Watercolor by James G. Swan depicting the Klallam people of chief Chetzemoka at Port Townsend, with one of Chetzemoka's wives distributing potlatch.

A Freebox in Berlin, Germany 2005, serving as a distribution center for free donated materials

In the social sciences, a gift economy (or gift culture) is a society where valuable goods and services are regularly given without any explicit agreement for immediate or future repayment (i.e. no formal quid pro quo exists).^[1] In principle, voluntary and recurring gift exchange powerfully creates and circulates wealth, both monetary and nonmonetary, within a community.^[2] The organization of a gift economy stands in contrast to a barter economy or a market economy. Informal custom governs exchanges, rather than an explicit exchange of goods or services for money or some other commodity.^[3]

Various social theories concerning gift economies exist. Some consider the gifts to be a form of reciprocal altruism. Another interpretation is that social status is awarded in return for the gifts.^[4]

Gift economies were prevalent before the advent of market economies, but gradually disappeared as societies became more complex. Some gift economies survived until modern historical times, particularly in pre-industrial societies.

Modern-day society^[timeframe?] is witnessing a resurgence of the gift economy in the technology sector. Engineers, scientists and software developers create open-source software projects. The Linux kernel and the GNU operating system are prototypical examples for the gift economy's prominence in the technology sector and its active role in instating the use of permissive free software and copyleft licenses, which allow free reuse of software and knowledge.

History[link]

Contrary to popular conception, there is no evidence that societies relied primarily on barter before using money for trade.^[5] Instead, non-monetary societies operated largely along the principles of gift economics and debt.^[6][7] When barter did in fact occur, it was usually between either complete strangers or would-be enemies.^[8]

Lewis Hyde locates the origin of gift economies in the sharing of food, citing as an example the Trobriand Islander protocol of referring to a gift in the Kula exchange ring as "some food we could not eat," even though the gift is not food, but an ornament purposely made for passing as a gift.^[9] The potlatch also originated as a 'big feed'.^[10] Hyde argues that this led to a notion in many societies of the gift as something that must "perish".^{[citation needed]}

The anthropologist Marshall Sahlins writes that Stone Age gift economies were, as evidenced by their nature as gift economies, economies of abundance, not scarcity, despite modern readers' typical assumption of abject poverty.^[11]

Gift economies were replaced by market economies based on commodity money, as the emergence of city states made money a necessity.^[12]

Characteristics[link]

A gift economy normally requires the gift exchange to be more than simply a back-and-forth between two individuals. For example, a Kashmiri tale tells of two Brahmin women who tried to fulfill their obligations for alms-giving simply by giving alms back and forth to one another. On their deaths they were transformed into two poisoned wells from which no one could drink, reflecting the barrenness of this weak simulacrum of giving.^[13] This notion of expanding the circle can also be seen in societies where hunters give animals to priests, who sacrifice a portion to a deity (who, in turn, is expected to provide an abundant hunt). The hunters do not directly sacrifice to the deity themselves.^[13]

Many societies have strong prohibitions against turning gifts into trade or capital goods. Anthropologist Wendy James writes that among the Uduk people of northeast Africa there is a strong custom that any gift that crosses subclan boundaries must be consumed rather than invested.^[14] For example, an animal given as a gift must be eaten, not bred. However, as in the example of the Trobriand armbands and necklaces, this "perishing" may not consist of consumption as such, but of the gift moving on. In other societies, it is a matter of giving some other gift, either directly in return or to another party. To keep the gift and not give another in exchange is reprehensible. "In folk tales," Hyde remarks, "the person who tries to hold onto a gift usually dies."^[15]

Carol Stack's All Our Kin describes both the positive and negative sides of a network of obligation and gratitude effectively constituting a gift economy. Her narrative of The Flats, a poor Chicago neighborhood, tells in passing the story of two sisters who each came into a small inheritance. One sister hoarded the inheritance and prospered materially for some time, but was alienated from the community. Her marriage ultimately broke up, and she integrated herself back into the community largely by giving gifts. The other sister fulfilled the community's expectations, but within six weeks had nothing material to show for the inheritance but a coat and a pair of shoes.^[16]

