"Randy Quaid" (born October 1, 1950) is an Academy Award Nominated American actor perhaps best known for his role as Cousin Eddie in the National Lampoon's Vacation movies, as well as his numerous supporting roles in films, including his Oscar-nominated performance in The Last Detail, along with Independence Day, Kingpin, and Brokeback Mountain. He has won a Golden Globe Award, an Emmy Award and a BAFTA Award.

Early life[link]

Randy Quaid was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Juanita Bonniedale "Nita" (née Jordan), a real estate agent, and William Rudy Quaid, an electrician.Randy attended Pershing Middle School and Bellaire High School. Quaid has a half brother, Buddy John Quaid^[1] and a half sister, Brandy Kaye Quaid, and stepmother Tana Quaid.^{[citation needed]}

Acting career[link]

Film[link]

Quaid has appeared in over 90 movies. Peter Bogdanovich discovered him when Quaid was a student at the University of Houston, and he received his first exposure in Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show. His character escorts Jacy Farrow (played by Cybill Shepherd) to late-night indoor skinny-dipping at a swimming pool. It was the first of his several roles directed by Bogdanovich and/or based on the writings of Larry McMurtry.

Quaid's first major role was in the critically acclaimed The Last Detail (1973). He played a young US Navy sailor on his way to serve a harsh sentence for stealing $40 from an admiral's wife's pet charity. Jack Nicholson played the Navy sailor assigned to transport him to prison. Nicholson's character eventually becomes his friend and mentor, helping him experience different aspects of life before he goes behind bars.

Quaid was nominated for a Golden Globe, BAFTA and an Academy Award for his role in The Last Detail. He was featured in two science fiction movies, Independence Day and the unsuccessful Martians Go Home. Other movie roles include Kingpin, where he played the lovable Amish bowler Ishmael alongside Woody Harrelson and 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, a golfer trying to make it on the PGA Tour. He also appeared in the National Lampoon Vacation movies as Cousin Eddie to Chevy Chase's Clark W. Griswold. Shortly after starring in National Lampoon Christmas Vacation, Randy Quaid was also featured in Days of Thunder as comical NASCAR car owner and successful car salesman Tim Dailand, a determined businessman who expects his team to be top-notch for fans and sponsors. Quaid had a pivotal supporting role in Brokeback Mountain (2005) as an insensitive rancher.

Television[link]

Quaid received both Golden Globe and Emmy^[2] nominations for his 2005 portrayal of talent manager Colonel Tom Parker in the critically acclaimed CBS television network mini-series Elvis. He was also nominated for an Emmy and won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of President Lyndon Johnson in LBJ: The Early Years. Quaid's other television appearances include a season as a Saturday Night Live (SNL) 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), as well as the two part TV film adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men, playing the character of Lenny. 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.

Quaid also voiced the animated Colonel Sanders character in radio and television commercials for fast-food restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken. Quaid's voice-over work also included a guest role in The Ren and Stimpy Show (as Anthony's father in the second season episode, "A Visit to Anthony").

[edit] Recurring characters on Saturday Night Live

Quaid played a number of recurring characters on Saturday Night Live, including:

• The Floating Head: A Rod Serling-esque character in The Twilight Zone parody, "The Limits of the Imagination"
• Rudy Randolph, Jr.: A pitchman dressed as a cowboy who sells irregular merchandise (e.g., furniture from the Gulf Coast that smells like dead bodies) or treasures from dictators (e.g., Ferdinand Marcos's clothes). Often paired with Rudy Randolph III (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) The name is a spin on Quaid's real name.

Theater[link]

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.^[3] 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."^[4]

Music career[link]

Quaid has also performed musical work, primarily through his band Randy Quaid & The Fugitives. The group released its first single, "Star Whackers", in March 2011.^[5] An accompanying film, Star Whackers, was premiered by the Quaids in Vancouver on April 23, 2011.^[6]

Personal life[link]

Randy Quaid married Ella M. Jolly on May 11, 1980 in Los Angeles.^[7] Ella and Randy had a daughter, Amanda Marie Quaid, born May 29, 1983.^[8] Randy Quaid and Ella were divorced on June 20, 1985. ^[9] He then married Evi Motolanez "Evi Quaid" who he has been Married to for 23 years^[10] on October 5, 1989 at a Montecito, California resort (The Sanyesidro Ranch); in attendance were his brother Dennis, actress Meg Ryan, and his six-year-old daughter Amanda And Chritina Lodgia (Robert Lodgia's Daughter).^[11]

