Dana Hill (born Dana Lynne Goetz; May 6, 1964 – July 15, 1996) was an American actress and voice actor with a raspy voice whose childlike appearance allowed her to play adolescent roles into her thirties. Hill is best known for having played Audrey Griswald in National Lampoon’s European Vacation, and roles in Shoot the Moon and Cross Creek.

Dana Lynne Goetz was born in 1964 to Sandy Hill and Ted Goetz, a director of commercials. A diagnosis of Type I diabetes at an early age ended a promising athletic future. A 1982 article in People magazine reported that at age 10 Hill had placed third nationwide in the 880-yard run and fourth in the mile run. A few weeks later she collapsed on the track, which led to the diagnosis. The diabetes stunted her growth (at 18 she was 5' 0" and 82 pounds) and caused lifelong health complications.^{[citation needed]}

Hill’s initial work was in commercials, owing to her father’s influence (her first job was a 1973 commercial for the YMCA, spinning a basketball on her finger with then-Boston Celtics center Dave Cowens). However, to avoid the appearance of nepotism, she took her mother's maiden name as her stage name and devoted herself to acting as a career. She appeared in guest roles on such programs as Family before landing a major role on the 1981–1982 CBS series The Two Of Us as Gabrielle "Gabby" Gallagher. While filming this series the 17-year-old Hill would sometimes be pulled over by the police while driving to the studio, because she looked too young to drive.^{[citation needed]}

Jason Lively (born March 12, 1968) is an American actor.

Jason Lively started his career by appearing in the pilot episode of The Dukes of Hazzard when he was 10 years old. His first film appearance was four years later in the 1983 film Brainstorm. That same year he also had another appearance in The Dukes of Hazzard.

His most recognizable roles came later when he played Rusty Griswold in National Lampoon's European Vacation, and Chris in Night of the Creeps. After that, he appeared in the films Ghost Chase and Maximum Force. In 1993, he appeared in the video game Return to Zork, along with his sister, Robyn Lively.

Jason is the son of talent manager Elaine Lively and her first husband Ronnie. He is the brother of actors Lori Lively (b. 1966), Robyn Lively (b. 1972) and half-brother of actors Eric Lively (b. 1981) and Blake Lively (b. 1987). His brother-in-law is actor Bart Johnson.

Lively is married and has two sons with wife Lani. They live in Heber City, Utah. Lively works for a computer company and is also owner and operator of Jimmy Crack Corn, a mobile roasted-corn business.

Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (/ˈtʃɛvi/; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor. Born into a prominent New York family, Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon. He quickly became a key cast member in the inaugural season of Saturday Night Live, where his Weekend Update skit soon became a staple of the show. Chase is also well known for his portrayal of the character Clark Griswold in four National Lampoon's Vacation films, and for his roles in other successful comedies such as Caddyshack (1980), Fletch (1985), and ¡Three Amigos! (1986). He has hosted the Academy Awards twice (1987 and 1988) and briefly had his own late-night talk show, The Chevy Chase Show. Since 2009, he has appeared as Pierce Hawthorne on the NBC comedy series Community.

Chase was born in Lower Manhattan, New York City. His father, Edward Tinsley "Ned" Chase, was a prominent Manhattan book editor and magazine writer. His mother, Cathalene Parker (née Browning), a concert pianist and librettist, was the daughter of Miles Browning, who served a critical role at the Battle of Midway in World War II; she was adopted as a child by her stepfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt Crane, heir to Crane Plumbing, and took the name Cathalene Crane. As a child, Chase vacationed at Castle Hill, the Cranes' summer estate in Ipswich, Massachusetts.^{[citation needed]}

Beverly Heather D'Angelo (born November 15, 1951) is an American actress and singer.

D'Angelo was born in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Priscilla (née Smith), a violinist, and Gene D'Angelo, a bass player and television station manager. She is of Italian ancestry. Her maternal grandfather, Howard Dwight Smith, was the architect who designed Ohio Stadium, also known as "the Horseshoe" at Ohio State University. She has three brothers, Jeff, Tim and Tony.

D'Angelo began work in the theatre, appearing on Broadway in 1976 in Rockabye Hamlet (also known as Kronborg: 1582) a musical based on Shakespeare's Hamlet.

D'Angelo made her debut in the first three episodes of the TV mini-series Captains and the Kings in 1976. After gaining a minor role in Annie Hall in 1977, D'Angelo appeared in a string of hit movies in the late 1970s, including Every Which Way But Loose, Hair, and Coal Miner's Daughter, the latter earning her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress and a Country Music Association award for Album of the Year. Her biggest break came in 1983, starring with Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's Vacation in the role of Ellen Griswold. She reprised this role in three Vacation sequels and a short film from 1985 through 2010. D'Angelo received an Emmy nomination for her performance in the 1984 TV movie version of A Streetcar Named Desire. In 1992, she had a guest appearance in the third season of The Simpsons as Lurleen Lumpkin, a beautiful Southern country singer and waitress, in "Colonel Homer", and sixteen years later in 2008, she appeared in the nineteenth season—as the same character—in the episode "Papa Don't Leech".

Amy Heckerling (born May 7, 1954) is an American film director. She is an alumna of both New York University and the American Film Institute. She is one of few female directors to have produced multiple box-office hits, including Fast Times at Ridgemont High, European Vacation, Look Who's Talking, and Clueless.

Amy Heckerling was born in The Bronx to a bookkeeper mother and a certified public accountant father. She had a Jewish upbringing and remembers that the apartment building where she spent her early childhood was full of Holocaust survivors. “Most of them had tattoos on their arms and for me there was a feeling that all of these people had a story to tell. These were interesting formative experiences.” Both of her parents worked full time so she frequently moved back and forth from her home in the Bronx, where Heckerling claims she was a latchkey kid sitting at home all day watching television, to her grandmother’s home in Brooklyn which she enjoyed much better. Here, she frequented Coney Island and stayed up watching films all night with her grandmother. At this time Heckerling loved television, where she watched tons of cartoons and old black and white movies. Her favorites were gangster movies, musicals, and comedies. She had a particular fondness for James Cagney.