Examples[link]

Societies[link]

Pacific islanders[link]

Pacific Island societies prior to the nineteenth century were essentially gift economies.^{[citation needed]} This practice still endures in parts of the Pacific today - for example in some outer islands of the Cook Islands.^[17] In Tokelau, despite the gradual appearance of a market economy, a form of gift economy remains through the practice of inati, the strictly egalitarian sharing of all food resources in each atoll.^[18] On Anuta as well, a gift economy called "Aropa" still exists.^[19]

There are also a significant number of diasporic Pacific Islander communities in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States that still practice a form of gift economy. Although they have become participants in those countries' market economies, some seek to retain practices linked to an adapted form of gift economy, such as reciprocal gifts of money, or remittances back to their home community. The notion of reciprocal gifts is seen as essential to the fa'aSamoa ("Samoan way of life"), the anga fakatonga ("Tongan way of life"), and the culture of other diasporic Pacific communities.^[20]

Papua New Guinea[link]

The Kula ring still exists to this day, as do other exchange systems in the region, such as Moka exchange in the Mt. Hagen area, on Papua New Guinea.^{[citation needed]}

Native Americans[link]

Native Americans who lived in the Pacific Northwest (primarily the Kwakiutl), practiced the potlatch ritual, where leaders give away large amounts of goods to their followers, strengthening group relations. By sacrificing accumulated wealth, a leader gained a position of honor.^{[citation needed]}

Mexico[link]

In the Sierra Tarahumara of North Western Mexico, a custom exists called kórima. This custom says that it is one's duty to share his wealth with anyone.^[21]

Spain[link]

In place of a market, anarcho-communists, such as those who inhabited some Spanish villages in the 1930s, support a currency-less gift economy where goods and services are produced by workers and distributed in community stores where everyone (including the workers who produced them) is essentially entitled to consume whatever they want or need as payment for their production of goods and services.^[22]

Burning Man[link]

Burning Man is a week-long annual art and community event held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, in the United States. The event is described as an experiment in community, radical self-expression, and radical self-reliance. The event outlaws commerce (except for ice, coffee, and tickets to the event itself)^[23] and encourages gifting.^[24] Gifting is one of the 10 guiding principles,^[25] as participants to Burning Man (both the desert festival and the year-round global community) are encouraged to rely on a gift economy. The practice of gifting at Burning Man is also documented by the 2002 documentary film "Gifting It: A Burning Embrace of Gift Economy",^[26] as well as by Making Contact's radio show "How We Survive: The Currency of Giving [encore]".^[24]

Religious gift giving[link]

Buddhism[link]

In Southeast Asia, Theravada Buddhists continue to sponsor "Feasts of Merit" that are very similar to potlatch. Such feasts usually involve many sponsors and occur mainly before and after the rainy season.^[27]

Hinduism[link]

Bhiksha is a devotional offering, usually food, presented at a temple or to a swami or a religious Brahmin who in turn provides a religious service (karmkand) or instruction.

Islam[link]

Zakāt, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is the giving of a small portion (commonly referred to as 1/40 or 2.5 percent) of one's wealth to charity, generally to the poor and needy.^[28] The number 40 in Middle Eastern culture represent an estimate, or many of something.

Judaism[link]

According to the Hebrew Bible, tzedakah is a religious obligation that must be performed regardless of financial standing. It is considered as one of the three main acts that can annul a less than favorable heavenly decree.

Information gift economies[link]

Information is particularly suited to gift economies, as information is a nonrival good and can be gifted at practically no cost.^[29][30]

Science[link]

Traditional scientific research can be thought of as an information gift economy. Scientists produce research papers and give them away through journals and conferences, though access to the journals themselves can be expensive. Other scientists freely refer to such papers. All scientists with access to those journals can therefore benefit from the increased pool of knowledge. The original scientists receive no direct benefit from others building on their work, except an increase in their reputation. Failure to cite and give credit to original authors (thus depriving them of reputational effects) is considered improper behavior.^[31]

Filesharing[link]

