Chevy Chase
208ms
Cornelius Crane, better known as Chevy Chase, born October 8, 1943, is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He burst onto the scene as the breakout star of the inaugural season of Saturday Night Live, where his "Weekend Update" segment became an instant classic. His work on the show earned him two Primetime Emmy Awards.
After leaving SNL early in its second season, Chase quickly established himself as a leading man in some of the most iconic comedy films of the 1980s. He garnered a Golden Globe nomination for his role in Foul Play, and then cemented his comedic legacy with unforgettable performances as Ty Webb in Caddyshack, Clark Griswold in the National Lampoon's Vacation series, and Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher in Fletch and Fletch Lives. He also graced the silver screen in hits like Seems Like Old Times, Spies Like Us, ¡Three Amigos!, and Funny Farm. Chase even took the stage as host of the Academy Awards twice.
The 1990s saw a shift in his career with a string of box office disappointments like Nothing but Trouble and Memoirs of an Invisible Man, which impacted his leading man status. He also ventured into late-night television with The Chevy Chase Show, which was short-lived. Despite these setbacks, he continued to appear in films like Man of the House and Dirty Work, and reprised his beloved role as Clark Griswold in Vegas Vacation. The 2000s saw Chase primarily in supporting roles, though he starred in Snow Day and Zoom.
A significant resurgence in his popularity came with his role as Pierce Hawthorne on the critically acclaimed NBC sitcom Community, from 2009 to 2014. He also starred in the comedy film Hot Tub Time Machine and its sequel, and once again donned the iconic Griswold sweater for Vacation in 2015.
Born in Lower Manhattan on October 8, 1943, Cornelius Crane Chase grew up in Woodstock, New York. His father, Edward Tinsley Chase, was a book editor and writer, while his mother, Cathalene Parker, was a concert pianist and librettist. His maternal grandfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt Crane, was the heir to The Crane Company, and Chase was named in his honor. His nickname, "Chevy," was a nod to his Scottish heritage.
His childhood was marked by his parents' divorce when he was four, and he later spoke of experiencing physical and psychological abuse. Educated at Riverdale Country School and later graduating as valedictorian from the Stockbridge School, Chase's early years were also characterized by a penchant for practical jokes and an absurd sense of humor. He attended Haverford College, where his slapstick and physical comedy skills were evident, before transferring to Bard College. While at Bard, he played drums in a band that included future Steely Dan founders Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. He also played in another band, Chamaeleon Church.
Chase's early career began in the underground comedy scene with the ensemble Channel One, which he co-founded. He contributed to Mad magazine and was a writer for The Smothers Brothers. By 1973, he was a writer and cast member of The National Lampoon Radio Hour, alongside future SNL stars John Belushi and Gilda Radner. He also appeared in the National Lampoon's off-Broadway revue Lemmings and the film The Groove Tube.
In 1975, Chase became a founding cast member of Saturday Night Live. He famously delivered the iconic opening line, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" often preceded by a pratfall. His physical comedy, including his impersonation of President Gerald Ford, became legendary. As the original anchor of "Weekend Update," his catchphrase, "I'm Chevy Chase... and you're not," became a cultural touchstone. He received two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for his work on the show.
In late 1976, Chase left SNL to pursue film roles. He married his girlfriend, Jacqueline Carlin, and moved to Los Angeles. He hosted SNL eight times between 1978 and 1997. His early film roles included Tunnel Vision and the Golden Globe-nominated Foul Play. He famously turned down the role of Eric "Otter" Stratton in Animal House to pursue what he considered more "real acting" in Foul Play.
The 1980s were his cinematic heyday. He starred in the classic comedy Caddyshack, reunited with Goldie Hawn in Seems Like Old Times, and released a self-titled album. He narrowly escaped electrocution during the filming of Modern Problems, a near-death experience that followed the end of his first marriage. He then married Jayni Luke in 1982. His portrayal of Clark Griswold in National Lampoon's Vacation became a massive hit. He continued his success with Fletch, National Lampoon's European Vacation, Spies Like Us, and the beloved ¡Three Amigos!, which he described as the most fun he'd had making a film. He also appeared in Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al" music video.
Chase's production company, Cornelius Productions, secured a deal with Warner Bros. He hosted the Academy Awards in 1987 and 1988, delivering memorable opening lines. He starred in the hit Funny Farm and, despite a less successful sequel, Caddyshack II. The late 80s saw him star in Fletch Lives and the immensely popular National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, solidifying his status as a major celebrity earning millions per film.
