Randall Rudy Quaid (born October 1, 1950 in Houston, Texas) is an American actor, who first gained traction in the 1970s as a character actor. He first got widespread attention playing the ill-fated Navy sailor Meadows in The Last Detail, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Throughout his career, he's dabbled in more dramatic work such as Midnight Express and Independence Day and comedic films such as National Lampoon's Vacation.
Quaid was actually a cast member on the long-running American sketch show Saturday Night Live during the 1985-1986 season (when Lorne Michaels returned to run his show after the failure of The New Show and nearly got SNL canceled due to the cast he hired and the writers who couldn't make Lorne's new cast funny). Presumably, Quaid was hired because Jim Carrey passed up the chance to be on SNL after seeing a man threatening to jump off the Studio 8H building and feared that being on the show would drive him to suicide. Like the majority of season 11 cast members, he wasn't hired back for season 12. During his short time, Quaid only had two recurring characters: the floating head narrator for the Twilight Zone-esque show, The Limits of the Imagination, and Rudy Randolph, Jr. (the spokesman for an Honest John's Dealership that sells a lot of shady items, such as Ferdinand Marcos' clothes, stolen Rolls Royces, and flood-damaged furniture. His son, Rudy Randolph III was played by Robert Downey, Jr.). Quaid's celebrity impressions include Ronald Reagan (who didn't look like him, but got the voice right — and was often upstaged by Terry Sweeney's Nancy Reagan), John F. Kennedy, Ed McMahon, Gregory Peck, Lyndon LaRouche, Bob Guccione, and Roy Orbison.
By the late-2000s, Quaid, alongside his wife Evi, would fall into a series of odd behavior, worrying about what he claimed were the "Hollywood Star Whackers", a cabal that supposedly killed celebrities such as Heath Ledger and was fearing they were coming after him. After a series of legal issues, the Quaids moved to Canada in 2010. But after being denied citizenship, they ended up going to Vermont, where they reside today, away from the Hollywood lifestyle.
He is the older brother of Dennis Quaid and the uncle of Dennis's son, Jack Quaid.
Filmography:
- The Last Picture Show (1971) - Lester Marlow
- Texasville (1990)
- What's Up, Doc? (1972) - Professor Hosquith
- The Last Detail (1973) - Larry Meadows
- Paper Moon (1973) - Leroy
- Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973) - Finch Feather
- The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974) - Virgil
- Breakout (1975) - Hawkins
- Bound for Glory (1976) - Luther Johnson
- The Missouri Breaks (1976) - Little Tod
- The Choirboys (1977) - Dean
- Three Warriors (1977) - Ranger Quentin Hammond
- Midnight Express (1978) - Jimmy Booth
- The Long Riders (1980) - Clell Miller
- Foxes (1980) - Jay
- Heartbeeps (1981) - Charlie
- National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) - Cousin Eddie
- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
- Vegas Vacation (1997)
- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure (2003)
- The Wild Life (1984) - Charlie
- Fool for Love (1985) - Martin
- The Sluggers Wife (1985) - Moose Granger
- Saturday Night Live (1985-1986)
- The Wraith (1986) - Sheriff Loomis
- No Man's Land (1987) - Vincent Bracey
- Moving (1988) - Frank/Cornell Crawford
- Caddyshack II (1988) - Peter Blunt
- Moving (1988) - Frank and Cornell Crawford
- Bloodhounds Of Broadway (1989) - Feet Samuels
- Parents (1989) - Nick Laemle
- Quick Change (1990) - Loomis
- Days of Thunder (1990) - Tim Daland
- Davis Rules (1991-1992) - Dwight Davis
- Freaked (1993) - Elijah C. Skuggs
- The Paper (1994) - Michael
- Bye Bye Love (1995) - Vic Damico
- Last Dance (1996) - Sam Burns
- Kingpin (1996) - Ishmael
- Independence Day (1996) - Russell Casse
- Hard Rain (1998) - Sheriff Mike Collins
- Magical Legend of the Leprechauns (1999) - Jack Woods
- The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000) - Cappy von Trapment
- The Thin Blue Lie (2000) - Phil Chadway
- Not Another Teen Movie (2001) - Mr. Briggs
- The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002) - Bruno
- Home on the Range (2004) - Alameda Slim
- Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Joe
- The Ice Harvest (2005) - Bill Guerrard
- Real Time (2008) - Reuben
- Balls Out Gary The Tennis Coach (2009) - Coach Lou Tuttle