Markus Giesler, in his ethnography "Consumer Gift Systems" has developed music downloading as a system of social solidarity based on gift transactions.^[32]

Open-source software[link]

In his essay "Homesteading the Noosphere", noted computer programmer Eric S. Raymond said that free and open source software developers have created "a 'gift culture' in which participants compete for prestige by giving time, energy, and creativity away".^[33] However, prestige is not the only motivator for the giving of lines of code. An anthropological study of the Fedora community, as part of a master's study at the University of North Texas in 2010-11, found that common reasons given by contributors were "learning for the joy of learning and collaborating with interesting and smart people". Motivation for personal gain, such as career benefits, was more rarely reported. Many of those surveyed said things like, "Mainly I contribute just to make it work for me", and "programmers develop software to 'scratch an itch'".^[34] The International Institute of Infonomics at the University of Maastricht, in the Netherlands, reported in 2002 that in addition to the above, large corporations, and they specifically mentioned IBM, also spend large annual sums employing developers specifically for them to contribute to open source projects. The firms' and the employees' motivations in such cases are less clear.^[35]

Members of the Linux community often speak of their community as a gift economy.^[36] The IT research firm IDC valued the Linux kernel at $18 billion USD in 2007 and projected its value at $40 billion USD in 2010.^[37] The Debian distribution of the GNU/Linux operating system offers over 37,000 free open-source software packages via their AMD64 repositories alone.^[38]

Wikipedia[link]

Millions of articles are available on Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia, and almost none of its many authors and editors receive any direct material reward.^[39][40]

Social theories[link]

Various social theories concerning gift economies exist. Some consider the gifts to be a form of reciprocal altruism. Another interpretation is that social status is awarded in return for the gifts.^[4] Consider for example, the sharing of food in some hunter-gatherer societies, where food-sharing is a safeguard against the failure of any individual's daily foraging. This custom may reflect concern for the well-being of others, it may be a form of informal insurance, or may bring with it social status or other benefits.

Mauss[link]

French sociologist Marcel Mauss argues that a gift, a perfect example of 'total' social phenomenon, is essentially never "free". They not only entail the obligation to reciprocate presents received, but also "supposes two other obligations just as important: the obligation, on the one hand, to give presents, and on the other hand, to receive them"^[41]. According to Mauss, while it is easy to romanticize a gift economy, humans do not always wish to be enmeshed in a web of obligation. Mauss wrote, "The gift not yet repaid debases the man who accepts it,"^[42] a lesson certainly not lost on the young person seeking independence who decides not to accept more money or gifts from his or her parents.^[43] And as Hyde writes, "There are times when we want to be aliens and strangers."^[44] We like to be able to go to the corner store, buy a can of soup, and not have to let the store clerk into our affairs or vice versa. We like to travel on an airplane without worrying about whether we would personally get along with the pilot. A gift creates a "feeling bond." Commodity exchange does not.^[45] The French writer Georges Bataille in his book La part Maudite use Mauss's argument in order to construct a theory of economy: to his point of view the structure of gift forms the presupposition for all possible economy. Particularly interested about the potlatch as described by Mauss, Bataille claims that its antagonistic character obliges the receiver of the gift to confirm a subjection; the structure of the gift can refer thus immediately to a practice that bears out different roles for the parts that undertake an action in it, installing in this act of donating the Hegelian dipole of master and slave.

Hyde[link]

Lewis Hyde states that a traditional gift economy is based on "the obligation to give, the obligation to accept, and the obligation to reciprocate," and that it is "at once economic, juridical, moral, aesthetic, religious, and mythological."^[46] He describes the spirit of a gift economy (and its contrast to a market economy) as:^[47]

The opposite of "Indian giver" would be something like "white man keeper"... [W]hatever we have been given is supposed to be given away not kept. Or, if it is kept, something of similar value should move in its stead... [T]he gift may be given back to its original donor, but this is not essential... The only essential is this: the gift must always move.