The 1990s presented career challenges with three consecutive box office flops. His talk show, The Chevy Chase Show, was also short-lived. However, he found success with Man of the House and Vegas Vacation, and his appearances in Snow Day and Orange County were also well-received. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1993 and was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Harvard Lampoon. He was also roasted by the New York Friars Club in a particularly sharp Comedy Central special. He returned to mainstream filmmaking in 2006 with Zoom, though it was a critical and commercial failure. He also had guest roles on Law & Order and Brothers & Sisters, and a recurring role on Chuck.
Chase's return to television in 2009 with Community as Pierce Hawthorne was met with critical acclaim, with many praising his sardonic wit and comedic timing. He also appeared in the film Hot Tub Time Machine and a Vacation short film. During his time on Community, he reportedly had an on-set outburst and later left the show due to creative differences, with his character eventually being written out.
In 2015, Chase reprised his role as Clark Griswold in a cameo appearance in Vacation, which was a financial success. In 2019, he starred in the Netflix movie The Last Laugh, and in 2024, he appeared in the film The Christmas Letter.
Chase was married three times. His first marriage to Susan Hewitt ended in divorce. His second marriage to Jacqueline Carlin also ended in divorce. He married his third wife, Jayni Luke, in 1982, and they have three daughters. The couple resides in Bedford, New York.
In 1986, Chase sought treatment for a prescription painkiller addiction, stemming from back pain incurred during his SNL performances. In 2016, he entered Hazelden Clinic for alcoholism treatment.
An environmentalist and philanthropist, Chase is a political liberal, having campaigned for Democratic presidential nominees Bill Clinton and John Kerry. He has been vocal in his criticism of Republican politicians.
In 1978, Chase was involved in a physical altercation with Bill Murray backstage at Saturday Night Live, reportedly stemming from a derogatory comment about Chase's marriage. The fight was witnessed by cast members and later described as "sad and painful." Chase and Murray eventually reconciled and went on to star in Caddyshack together.
In 2020, Chase was placed in a medically induced coma for eight days following heart failure, spending five weeks in the hospital. He had a prior near-death experience in 1981 while filming Modern Problems due to an electrical malfunction.
Copied!
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase ( ; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of Saturday Night Live (1975–1976), where his recurring Weekend Update segment became a staple of the show. As both a performer and a writer on the series, he earned two Primetime Emmy Awards out of four nominations.
After leaving Saturday Night Live early in its second season, Chase established himself as a leading man, starring in some of the most successful comedy films of the 1980s, starting with his Golden Globe-nominated role in the romantic comedy Foul Play (1978). Most famously in the 1980s, he portrayed Ty Webb in Caddyshack (1980), Clark Griswold in three National Lampoon's Vacation films from 1983 to 1989, and Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher in Fletch (1985) and Fletch Lives (1989). He also starred in Seems Like Old Times (1980), Spies Like Us (1985), ¡Three Amigos! (1986), and Funny Farm (1989). He hosted the Academy Awards twice (1987 and 1988).
In the 1990s, Chase had leading roles in the box office flops Nothing but Trouble (1991), Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992), and Cops & Robbersons (1994), which hurt his status as a Hollywood leading man. He briefly had his own late-night talk show, The Chevy Chase Show (1993), and starred in the films Man of the House (1995) and Dirty Work (1998), as well as reprising his Clark Griswold role in Vegas Vacation (1997). Chase mostly appeared in supporting roles in the 2000s, starring in the films Snow Day (2000) and Zoom (2006)
Chase had a popularity resurgence with his role as Pierce Hawthorne on the NBC sitcom Community (2009–2014). He also starred in the films Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) and its sequel (2015), and reprised his role as Clark Griswold in Vacation (2015).
== Early life and education ==
=== Family ===
Cornelius Crane Chase was born in Lower Manhattan on October 8, 1943, and grew up in Woodstock, New York. He has an older brother, Ned Jr.
His father, Edward Tinsley "Ned" Chase (1919–2005), was a Princeton-educated Manhattan book editor and magazine writer. Chase's paternal grandfather was artist and illustrator Edward Leigh Chase, and his great-uncle was painter and teacher Frank Swift Chase. His mother, Cathalene Parker (née Browning; 1923–2005), was a concert pianist and librettist, whose father, Rear Admiral Miles Browning, served as Admiral Raymond A. Spruance's Chief of Staff on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise at the Battle of Midway in World War II. Cathalene was adopted as a child by her stepfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt Crane, heir to The Crane Company, and took the name Cathalene Crane. Her mother, also named Cathalene, was an opera singer who performed several times at Carnegie Hall.
