Randy Quaid - Details

Biography

Randy's film career spans almost 30 years and over 40 features. His versatility is on display in a wide array of genres. He's done comedy (Quick Change, three National Lampoon Vacation movies, the Farrelly Bros.' Kingpin (1996), The Debtors); drama (his Oscar®-nominated role in The Last Detail, Bound for Glory, Midnight Express (1978)); westerns (The Long Riders, Missouri Breaks, The (1976)); and horror/sci-fi (Independence Day (1996) , Parents).
Not bad for a performer who began as a clown at Houston's AstroWorld. The Texas native got his big break when director Peter Bogdanovich spotted him while a student at the University of Houston. Quaid won the role his film debut of Lester Marlow, the geek who escorts the ravishing Cybill Shepherd to a nude swimming party, in the Oscar®-nominated The Last Picture Show. Quaid reprised the role in Bogdanovich's 1990 sequel, Texasville, and also co-starred twice more for the director in Paper Moon and What's Up, Doc?
His other film credits encompass Hard Rain (1998) , Bye Bye Love (1995), Paper, The (1994) , Days of Thunder (1990) , Martians Go Home, Heartbeeps, The Choirboys, Breakout, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989) and Out Cold. His portrayal of kleptomaniac sailor Larry Meadows opposite Jack Nicholson in Hal Ashby's The Last Detail earned Quaid an Academy Award® nomination as Best Supporting Actor. He most recently starred in The Debtors, which marks the directorial debut of his wife, Evi Quaid.

Events

  • 1st October 1950 - Birth