Hyde also argues that there is a difference between a "true" gift given out of gratitude and a "false" gift given only out of obligation. In Hyde's view, the "true" gift binds us in a way beyond any commodity transaction, but "we cannot really become bound to those who give us false gifts."^[48]

Hyde argues that when a primarily gift-based economy is turned into a commodity-based economy, "the social fabric of the group is invariably destroyed."^[15] Much as there are prohibitions against turning gifts into capital, there are prohibitions against treating gift exchange as barter. Among the Trobrianders, for example, treating Kula as barter is considered a disgrace.^[49] Hyde writes that commercial goods can generally become gifts, but when gifts become commodities, the gift "...either stops being a gift or else abolishes the boundary... Contracts of the heart lie outside the law and the circle of gifts is narrowed, therefore, whenever such contracts are narrowed to legal relationships."^[50]

Kropotkin[link]

Part of a series on
Anarcho-Communism
Concepts Anarchy Anti-authoritarianism Anti-capitalism Anti-statism Proletarian internationalism Class consciousness Class struggle Classless society Common ownership Commons Commune Consensus democracy Co-operative economics Direct democracy Egalitarian community Free association Free store From each according to his ability, to each according to his need Mass strike Gift economy Market abolitionism Mutual aid Prefigurative politics Primitive communism Stateless communism Stateless society Workers control Workers cooperative Workers council Wage slavery
People Joseph Déjacque Peter Kropotkin Carlo Cafiero Errico Malatesta Emma Goldman Luigi Galleani Ricardo Flores Magón Alexander Berkman Volin Sébastien Faure Nestor Makhno Murray Bookchin Albert Meltzer
Organizational forms Insurrectionary anarchism Platformism anarcho-communists also have participated in Synthesis federations
Theoretical works The Conquest of Bread Fields, Factories and Workshops Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution Anarchism and Other Essays Now and After The Right To Be Greedy: Theses On The Practical Necessity Of Demanding Everything Post-Scarcity Anarchism
Related Topics Anarchism Autonomism Communization Council communism Left communism Libertarian socialism Social anarchism
v t e

Anarchists, particularly anarcho-primitivists and anarcho-communists, believe that variations on a gift economy may be the key to breaking the cycle of poverty. Therefore they often desire to refashion all of society into a gift economy. Anarcho-communists advocate a gift economy as an ideal, with neither money, nor markets, nor central planning. This view traces back at least to Peter Kropotkin, who saw in the hunter-gatherer tribes he had visited the paradigm of "mutual aid". ^[51]

Kropotkin argues that mutual benefit is a stronger incentive than mutual strife and is eventually more effective collectively in the long run to drive individuals to produce. The reason given is that a gift economy stresses the concept of increasing the other's abilities and means of production, which would then (theoretically) increase the ability of the community to reciprocate to the giving individual. Other solutions to prevent inefficiency in a pure gift economy due to wastage of resources that were not allocated to the most pressing need or want stresses the use of several methods involving collective shunning where collective groups keep track of other individuals' productivity, rather than leaving each individual having to keep track of the rest of society by him or herself.^{[citation needed]}

Bell[link]

The economist Duran Bell postulates that exchanges in a gift economy are different from pure commodity exchange in that they are mainly used to build social relationships. Gifts between individuals or between groups help build a relationship, allowing the people to work together. The generosity of a gift improves a person's prestige and social standing. Differences in social rank are not defined by differences in access to goods, but rather by "his ability to give to others, the desire to accumulate being seen as an indication of weakness."^[52]

In literature[link]

The concept of a gift economy has played a large role in works of fiction about alternate societies, especially in works of science fiction. Examples include:

