Biography for
Randy Quaid

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Hollywood's most extreme character star.... Randy Quaid has never been timelier. Randy, a man who took a bus to Hollywood with nothing but raw talent, is now a proven and current vast and varied star with that one other sustaining asset - he is a great and much admired actor on the world's stage and television and feature film screens and an actor that has been recognized by Hollywood and the worlds finest directors.

Randy, who earned a Golden Globe portraying Lyndon Johnson, received a nomination in this years race for incarnating another memorable real life character, "Colonel" Tom Parker. The portrait of Colonel Parker, a former carnival barker with a murky past, is dark. The New York Times said "Mr. Quaid is riveting as the bully of Graceland", when he has Elvis firmly under his thumb, he is the L.B.J. of rock 'n' roll - a towering, wheedling, tirelessly self-promoting Southern fox in the rare instances when Elvis defies him, Colonel Parker shrinks into a hand-wringing phony, cajoling his only client in the overly ornate language of Professor Marvel in "The Wizard of Oz".

Quaid stars in and Was nominated for a SAG award for his work in Brokeback Mountain (2005), directed by Ang Lee from a script written by Larry McMurtry, who also wrote The Last Picture Show (1971) in which Randy had his first feature film role. Working with McMurtry and supporting his material has become a Randy Quaid career tradition. Quaid's performance in Brokeback Mountain (2005) was listed as one of the New York Observer's 2005 Noteworthy male performances.

Randy's upcoming roles on the big screen continue his bold appetite for challenges. He most recently finished filming Goya's Ghosts (2006) for director Milos Forman. Forman cast Randy as "King Carlos IV of Spain" after seeing his Golden globe nominated performance as The Colonel. In Last Flag Flying (2010), to be directed by Richard Linklater, he will reprise his Academy award nominated performance in the sequel to The Last Detail (1973).

Spouse

Trivia

Older brother of Dennis Quaid.

Arrived in Hollywood, worked on Hollywood Boulevard as a janitor and within one year was nominated for an Oscar for The Last Detail (1973).

Sings in the animated movie Home on the Range (2004).

Was directed by wife Evi Quaid in The Debtors (1999).

Played the character of Doc Holliday in the movie Purgatory (1999) (TV). His brother, Dennis Quaid, played the same character in the movie Wyatt Earp (1994).

Along with his brother Dennis Quaid, he attended Bellaire High School in Houston, Texas. Other celebrities attending the school at the same time included Brent Spiner ("Data" from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987), although he used his adopted name, Brent Mintz) and Cindy Pickett from Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). Another significant member of Bellaire High School was Coach Knoblauch, who is the father of Chuck Knoblauch, professional Major League baseball player who played for the Minnesota Twins from 1991-1997, the New York Yankees from 1998-2001, and the Kansas City Royals in 2002.

He ties with Chevy Chase and Kevin Nealon as the tallest cast member to date on "Saturday Night Live" (1975).

Playing the redneck sheep rancher boss of Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in the critical and box office hit Brokeback Mountain (2005), Randy filed a lawsuit against the film's distributor, Focus Films, and its producers seeking at least $10 million claiming he was fleeced into working cheaply by the filmmakers' assertion that the film was "a low-budget, art-house film, with no prospect of making any money." The movie won three Oscars, included best director for Ang Lee and topped $82 million at the domestic box office. He reportedly dropped the suit after his lawyers told him Focus agreed to pay him a bonus, which he claims would be split between him and other principal cast members. Focus denies any such settlement; however, the lawsuit has been dropped.

Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on October 7, 2003, at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard. At a Screen Actors Guild awards show, he revealed that the star was near the site of the Roosevelt Hotel, where the promising actor first arrived off a bus from Houston three decades before.

Daughter, Amanda Marie Quaid (b. May 29th 1983). Known professionally as Amanda Quaid.

Third cousin of Gene Autry.

Met his wife, Evi, on the set of Bloodhounds of Broadway.

Enjoys painting in his spare time.

In 1994, he lived in a home in Santa Monica, but when an earthquake destroyed it he flew to New York, checked into the Carlyle Hotel and stayed for close to a year before relocating back to Los Angeles.

Personal Quotes

When I was a kid and the carnival would come to the shopping center, I'd go down and talk to all the people running the rides. I like that whole lifestyle, moving from town to town in a nomadic existence.

I love playing characters that are bigger than life and maybe have a darker side they present to the world. Those are good characters.

Salary

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