RANDY QUAID
Name: Randall Rudy Quaid
Born: 1 October 1950 Houston, Texas, U.S.
Randall Rudy "Randy" Quaid (born October 1, 1950) is an Academy Award-nominated
American actor and comedian.
Quaid was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Juanita Bonniedale "Nita" (nee
Jordan), a real estate agent, and William Rudy Quaid, an electrician. Quaid
is married to former Helmut Newton model Evi Quaid, and is the older brother of
fellow actor Dennis Quaid. He attended Pershing Middle School and Bellaire High
School (Houston).
In a career that spans over 30 years, he has appeared in over 90 movies. Peter
Bogdanovich discovered him when Quaid was a student at the University of Houston
in Houston, Texas. He received his first exposure in The Last Picture Show, when
escorting Jacy Farrow (played by Cybill Shepherd) to late-night indoor skinny
dipping at a swimming pool. It was the first of several roles he has had which
were directed by Bogdanovich and/or based on the writings of Larry McMurtry.
Quaid appeared in all the National Lampoon's Vacation movies (except European
Vacation) where he proved an impressive scene-stealer as Cousin
Eddie, the dim-witted, bucolic in-law of Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase). He was
nominated for an Academy Award for his role in The Last Detail (1973) and won a
Golden Globe for his portrayal of President Lyndon Johnson in LBJ: The Early
Years (1987). He was featured (with Margaret Colin) in two science fiction
movies, the unsuccessful Martians Go Home and very successful Independence Day.
Other movies include Kingpin, where he played the lovable Amish bowler Ishmael,
alongside Woody Harrelson and Weird Science (the television version) cast member
Vanessa Angel; a loser father in Not Another Teen Movie; and an obnoxious
neighbor to Richard Pryor's character in Moving. He played the lead role in the
HBO movie Dead Solid Perfect as a golfer trying to make it on the PGA Tour.
In 2005, Quaid starred as Bill Geurrard in The Ice Harvest. His chilling
portrayal of a Kansas City mob boss was voted as one of the Top 10 Film
Gangsters of all-time in a UK poll, the number one slot went to Marlon Brando.
Quaid had a pivotal supporting role in the SAG Award nominated ensemble drama
Brokeback Mountain (2005) in which he played a homophobic rancher whose two male
employees are the movie's main characters. On March 23, 2006, Quaid filed a
lawsuit for $10 million plus punitive damages against Focus Features, Del Mar
Productions, James Schamus and David Linde, alleging that they both
intentionally and negligently misrepresented Brokeback Mountain as being, "a low-budget,
art house film with no prospect of making any money" in order to secure Quaid's
professional acting services at a considerably lower rate than his typical fee.
The film then grossed over $160 million. The lawsuit was closely monitored by
many actors who forgo their usual fees to make low-budget movies they believe
have artistic merit. On May 5, 2006, Quaid dropped his lawsuit
after he was advised that a financial resolution would be made.
In 2007, Quaid portrayed King Carlos the IV in Goya's Ghosts, a role for which
he learned to play the violin, and he starred in the comedy Ball’s Out: The Gary
Houseman Story (2008) alongside Sean William Scott.
Quaid received both Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for his 2005 portrayal of
talent manager Colonel Tom Parker in the critically acclaimed CBS television
network mini-series Elvis. Quaid's other television appearances include a season
as a Saturday Night Live cast member (1985–1986), the role of real-life
gunslinger John Wesley Hardin in the miniseries Streets of Laredo, and starring
roles in the short-lived series The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire (2003)
and Davis Rules (1991-1992). He was featured in the highly-rated TV movies
Category 6: Day of Destruction and Category 7: The End of the World and starred
in Last Rites, a made-for-cable Starz/Encore! premiere movie.
He also provided the voice of an animated Colonel Sanders character in a series
of television commercials for fried chicken restaurant chain KFC.
In 2004, Quaid appeared on stage undertaking the starring role of Frank in the
world premiere of Sam Shepard's The God of Hell produced by the New School
University at the Actors Studio Drama School in New York. In The God of Hell
Quaid's portrayal of Frank, a Wisconsin dairy farmer whose home is infiltrated
by a dangerous government operative who wants to take over his farm, was well-received
and reviewed by New York City's top theatre critics. It also marked the second
time that Quaid starred in a Shepard play, the first being the long running
Broadway hit True West.
In February 2008, a five-member hearing committee of Actors' Equity Association,
the labor union which represents American stage actors, banned Quaid for life
and fined him more than $81,000. The charges that brought the sanctions
originated in a Seattle production of Lone Star Love, a Western-themed
adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, in which Quaid played
the lead role of Falstaff. The musical was scheduled to come to Broadway, but
producers cancelled it.
According to the New York Post, all 26 members of the musical cast brought
charges that Quaid "physically and verbally abused his fellow performers" and
that the show closed rather than continuing to Broadway because of Quaid's "oddball
behavior". Quaid's lawyer, Mark Block, said the charges were completely false,
and that one of the complaining actors had said the action was actually driven
by "the producers who did not want to give Randy his contractual rights to
creative approval ... or financial participation ..." Block also said that Quaid
had left the union before the musical started, making the ban moot, and that
Quaid had only participated in the hearing because he wanted due process. Quaid's
own statement on the charges was "I am guilty of only one thing: giving a
performance that elicited a response so deeply felt by the actors and producers
with little experience of my creative process that they actually think I am
Falstaff."
