He joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve and was assigned to 125 (Newfoundland) Squadron serving as its medical officer until 1945 and reaching the rank of flight-lieutenant surgeon.
To reach remote communities in the hospital's catchment area during the winter, Dr. Murphy travelled by horse and sleigh or dog team before the federal government provided him with a snowmobile.
He entered politics on behalf of the Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador and won the seat of Humber East in the 1962 provincial election.
Murphy was elected mayor of Corner Brook for three terms and was unexpectedly appointed minister without portfolio in 1971 in the final cabinet of Liberal Premier Joey Smallwood however he lost the riding of Humber West in the subsequent 1971 provincial election to Conservative leader Frank Moores who would succeed Smallwood as Premier.
Murphy's awards include an honorary doctorate in law from the Memorial University of Newfoundland (1975), Canadian Broadcaster of the Year (1984), and the Order of Canada (1988).