• News from Nowhere (1890) by William Morris is a utopian novel about a society which operates on a gift economy.
• The Great Explosion (1962) by Eric Frank Russell describes the encounter of a military survey ship and a Gandhian pacifist society that operates as a gift economy.
• The Dispossessed (1974) by Ursula K. Le Guin is a novel about a gift economy society that had exiled themselves from their (capitalist) homeplanet.
• The Mars trilogy, a series of books written by Kim Stanley Robinson in the 1990s, suggests that new human societies that develop away from Earth could migrate toward a gift economy.
• The movie Pay It Forward (2000) centers on a schoolboy who, for a school project, comes up with the idea of doing a good deed for another and then asking the recipient to "pay it forward". Although the phrase "gift economy" is never explicitly mentioned, the scheme would, in effect, create one.
• Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (2003) by Cory Doctorow describes future society where rejuvenation and body-enhancement have made death obsolete, and material goods are no longer scarce, resulting in a reputation-based (whuffie) economic system.
• Wizard's Holiday (2003) by Diane Duane describes two young wizards visiting a utopian-like planet whose economy is based on gift-giving and mutual support.
• Voyage from Yesteryear (1982) by James P. Hogan describes a society of the embryo colonists of Alpha Centauri who have a post-scarcity gift economy.
• Cradle of Saturn (1999) and its sequel The Anguished Dawn (2003) by James P. Hogan describe a colonization effort on Saturn's largest satellite. Both describe the challenges involved in adopting a new economic paradigm.

See also[link]

• Brownie points
• Egoboo
• Giving Circles
• Money-free economy
• Reciprocity (cultural anthropology)
• Post scarcity economy
• Pay it forward
• History of money

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Marcel Mauss (1925), The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies, ISBN 0-393-32043-X  Originally published as Essai sur le don. Forme et raison de l'échange dans les sociétés archaïques. Lewis Hyde calls this "the classic work on gift exchange".
• Lewis Hyde (1983), The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property, ISBN 0-394-71519-5  Especially part I, "A Theory of Gifts", part of which was originally published as "The Gift Must Always Move" in Co-Evolution Quarterly No. 35, Fall 1982.
• Gifford Pinchot III (Summer, 1995), "The Gift Economy", Business on a Small Planet (Context Institute): pp. 49, http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=3775a 
• Peter Kropotkin (1902; this edition 1987, 1993, 1998), Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, Freedom Press, ISBN 0-900384-36-0 
• Charles Eisenstein (2011), Sacred Economics : Money, Gift & Society in the Age of Transition, North Atlantic Books, ISBN [[Special:BookSources/1-58394-397-7|1-58394-397-7]] 

Further reading[link]

• Sahlins, Marshall (1972). Stone Age Economics. Chicago: Aldine Transaction. ISBN 978-0-202-01099-1. 

External links[link]

• Gift giving - a welcoming act in rural India
• The gift economy (Genevieve Vaughan)
• The Gift Economy, Anarchism and Strategies for Change
• Moneyless World

Gary Busey
Busey at CUN2008 Oscar party
Born	William Gary Busey (1944-06-29) June 29, 1944 (age 67) Goose Creek, Texas, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1968–present
Spouse	Tiani Warden (1996–2001; divorced) Judy Helkenberg (1968–90; divorced)

William Gary Busey^[1] (born June 29, 1944) is an American film and stage actor, and artist. He has appeared in a large variety of films, as well as making regular appearances on Gunsmoke, Walker, Texas Ranger, Law & Order, and Entourage. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in 1978 for his role in The Buddy Holly Story.

Early life[link]

Busey was born William Gareth Jacob Busey in Goose Creek (now Baytown), Texas, the son of Sadie Virginia (née Arnett), a homemaker, and Delmer Lloyd Busey, a construction design manager.^[2] He graduated from Nathan Hale High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1962. While attending Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg (located in southeastern Kansas) on a football scholarship, he became interested in acting.^[3] He then transferred to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, where he quit school just one class short of graduation.

Career[link]

Busey began his show-business career as a drummer in The Rubber Band.^{[citation needed]} He appears on several Leon Russell recordings, credited as playing drums under the names "Teddy Jack Eddy"^[4] and "Sprunk",^{[citation needed]} a character he created when he was a cast member of a local television comedy show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, called The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting^[4] on station KTUL (which starred fellow Tulsan Gailard Sartain as "Dr. Mazeppa Pompazoidi"). For his skits on Uncanny Film Festival, Busey drew on his American Hero, belligerent, know-it-all character. When he told Gailard Sartain his characer needed a name, Sartain replied, "Take three: Teddy, Jack and Eddy."^[4]

He played in a band called Carp, which released one album on Epic Records in 1969.^[5] Busey continued to play several small roles in both film and television during the 1970s. In 1975, as the character "Harvey Daley," he was the last person killed on the series Gunsmoke (in the antepenultimate episode, No. 633 – "The Busters").

