Randy Quaid Biography

Randy Quaid’s acting career started with a bang: a small role in the Oscar-winning drama The Last Picture Show (1971, directed by Peter Bogdanovich) followed by his own Academy Award nomination for playing a young sailor headed off to military prison in The Last Detail (1973, with Jack Nicholson). Since then Quaid has handled a million character roles, often playing big lugs and goofballs like the crazy Cousin Eddie in the National Lampoon’s Vacation films and the Amish bowler Ishmael Boorg in Kingpin (1996). He reprised his The Last Picture Show character for the sequel Texasville (1990) and was a regular on the late-night comedy series Saturday Night Live in 1985-86. His other feature films include Midnight Express (1978), Fool for Love (1985), Days of Thunder (1990, with Tom Cruise), the sci-fi hit Independence Day (1996, with Will Smith), and Brokeback Mountain (2005, directed by Ang Lee).

Quaid married the model Evi Motolaner in 1989. As a couple they seem prone to financial shenanigans, and while married have been tangled up in a variety of lawsuits and run-ins with the law. Most notably, the Quaids were arrested in Texas in September 2009 and charged with skipping out on a $10,000 bill at the San Ysidro Ranch, a hotel near Santa Barbara, California. They were arrested again on the same charges in Santa Barbara in April 2010, after repeatedly missing court dates in the case. That time they were released on bonds of $100,000 each. The Quaids were then arrested and jailed yet again on 18 September 2010, charged with burglary after they were found squatting illegally in the guest house of their former home in Monetecito, California.