Legal history[link]

Brokeback Mountain lawsuit[link]

On March 23, 2006, Quaid, who played Joe Aguirre in Brokeback Mountain, filed a lawsuit against Focus Features (LLC), Del Mar Productions (LLC), James Schamus, David Linde, and Does 1–10 alleging that they intentionally and negligently misrepresented Brokeback Mountain as "a low-budget, art house film with no prospect of making any money" in order to secure Quaid's professional acting services at below-market rates. The film had grossed more than $160 million as of the date of his lawsuit, which sought $10 million plus punitive damages.^[12] On May 5, Quaid dropped his lawsuit. Quaid's publicist said he decided to drop the lawsuit after Focus Features agreed to pay him a bonus. Focus Features denies making such a settlement.^[13]

Alleged failure to pay hotel bill[link]

On September 24, 2009, Quaid and his wife were arrested in Texas for allegedly defrauding an innkeeper, burglary, and conspiracy in California. The arrest stemmed from an earlier incident in which the Quaids had allegedly left a Santa Barbara, California hotel with a balance due of approximately $10,000. The two were released on bail later that evening.^[14] Evi Quaid provided a handwritten statement to TMZ after the arrest claiming that the bill had been paid. A copy of a cashier's check for $5,546.96 dated September 22, 2009 accompanied the note.^[15]

The Quaids made arrangements to appear in court in Santa Barbara but failed to do so. On October 29, the Santa Barbara District Attorney's Office requested bench warrants for their arrest and extradition from Texas.^[16] Although subsequent arrest warrants were quashed, after the Quaids failed to appear at court on April 12 and 13, 2010, $40,000 in bail was forfeited and arrest warrants for the couple were issued again on April 14, 2010.^[17][18]

The Quaids appeared in court with their attorney Robert Sanger on April 26, 2010 after missing several other court appearances. The Quaids were briefly detained in custody on April 26, 2010 and released after processing. On April 28, 2010, Sanger resolved the case with Senior Deputy District Attorney Arnis Tolks. The case was dismissed against Randy Quaid for lack of evidence. Evi Quaid pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of defrauding an innkeeper. She was granted probation for three years. She will also be required to serve 240 hours of community service.^[19][20]

Alleged Illegal occupancy[link]

On September 18, 2010, in Santa Barbara, California, Randy Quaid and his wife faced burglary charges for living in a guest house without the permission of the owner. They claimed that they had owned the property since the 1990s although a representative of the property owner had called the sheriff's department and produced documents that showed the house as being sold to the current owner in 2007. The previous owner had purchased the property from the Quaids several years earlier. TMZ, a celebrity news web site, reported that the Quaids claim that the home was wrongfully transferred to a third party by the use of the forged signature of a dead woman named Ronda Quaid in 1992.^[21] The Quaids are being accused of more than $5,000 worth of damage that they are claimed to have caused to the guest house.^[22]

They were booked for felony residential burglary under section 459 of the California Penal Code (459PC), and misdemeanor entering a non-commercial building without consent (602.5 PC). Evi Quaid was also booked for misdemeanor resisting arrest (148PC). Their bail was set at $50,000 each. On September 19, 2010 they posted bail and were released.^[23] On October 18, 2010, bench warrants for the Quaids were issued following their failure to appear for a hearing on the burglary charges.^[24]Their bail was subsequently raised to $500,000 each.^[25] The bail was forfeited in November 2010.^[26] The company that had posted bail for the Quaids lost a court case in January 2012 to prevent the forfeiture.^[27]

Application for Canadian refugee status[link]

On October 22, 2010, Quaid and his wife sought protection under the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, after being arrested at the US-Canadian border in Vancouver B.C.^[28] They have since applied for refugee status on the grounds that they fear for their lives in the United States, claiming that numerous actors have died under mysterious circumstances committed by the "Hollywood star whackers".^[29] They were granted bail on the condition of $10,000 bond pending further Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada hearings.^[30] However, due to their inability to deposit the required bond with the court for several days, they remained in custody of the Canada Border Services Agency.^[31] They were released on October 27 after the discovery that Evi Quaid is a "prima facie Canadian citizen".^[32][33][34] On July 15, 2011 an attempt to extradite Randy and Evi Quaid from Canada failed when the U.S. Department of Justice turned down a request from the Santa Barbara County district attorney calling for the Quaids to be returned to California to face the felony burglary charges dating from Sept. 18, 2010.^[35]

Filmography[link]

References[link]