In 1976 he was hired by Barbra Streisand and her producer-boyfriend Jon Peters to play Bobby Ritchie, road manager to Kris Kristofferson's character in the remake film A Star is Born. On the DVD commentary of the film, Streisand says Busey was great and that she had seen him on a TV series and thought he had the right qualities to play the role.

In 1978, he starred as Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story with Sartain as The Big Bopper. The movie earned Busey an Academy Award nomination and the National Society of Film Critics' Best Actor award. In the film, he changes the lyrics to the song "Well All Right" and sings, "We're gonna love Teddy Jack..." a reference to his Teddy Jack Eddy persona.^{[citation needed]} In the same year he also starred in the surfing movie Big Wednesday.

In the 1980s, Busey's roles included Silver Bullet, Barbarosa, Insignificance and Lethal Weapon. In the movie D.C. Cab, Busey portrayed the character Dell. At one point, Dell is singing along with a cassette recording of Busey singing the song "Why Baby Why" (which Busey recorded, but still remains unreleased).^[6] In the 1990s, he appeared in Predator 2, Rookie of the Year, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Under Siege, The Firm, Lost Highway, Point Break and Black Sheep.

Busey sang the song "Stay All Night" on Saturday Night Live in March 1979, Episode 14, Season 4, and on the Late Show with David Letterman in the 1990s.^{[citation needed]}

In 2002, Busey voiced the character Phil Cassidy in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, then again in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories in 2006.^{[citation needed]} He also voiced himself on a 2005 episode of The Simpsons, narrating an informational video about restraining orders.^[7]

Busey appeared in the 2006 Turkish nationalist film Valley of the Wolves: Iraq, (Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak, in Turkish). The film, accused of fascism, anti-Americanism^[8] and anti-Semitism,^[9] tells the story of the U.S. Army run amok in Iraq and brought into check by a Turkish soldier; Busey plays a Jewish-American Army doctor who harvests fresh organs from injured Iraqi prisoners to sell to rich patients in New York City, London and Tel Aviv.

Busey in Kazakhstan, 2007.

In 2007, he appeared as himself on HBO's Entourage. Producers at HBO asked^{[citation needed]} Busey to play a "character" on the show who was the self-named actor who is also a famous painter and sculptor.

In 2008, he joined the second season of the reality show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. Per his contract and VH1's press release, he was to be part of the mentoring team and not a patient.^[10] Drew Pinsky has expressed a different opinion, saying that he can help by being in group meetings with others and is not part of the staff, but part of the patients of this second season. Busey returned to reality television in Celebrity Apprentice 4, which premiered in March 2011.^[11]

In a series of 2010 YouTube advertisements for Vitamin Water, Busey appears as Norman Tugwater, a lawyer who defends professional athletes' entitlements to a cut from Fantasy Football team owners.^[12]

The following year, a whirlwind of rumors flew around Hollywood that Busey had been fired from horror movie Mansion of Blood from Elusive Entertainment. Rather, according to Busey's publicist, Michael Conley, Busey stars as Zacharia in the indy film from Elusive Entertainment. In fact, Conley says, "The Producers were so happy with Gary's performance that they even called a "press conference" arranged by the movie's unit publicist, Liz Rodriguez, held by her and the "Mansion" producer team from historical Hollywood & Highland to officially exonerate Gary of any allegations that he had been fired and praised Gary's performance in the upcoming movie."^[13]

Personal life[link]

Busey in September 2007

Family[link]

In 1971, Busey's wife Judy Helkenberg gave birth to their son, William Jacob "Jake" Busey. Busey and Judy divorced when Jake was nineteen.

