Born as Benjamin Edward Castleberry Jr. in Jonesboro, Arkansas to Nadine (nee Steele) and Benjamin E. Castleberry. After the death of his father, he was raised in Memphis, Tennessee. When his mother remarried in 1956, he was adopted by his stepfather, Patrick Henry Murphy, taking his last name. The family moved to Clarendon Hills, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
Ben Murphy graduated from Benet Academy in Lisle, Illinois, and attended no fewer than eight colleges, including the University of the Americas in Mexico and the University of Illinois.
