Future FDR Bill Murray Wasn't Good Enough to Play FDR on SNL

On Tuesday, it was announced that Bill Murray will likely play Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Roger Michell's adaptation of Hyde Park On the Hudson. This raises the question: did Murray ever play any presidential characters during his run on Saturday Night Live -- perhaps even FDR himself?

Murray joined the cast of SNL in early 1977, during the middle of its second season. Considering the amount of air-time Murray had -- especially by the '79-'80 season after John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd left -- the odds seemed pretty high that he would have at least some experience portraying a president. As it turns out, however, he didn't -- the closest he came was portraying Ted Kennedy on a recurring basis in the run up to the 1980 presidential primaries. (Once, in a flashback sketch, he also played Bobby Kennedy.)

That's all well and good, but what really stands out is that there actually were two sketches featuring FDR during Murray's three-and-a-half season tenure. (Seriously, what are the odds?)

In 1978 -- during the fourth episode of the season -- a sketch about Eleanor Roosevelt's ability to fly (no, really) titled "What If?" featured John Belushi as President Roosevelt.

Meanwhile, in a long forgotten sketch in the third show of the fifth season titled "The Continuing Correspondence of Eleanor Roosevelt" -- which had to do with Eleanor Roosevelt's outstanding grocery store bill (even in the heyday of SNL, they weren't all winners, folks) -- Murray was once again passed over for FDR, this time by featured player Harry Shearer.

Talk about infamy. Twice the nation was robbed of the chance to see what a Bill Murray-played FDR would look like. Here's hoping all systems are go for Hyde Park on the Hudson, and that Roger Michell can deliver what Lorne Michaels could not.

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