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Randy Quaid

Randy Quaid has been one of America's favorite actors ever since his memorable performance in Hal Ashby's The Last Detail earned him Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Golden Globe Award nominations.

He will next be seen, also for Focus Features, in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain. The film marks his return to the milieu of the American West; his many roles in that setting over the years recently earned him a career Golden Boot Award.

Mr. Quaid's previous collaboration with The Ice Harvest director Harold Ramis was on the original smash comedy Vacation.

He has been directed five times by Peter Bodganovich: in the Academy Award-winning The Last Picture Show and its sequel Texasville (both film versions of novels by Brokeback Mountain screenwriter Larry McMurtry), as well as in Targets, What's Up, Doc?, and Paper Moon.

Mr. Quaid's numerous other films include Ted Kotcheff's The Apprenticeship of Duddy

Kravitz, Arthur Penn's The Missouri Breaks, Hal Ashby's Academy Award-winning Bound for Glory, Alan Parker's Midnight Express, Walter Hill's The Long Riders, Robert Altman's Fool for Love (adapted by Sam Shepard from his play), Bob Balaban's Parents (for which he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination), Tony Scott's Days of Thunder, Howard Franklin and Bill Murray's Quick Change, Ron Howard's The Paper, Roland Emmerich's blockbuster Independence Day, Peter and Bobby Farrelly's Kingpin, Mikael Salomon's Hard Rain, and (in voiceover) Will Finn and John Sanford's Home on the Range.

His television credits include, most recently, an Emmy Award-nominated portrayal of Colonel Tom Parker in James Sadwith's miniseries Elvis. He won a Golden Globe Award for his portrayal of Lyndon Baines Johnson in Peter Werner's LBJ: The Early Years, which also brought him an Emmy Award nomination. He had previously been an Emmy Award nominee for his work in John Erman's telefilm remake of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Mr. Quaid has also starred in an episode of the anthology series Gun, which reteamed him with director Robert Altman, and, among other miniseries, Joseph Sargent's Streets of Laredo.

His stage appearances include starring in several works by Sam Shepard, among them True West and The God of Hell.

Mr. Quaid next stars onscreen in Milos Forman's Goya's Ghosts, as Spain's King Carlos IV, with Javier Bardem and Natalie Portman.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2005.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Randy Quaid Facts

Birth NameRandall Rudy Quaid
OccupationActor
BirthdayOctober 1, 1950 (73)
SignLibra
BirthplaceHouston, Texas, USA
Height6' 4" (1m93)  How tall is Randy Quaid compared to you?
Awards1988 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actor in a Mini-Series or a TV Film (for LBJ: The Early Years)

Selected Filmography

The Long Riders
Goya's Ghosts
Brokeback Mountain
National Lampoon's Vacation
Vegas Vacation
First Season Episode 6 Father John
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Purgatory
Independence Day
Home On The Range
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