The son of a physician, Horace Murphy started his career as a child actor on showboats on the Mississippi. He later played the cornet in the band and eventually became half-owner of the showboat "Cottonblossom Floating Palace". After two seasons he sold his interest and organized a string of dramatic tent shows from New Orleans to Los Angeles, each of which also had a baseball team. Later he sold these and built two theaters, one in Los Angeles and one in Burbank. He entered movies in 1936 and went on to a career mostly in B-Westerns. He is perhaps best known as "Ananias", Tex Ritter's partner in a string of films. He also appeared on radio with Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.