Name: Randall Rudy Quaid
Born: 1 October 1950 Houston, Texas, U.S.
Randall Rudy "Randy" Quaid (born October 1, 1950) is an Academy Award-nominated
American actor and comedian.
Quaid was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Juanita Bonniedale "Nita" (nee
Jordan), a real estate agent, and William Rudy Quaid, an electrician. Quaid
is married to former Helmut Newton model Evi Quaid, and is the older brother of
fellow actor Dennis Quaid. He attended Pershing Middle School and Bellaire High
School (Houston).
In a career that spans over 30 years, he has appeared in over 90 movies. Peter
Bogdanovich discovered him when Quaid was a student at the University of Houston
in Houston, Texas. He received his first exposure in The Last Picture Show, when
escorting Jacy Farrow (played by Cybill Shepherd) to late-night indoor skinny
dipping at a swimming pool. It was the first of several roles he has had which
were directed by Bogdanovich and/or based on the writings of Larry McMurtry.
Quaid appeared in all the National Lampoon's Vacation movies (except European
Vacation) where he proved an impressive scene-stealer as Cousin
Eddie, the dim-witted, bucolic in-law of Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase). He was
nominated for an Academy Award for his role in The Last Detail (1973) and won a
Golden Globe for his portrayal of President Lyndon Johnson in LBJ: The Early
Years (1987). He was featured (with Margaret Colin) in two science fiction
movies, the unsuccessful Martians Go Home and very successful Independence Day.
Other movies include Kingpin, where he played the lovable Amish bowler Ishmael,
alongside Woody Harrelson and Weird Science (the television version) cast member
Vanessa Angel; a loser father in Not Another Teen Movie; and an obnoxious
neighbor to Richard Pryor's character in Moving. He played the lead role in the
HBO movie Dead Solid Perfect as a golfer trying to make it on the PGA Tour.
In 2005, Quaid starred as Bill Geurrard in The Ice Harvest. His chilling
portrayal of a Kansas City mob boss was voted as one of the Top 10 Film
Gangsters of all-time in a UK poll, the number one slot went to Marlon Brando.
Quaid had a pivotal supporting role in the SAG Award nominated ensemble drama
Brokeback Mountain (2005) in which he played a homophobic rancher whose two male
employees are the movie's main characters. On March 23, 2006, Quaid filed a
lawsuit for $10 million plus punitive damages against Focus Features, Del Mar
Productions, James Schamus and David Linde, alleging that they both
intentionally and negligently misrepresented Brokeback Mountain as being, "a low-budget,
art house film with no prospect of making any money" in order to secure Quaid's
professional acting services at a considerably lower rate than his typical fee.
The film then grossed over $160 million. The lawsuit was closely monitored by
many actors who forgo their usual fees to make low-budget movies they believe
have artistic merit. On May 5, 2006, Quaid dropped his lawsuit
after he was advised that a financial resolution would be made.
In 2007, Quaid portrayed King Carlos the IV in Goya's Ghosts, a role for which
he learned to play the violin, and he starred in the comedy Ball’s Out: The Gary
Houseman Story (2008) alongside Sean William Scott.
Quaid received both Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for his 2005 portrayal of
talent manager Colonel Tom Parker in the critically acclaimed CBS television
network mini-series Elvis. Quaid's other television appearances include a season
as a Saturday Night Live cast member (1985–1986), the role of real-life
gunslinger John Wesley Hardin in the miniseries Streets of Laredo, and starring
roles in the short-lived series The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire (2003)
and Davis Rules (1991-1992). He was featured in the highly-rated TV movies
Category 6: Day of Destruction and Category 7: The End of the World and starred
in Last Rites, a made-for-cable Starz/Encore! premiere movie.
He also provided the voice of an animated Colonel Sanders character in a series
of television commercials for fried chicken restaurant chain KFC.
In 2004, Quaid appeared on stage undertaking the starring role of Frank in the
world premiere of Sam Shepard's The God of Hell produced by the New School
University at the Actors Studio Drama School in New York. In The God of Hell
Quaid's portrayal of Frank, a Wisconsin dairy farmer whose home is infiltrated
by a dangerous government operative who wants to take over his farm, was well-received
and reviewed by New York City's top theatre critics. It also marked the second
time that Quaid starred in a Shepard play, the first being the long running
Broadway hit True West.
In February 2008, a five-member hearing committee of Actors' Equity Association,
the labor union which represents American stage actors, banned Quaid for life
and fined him more than $81,000. The charges that brought the sanctions
originated in a Seattle production of Lone Star Love, a Western-themed
adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, in which Quaid played
the lead role of Falstaff. The musical was scheduled to come to Broadway, but
producers cancelled it.
According to the New York Post, all 26 members of the musical cast brought
charges that Quaid "physically and verbally abused his fellow performers" and
that the show closed rather than continuing to Broadway because of Quaid's "oddball
behavior". Quaid's lawyer, Mark Block, said the charges were completely false,
and that one of the complaining actors had said the action was actually driven
by "the producers who did not want to give Randy his contractual rights to
creative approval ... or financial participation ..." Block also said that Quaid
had left the union before the musical started, making the ban moot, and that
Quaid had only participated in the hearing because he wanted due process. Quaid's
own statement on the charges was "I am guilty of only one thing: giving a
performance that elicited a response so deeply felt by the actors and producers
with little experience of my creative process that they actually think I am
Falstaff."