Murphy survived the scandal and, over the next decade, continued to find great success in family films like Dr. Dolittle and Shrek, while struggling with more adult-skewing movies like Holy Man and Showtime. There was no shame in Murphy's drift toward milder PG-rated fare — plenty of other edgy comedians had followed a similar trajectory. But as he watched the rise of a new generation of comic talents, like Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle, who had drawn inspiration from him, Murphy showed signs of restlessness. ''He said to me, ' Anybody could do Daddy Day Care or Dr. Dolittle,''' says Blaustein. '''I want to do things only I can do.'''

''Every bad decision I've made has been based on money,'' Murphy once said. When it came to Dreamgirls, he nearly made another one. The actor had been a big fan of the musical back when it opened on Broadway in 1981 and would walk around the Saturday Night Live offices singing its songs. Still, when the idea of taking a supporting role in a film version came up two years ago, he initially had misgivings about doing a project that, along with its considerable acting challenges, would require him to drastically lower his usual eight-figure fee. ''Bill [Condon] and I had lunch with Eddie at Mr. Chow, and Eddie said he was a fan of the musical,'' says producer Laurence Mark. ''He said, 'Wouldn't it be great if I came on screen and it took the audience a few seconds to figure out it was me?' From that moment on, we were convinced we were absolutely right to want him.'' Still, Murphy continued to waffle until Katzenberg and his DreamWorks cofounder David Geffen finally persuaded him that the creative merits of the project far outweighed any financial sacrifice. ''It was a lot of cajoling and hand-holding,'' says Condon.

Once on the set, however, Murphy threw everything he had into the role. He was going through a difficult period in his personal life, with the breakup of his 12-year marriage, and the anguish inevitably filtered into his performance. ''He would come in to recording sessions and just say, 'I can't go on. It's Christmas and my marriage is falling apart,''' says Condon. ''He clearly used some of the stuff he was going through.'' Murphy's wife had filed for divorce just four months earlier, but that didn't end the actor's romantic woes. Murphy was soon linked with singer Melanie Brown, formerly known as Scary Spice of the Spice Girls, but, after Brown became pregnant, their relationship ended in a bitter and still-unresolved public feud over paternity.

Exactly what Dreamgirls will do to change the landscape of Murphy's career is not yet clear. There may still be work to be done to rehabilitate his reputation within the industry, but an Oscar nomination would certainly help in that respect. ''There's nothing to dissolve a grudging sense of ill will like having that actor go on to enormous success,'' says Sheffield. ''Then all is forgotten. All is forgiven. All is right with the world.''

But what does Murphy himself want? If he finally receives the validation he feels he was owed long ago, what then? Murphy's next film, Norbit, which opens next month, sticks to his successful formula of playing multiple roles — a nerdy, henpecked husband, his overbearing, obese wife, and a Chinese man — in a broad comedy. After that, he is signed on to star in a fish-out-of-water comedy called Starship Dave, and plans were recently announced for a fourth Beverly Hills Cop installment, neither of which suggests a bold new direction. Murphy has flirted with the idea of returning to the stage to do stand-up again, something friends and fellow comics have been urging him to do for years. But at this point, the prospect apparently seems too daunting. ''We've gone to clubs and sat there, night after night,'' says Hall. ''One day, I said, 'Here's a brilliant idea: You host Saturday Night Live, do five minutes of stand-up, do the sketches, and that's how you get to feel it again. If you returned to SNL just once — oh, motherf---er!' He was like, 'I'll think about it.' That means, 'Don't ask me no more.'''

During a recent taping of a two-hour episode of Inside the Actors Studio, Murphy allowed a rare crack in what Thandie Newton, who costars with him in Norbit, calls ''an invisible seal that's built around him.'' Reviewing the highlights of his long career with host James Lipton, whistling past the graveyard of flops and personal troubles, he seemed eager to connect with the audience, craving their laughs, but tentative and wary as well — more like a man on a first date than an actor basking in the honeyed glow of Lipton love. Near the end, the host launched into his usual questionnaire. He asked Murphy what his favorite word is. The actor broke into a wide smile and said, ''New. New. New.''

(Additional reporting by Vanessa Juarez and Adam B. Vary)