guest Star", was added to the film after an original version was completed but tested poorly with audiences. Best Defense was a major financial and critical disappointment. When he hosted SNL, Murphy joined the chorus of those bashing Best Defense, calling it "the worst movie in the history of everything". Murphy has ... been rumored to be initially a part of hits such as Ghostbusters (featuring his Trading Places co-star Dan Aykroyd and fellow SNL alumnus Bill Murray). The part that was originally written with Murphy in mind ultimately went to Ernie Hudson. Murphy was also offered a part in 1986's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, a role that, after being heavily re-written from comic relief to love interest, ultimately went to future 7th Heaven star Catherine Hicks.
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In mid 1983 Murphy's second movie, Trading Places, was released. Costarring Dan Aykroyd, this film was another hit for the budding megastar. Director John Landis declared in Time, "Eddie is definitely a movie star now." Both 48 HRS. and Trading Places ended up among the top ten grossing films of 1983. Murphy ... launched a major concert tour that year.
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Murphy is not the only star to be stopped by police with a prostitute in his car. In 1995, actor Hugh Grant pleaded no contest to lewd conduct with prostitute Estelle Thompson... known as Divine Brown. Grant was fined $1,180 and placed on two years' probation.
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It's not going out on a limb to say that Cosby had no aesthetic influence on Murphy's comedy. The elder statesman of stand-up and sitcom told interminable shaggy dog stories about raising teenagers and placating the wife. Eddie's humor eisted in an alternate, scatalogical universe. Cosby had the credibility to make Jell-O seem delicious. Murphy was selling something else that couldn't even be mentioned on TV. The Cos served as a super-successful example of clean living, hard work, and clear goals, the very traits punched into Eddie at home [by his boxer step-father] in the basement.
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Trading Places