Randy Quaid

Actors/Directors
Bellaire High School

Cousin Eddie from National Lampoon's Vacation, Kingpin, Not Another Teen Movie

Biography

Oscar, Emmy, BAFTA, and Independent Spirit Award nominee and Golden Globe winner, Randy Quaid could easily be dubbed the most versatile character star in Hollywood. In what is promising to be a hectic year, Quaid will next be heard from in April when he voices an operatic, villainous, mustachioed cattle rustler who loves to sing and yodel to his cows and his victims in Disney's highly anticipated animated feature "Home on the Range." In June we'll see Quaid on the small screen opposite Timothy Hutton in the Sci-Fi mini-series "5 Days to Midnight," in which Quaid undertakes the role of a detective that is hired to solve a murder before it is even committed. Quaid's recent roles include his portrayal of a scheming opportunist opposite Troy Garity in the indie "Milwaukee, Minnesota" (a film that was shown at this year's Cannes Film Festival and received top honors at the Deauville Film Festival in 2003) and a small town sheriff with a volatile temper and a big heart in David E. Kelley's critically acclaimed "Brotherhood of Poland, NH." Star of one of the big screen's biggest-ever box office winners, "Independence Day," Quaid created the classic character Ishmael, a na�ve Amish bowler, in the Farrelly Brothers hit "Kingpin." Comedy, drama, and action films have all played a large part in the ever-growing list of credits for Quaid. For over two decades, Randy Quaid has delighted filmmakers and fans alike with the range and mobility of his talent, with his adventurous quest to stretch the variety of his characterizations and even with the skill with which he has morphed his appearance. Like the other great-unchained character lead stars of his time, such performers as Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, and Jack Nicholson, Quaid has been, by turns, dangerous, romantic, tragic and whackily comedic. His career started off in award nomination fashion with the fragile, sweet characters he created with telling comedic and dramatic expertise in such films as "The Last Detail" (Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination), "The Last Picture Show," "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz", and "Midnight Express." His ability to create the lovable oddball was perhaps never better expressed than in his work as one of the four lead stars of a film which quickly became the biggest money-making movie success of all time, "Independence Day." As the tormented crop duster who eventually saves the world, Quaid created one of Hollywood's most memorable portrayals of unlikely heroism. At the same time, he has proven an actor of dominating and even intimidating strength, most memorably in his Emmy Award-nominated and Golden Globe winning television performance as Lyndon Baines Johnson in the heralded production of "LBJ: The Early Years", and his portrayal of Randy Weaver in "Ruby Ridge: An American Tragedy." His portrayal of Blanche DuBois' suitor in "A Streetcar Named Desire" exhibited Quaid's way with a role of touching pathos. (Source: imdb.com)