Busey has a daughter named Alectra from a previous relationship.^[14]

On December 9, 2009, it was announced that Gary Busey and girlfriend Steffanie Sampson were expecting their first child in May 2010. On February 23, 2010, their son Luke Sampson Busey was born.^[15]

Religion[link]

Media reports claimed that Busey is a Christian and active minister in Promise Keepers.^[16] Promise Keepers says that this is incorrect, that it was never contacted for verification of this false claim, and stated on its website that "There is a story circulating through the media that Gary Busey is a minister at Promise Keepers... This is false." (It was later discovered that the incorrect report came from a spoof in the satirical website The Onion.)^[17]

Motorcycle accident and brain damage[link]

On December 4, 1988, Busey was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in which he was not wearing a helmet. His skull was fractured, and doctors feared he suffered permanent brain damage.^[18]

At the recommendation of Dr. Drew Pinsky, Busey was seen by psychiatrist Dr. Charles Sophy. Sophy suspected that Busey's brain injury has had a greater effect on him than realized. He described it as essentially weakening his mental "filters" and causing him to speak and act impulsively. Sophy recommended Busey take a medication called Depakote (valproic acid), to which Busey agreed.^[19]

Legal issues[link]

In May 1995, Busey was arrested for cocaine possession after being hospitalized for an overdose of cocaine and GHB.^[20]

On August 20, 1997, Busey was accused of pushing a stewardess who bumped him on a flight to Las Vegas. Upon the flight's landing, he was questioned by police, but no charges were filed.^[20]

On January 25, 1999, Busey was arrested after a fight with his wife. He was released on bail.^[20]

On December 2, 2001, Busey was again arrested for spousal abuse after his ex-wife Tiani Warden called authorities, complaining he left her bruised. Busey was released on $50,000 bail.^[20]

On September 7, 2004, Busey's landlord filed a lawsuit to evict him because Busey had refused to pay his rent for about three months.^[20]

On Sep 23, 2004, Busey was arrested for showing up late to a spousal support court hearing. His lawyer bailed him out two-and-a-half hours later.^[20]

In February 2012, Busey filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, with reported liabilities of $500,000 to $1,000,000.^[21]

Filmography[link]

• Angels Hard as They Come (1971)
• The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972)
• Dirty Little Billy (1972)
• Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973)
• Hex (1973)
• Blood Sport (1973)
• The Execution of Private Slovik (1974)
• The Last American Hero (1973)
• Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
• The Law (1974)
• A Star Is Born (1976)
• The Gumball Rally (1976)
• The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
• Straight Time (1978)
• Big Wednesday (1978)
• Carny (1980)
• Foolin' Around (1980)
• Barbarosa (1982)
• Didn't You Hear... (1983)
• D.C. Cab (1983)
• The Bear (1984)
• Insignificance (1985)
• Silver Bullet (1985)
• Half a Lifetime (1986)
• Eye of the Tiger (1986)
• Let's Get Harry (1986)
• Lethal Weapon (1987)
• Bulletproof (1988)
• A Dangerous Life (1988)
• The Neon Empire (1989)
• Hider in the House (1989)
• Act of Piracy (1990)
• Predator 2 (1990)
• Point Break (1991)
• My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (1991)
• Wild Texas Wind (1991)
• Canvas (1992)
• Chrome Soldiers (1992)
• Under Siege (1992)
• Breaking Point (1993)
• The Firm (1993)
• Rookie of the Year (1993)
• South Beach (1993)
• Warriors (1994)
• Surviving the Game (1994)
• Drop Zone (1994)
• Chasers (1994)
• Man with a Gun (1995)
• Steel Sharks (1996)
• One Clean Move (1996)
• Livers Ain't Cheap (1996) (a.k.a. The Real Thing)
• Black Sheep (1996)
• Carried Away (1996)
• Sticks & Stones (1996)
• The Chain (1996)
• Suspicious Minds (1997)
• The Rage (1997)
• Lost Highway (1997)
• Lethal Tender (1997)
• Plato's Run (1997)
• Rough Riders (1997)
• Rough Draft (1998) (a.k.a. Diary of a Serial Killer)
• Soldier (1998)
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
• Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms (1998)
• Detour (1998) (a.k.a. Too Hard to Die)
• Hot Boyz (1999)
• The Girl Next Door (1999)
• No Tomorrow (1999)
• Two Shades of Blue (1999)
• Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang (1999)
• A Crack in the Floor (2000)
• Tribulation (2000)
• Glory Glory (2000) (a.k.a. Hooded Angels)
• Inside The Metal Box (2000)
• Down 'n Dirty (2000)
• G-Men from Hell (2000)
• Frost: Portrait of a Vampire (2001)
• On the Edge (2002)
• Welcome 2 Ibiza (2002)
• Sam & Janet (2002)
• Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice (2002)
• The Prize Fighter (2003)
• Scorched (2003)
• Shadowlands (2003)
• Shade of Pale (2004)
• Motocross Kids (2004)
• Lexie (2004)
• El Padrino (2004)
• Border Blues (2004)
• Latin Dragon (2004)
• Ghost Rock (2004)
• American Dictators: Documenting the Staged Election of 2004 (2004)
• The Hand Job (2005)
• Souled Out (2005)
• No Rules (2005)
• Chasing Ghosts (2005)
• The Baker's Dozen (2005)
• Into the West (2005)
• Buckaroo: The Movie (2005)
• A Sight for Sore Eyes (2005)
• The Gingerdead Man (2005)
• The Hard Easy (2005)
• Descansos (2006)
• Valley of the Wolves Iraq (2006)
• Dr. Dolittle 3 (2006) (voice)
• Shut Up and Shoot! (2006)
• Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride (2006)
• Soft Target (2006) (a.k.a. Crooked)
• Quigley (2006)
• Lady Samurai (2007)
• Homo Erectus (2007) (a.k.a. National Lampoon's The Stoned Age)
• Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate Fighter (2007)
• Succubus: Hell Bent (2007)
• Maneater (2007)
• Beyond the Ring (2008)
• Nite Tales: The Movie (2008)
• Hallettsville (2009)
• Down and Distance (2009)
• DaZe: Vol. Too (sic) – NonSeNse (2009)
• Piranha 3DD (2012)
• Matt's Chance (2012)