Chase was named for his adoptive grandfather, Cornelius, while the nickname "Chevy" was bestowed by his grandmother from the English ballad "The Ballad of Chevy Chase". As a descendant of the Scottish Clan Douglas, she thought the name appropriate.
=== Early life, family and education ===
As a child, Chase vacationed at Castle Hill, the Cranes' summer estate in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Chase's parents divorced when he was four; his father remarried into the Folgers coffee family, and his mother remarried twice. He has stated that he grew up in an upper middle class environment and that his adoptive maternal grandfather did not bequeath any assets to Chase's mother when he died. In a 2007 biography, Chase stated that he was physically and psychologically abused as a child by his mother and stepfather, Dr. John Cederquist, a psychoanalyst. In that biography, he said, "I lived in fear all the time, deathly fear." Abuse he was subjected to as a child included being awakened in the middle of the night by his mother to be slapped repeatedly across the face, lashes to the backs of his legs, punches to the head by his stepfather, and being locked in a bedroom closet for hours. As a punishment for being suspended from school at the age of 14, Chase was locked in a basement for several days. Both of his parents died in 2005.
Chase was educated at Riverdale Country School, an independent day school in the Riverdale neighborhood of The Bronx, New York City, before being expelled. He ultimately graduated as valedictorian in 1962 from the Stockbridge School, an independent boarding school near the Interlaken section of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. At Stockbridge, he was known as a practical joker with an occasional mean streak. He attended Haverford College during the 1962–1963 term, where he was noted for slapstick comedy and an absurd sense of physical humor, including his signature pratfalls and "sticking forks into his orifices". During a 2009 interview on the Today show, he ostensibly verified the oft-publicized urban legend that he was expelled for harboring a cow in his fourth floor room, although his former roommate David Felsen asserted in a 2003 interview that Chase left for academic reasons. Chase transferred to Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, where he studied a pre-med curriculum and graduated in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. While at Bard, Chase played drums in a band called The Leather Canary. The other two members, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, went on to found Steely Dan. He also played drums and keyboards for a band, Chamaeleon Church. They recorded one album for MGM Records before disbanding.
Chase did not enter medical school, which meant he was subject to the military draft. Chase was not drafted, and when he appeared in January 1989 as the first guest of the just-launched late-night The Pat Sajak Show, he said he had tricked his draft board into believing he deserved a 4-F classification by falsely claiming that he had "homosexual tendencies".
== Career ==
=== 1967–1974: Early career ===
Chase was a member of an early underground comedy ensemble called Channel One, which he co-founded in 1967. He also wrote a one-page spoof of Mission: Impossible for Mad magazine in 1970 and was a writer for the short-lived Smothers Brothers TV show comeback in the spring of 1975. Chase made the move to comedy as a full-time career by 1973, when he became a writer and cast member of The National Lampoon Radio Hour, a syndicated satirical radio series. The National Lampoon Radio Hour also featured John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, and Brian Doyle-Murray, all of whom later became the "Not-Ready-For-Prime Time Players" on NBC Saturday Night (later re-titled NBC's Saturday Night and finally Saturday Night Live). Chase and Belushi also appeared in National Lampoon's off-Broadway revue Lemmings, a sketch and musical send-up of popular youth culture, in which Chase also played the drums and piano during the musical numbers. He appeared in the movie The Groove Tube (1974), which was directed by another co-founder of Channel One, Ken Shapiro, featuring several Channel One sketches.
=== 1975–1976: Saturday Night Live ===
Chase was one of the original cast members of Saturday Night Live (SNL), NBC's late-night comedy television show, beginning in October 1975. During the first season, he introduced every show except two, with "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" The remark was often preceded by a pratfall, known as "The Fall of the Week". Chase became known for his skill at physical comedy. In one comedy sketch, he mimicked a real-life incident in which President Gerald Ford accidentally tripped while disembarking from Air Force One in Salzburg, Austria. This portrayal of President Ford as a bumbling klutz became a favorite device of Chase's, and helped form the popular concept of Ford as being a clumsy man despite Ford having been a "star athlete" during his university years. In later years, Chase met and became friendly with President Ford.
Chase was the original anchor for the Weekend Update segment of SNL, and his catchphrase introduction, "I'm Chevy Chase… and you're not" became well known. His trademark conclusion, "Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow" was later resurrected by Jane Curtin and Tina Fey. Chase also wrote comedy material for Weekend Update. For example, he wrote and performed "The News for the Hard of Hearing". In this skit, Chase read the top story of the day, aided by Garrett Morris, who repeated the story by loudly shouting it. Chase claimed that his version of Weekend Update was the inspiration for later news satire shows such as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Weekend Update was later revived as a segment on The Chevy Chase Show, a short-lived late-night talk show produced by Chase and broadcast by Fox Broadcasting Company.
