When it comes to being a professional actor, there is little doubt that it can be a very difficult life. After all, unlike a lot of other jobs, you don’t get to stay employed as an actor simply because you have seniority over your fellow employees. In fact, there always is a push in Hollywood to find the next big superstar which means that sometimes actors no longer get work simply because they’ve been famous for a long time.
Even though actors leave the spotlight regularly, it still feels wrong sometimes when an actor that has entertained the masses for years on end seems to mostly disappear. For example, when you look back on Randy Quaid’s career and realize how many beloved movies he played a major role in, it seems very strange that most people never hear about him any longer.
In the years since Randy Quaid last found himself in the spotlight as an actor, it is very safe to say that he has undergone a massive transformation in more than one way. For that reason, anyone who hasn’t followed Quaid’s antics over the last several years are likely to be shocked by the ways he has changed, both visually and otherwise.
A Rising Star
Born in Houston, Texas during the ‘50s, the trajectory of Randy Quaid’s life took a dramatic shift when he decided to take a drama class in high school on a whim. Proving to be gifted as a performer and to have a passion for acting, Quaid went on to study acting at the University of Houston.
Unlike a lot of other actors who rise to prominence, including his younger brother Dennis Quaid, Randy has never been a traditionally handsome leading man type. Thankfully for him, Randy Quaid has a unique on-screen presence that makes it hard for viewers to look away from him. In fact, it seems very likely that Peter Bogdanovich picked up on Quaid’s innate chemistry when he came and auditioned for the director.
Once Randy Quaid landed a supporting role in Peter Bogdanovich’s classic film The Last Picture Show, his career took off and he never looked back. For proof of the fact that Quaid became a notable actor practically overnight, look no further than the fact that he earned an Oscar nomination for his work in his third film, The Last Detail.
Superstardom
For those of you who know Randy Quaid best for his comedy roles, it may be surprising to learn that he was a highly celebrated dramatic actor during the early stages of his career. For example, Quaid played a notable supporting role in one of the '70s' most harrowing movies, a film about people that wind up in an extremely harsh Turkish prison, Midnight Express.
Of course, no matter how talented Randy Quaid is as a dramatic actor, there is little doubt that his most famous role as Cousin Eddie from the Vacation movies. Absolutely hilarious in that franchise, Quaid often stole the spotlight from the series’ main star, Chevy Chase, an actor who was a huge deal at the time even though he is very controversial today.
Far from a one-trick pony when it comes to his comedic performances as well, Randy Quaid also elicited laughs in films like Quick Change, Kingpin, and Major League II among others. If all of that wasn’t impressive enough already, and it certainly was, Quaid also managed to make viewers laugh a lot in one of the biggest disaster movies of all time, Independence Day. Cast as a man who claimed that he’d previously been abducted by aliens, Quaid’s character was funny enough to be a delight but he never took things too far.
Randy’s Current Look And Lifestyle
After he spent several years as one of Hollywood’s most celebrated supporting actors, Randy Quaid now is persona non grata in Hollywood, just like several other former SNL actors. In fact, aside from landing a small role in Brokeback Mountain and starring in an acclaimed TV movie about Elvis, Quaid hasn’t appeared in a popular film since the mid-‘90s.
Ever since Randy Quaid’s acting career took a backseat, he has been garnering occasional headlines with his outrageous behavior. Extremely outspoken about his political views, in recent years Quaid has made claims that would shock most of his longtime fans. For example, Randy Quaid asked the press for “asylum from the Hollywood star whackers”, a shadowy group he blames for the deaths of Heath Ledger and David Carradine.
When it comes to Randy Quaid’s physical appearance, the famous actor has undergone another massive transformation. Allowing his hair to grow quite long and go grey for several years, Quaid also let his beard become very big and quite fluffy. Most recently, however, Randy Quaid was captured on film while in public and his hair is now short and his beard, which is still long, is trimmed on the sides and looking good.