Television[link]

• Kung Fu (Season 1, Episode 15 ("The Ancient Warrior")) (1973)
• Gunsmoke (1975)
• The Texas Wheelers (ABC-TV 8-episode sitcom, 1974–75)
• Saturday Night Live (1979) (himself – host)
• Hawaii Five-O (1997 unaired pilot)
• Walker, Texas Ranger (1999)
• The Outer Limits (2000), Episode: "Revival"
• Law & Order (2001)
• King of the Hill (2001) (voice)
• Entourage ("Busey and the Beach", Season 1, Episode 6; "The Boys Are Back In Town", Season 2, Episode 1; "Gary's Desk", Season 4, Episode 8) (2004, 2005, 2007) (as himself)
• The Man Show (2002) (as himself)
• I'm with Busey (Comedy Central, 2003) (as himself)
• Penn & Teller: Bullshit! ("12 Stepping", 2004) (as himself)
• High Chaparall (2004) (as himself)
• The Simpsons (On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister, season 16, episode 11) (2005) (as himself)
• Celebrity Fit Club 2 (VH1, 2005) (as himself)
• Esenin (2005, Russia) (Zinger, Isedora Dunkan's ex-husbund )
• Tom Goes to the Mayor (2006) (voice)
• Scrubs ("My Missed Perception", 2006) (as Gary Busey look-a-like)
• Celebrity Paranormal Project (VH1, 2006) (as himself)
• The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest... (truTV, 2008) (as himself)
• The Cho Show (VH1, 2008) (as himself)
• Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew (VH1, 2008) (as himself)
• The Comedy Central Roast of Larry the Cable Guy (Comedy Central, 2009) (as himself)
• Conan (TBS, 2010) (as himself)
• Celebrity Apprentice (2011) (as himself)
• Two and a Half Men (Season 9, Episode 9 ("Frodo's Headshots")) (2011) (as himself)^[22]

Video games[link]

• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (voice) (2002)
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (voice) (2006)
• Saints Row 2 (voice) (2008)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gary Busey

• Gary Busey at the Internet Movie Database
• Gary Busey at AllRovi