Chase was committed contractually to SNL for only one year as a writer and became a cast member during rehearsals just before the show's premiere. He received two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award for his comedy writing and live comic acting on the show. In Rolling Stone's February 2015 appraisal of all 141 SNL cast members to date, Chase was ranked tenth in overall importance. "Strange as it sounds, Chase might be the most under-rated SNL player," they wrote. "It took him only one season to define the franchise…without that deadpan arrogance, the whole SNL style of humor would fall flat."
In a 1975 New York magazine cover story, which called him "The funniest man in America", NBC executives referred to Chase as "The first real potential successor to Johnny Carson" and claimed he would begin guest-hosting The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson within six months of the article. Chase dismissed rumors that he could be the next Carson by telling New York, "I'd never be tied down for five years interviewing TV personalities." Chase did not appear on the program until May 4, 1977, when he was promoting a prime-time special for NBC. Carson (who was never a fan of SNL) later said of Chase: "He couldn't ad-lib a fart after a baked-bean dinner."
Chase acknowledged Ernie Kovacs's influence on his work in Saturday Night Live, and he thanked Kovacs during his acceptance speech for his Emmy Award. In addition, Chase spoke of Kovacs's influence on his work in an appearance in the 1982 documentary called Ernie Kovacs: Television's Original Genius.
=== 1976–1989: Film stardom and acclaim ===
In late 1976, in the middle of SNL's second season, Chase became the second member of the original cast to leave the show (after George Coe during the first season). While he landed starring roles in several films on the strength of his SNL fame, he asserted that the principal reason for his departure was the reluctance of his girlfriend, Jacqueline Carlin, to move to New York. Chase moved to Los Angeles, married Carlin, and was replaced by Bill Murray, although he made a few cameo appearances on the show during the second season.
Chase hosted SNL eight times from 1978 to 1997. In regard to Chase's 1997 appearance as a host, SNL creator and show-runner Lorne Michaels disputed reports that he was shocked by Chase's behavior or had banned him as a result, claims which he calls "idiotic". While Chase has not returned to SNL to host since 1997, he appeared on the show's 25th anniversary special in 1999 and was interviewed for a 2005 NBC special on the first five years of SNL. Later appearances included a Caddyshack skit featuring Bill Murray, a 1997 episode with guest host Chris Farley, as the Land Shark in a Weekend Update segment in 2001, another Weekend Update segment in 2007, and in Justin Timberlake's monologue in 2013 as a member of the Five-Timers Club, where he was reunited with his Three Amigos co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short. He also participated in the 40th anniversary special in February 2015.
Chase's early film roles included Tunnel Vision (1976); Foul Play (1978, a box-office hit that made more than $44 million and earned Chase a Golden Globe nomination); and Oh! Heavenly Dog (1980). The role of Eric "Otter" Stratton in National Lampoon's Animal House was written with Chase in mind, but he turned the role down to work on Foul Play. The role went to Tim Matheson instead. Chase said in an interview that he chose to do Foul Play so he could do "real acting" for the first time in his career instead of just "schtick".
Chase followed Foul Play in 1980 by portraying Ty Webb in the Harold Ramis comedy Caddyshack. A major box office success that pulled in $39 million off a $6 million budget, the movie has become a classic. It reached a 73% approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics saying: "Though unabashedly crude and juvenile, Caddyshack nevertheless scores with its classic slapstick, unforgettable characters, and endlessly quotable dialogue". That same year, he reunited with Foul Play co-star Goldie Hawn for Neil Simon's Seems Like Old Times, a box-office success that earned more than $43 million. He then released a self-titled record album, co-produced by Chase and Tom Scott, with novelty and cover versions of songs by Randy Newman, Barry White, Bob Marley, the Beatles, Donna Summer, Tennessee Ernie Ford, The Troggs, and The Sugarhill Gang.
Chase narrowly escaped death by electrocution during the filming of Modern Problems in 1980. During a sequence in which Chase's character wears "landing lights" as he dreams that he is an airplane, the lights malfunctioned and an electric current passed through Chase's arm, back, and neck muscles. The near-death experience followed the end of his marriage to Carlin, and Chase experienced a period of deep depression. He married Jayni Luke in 1982. Chase continued his film career by playing Clark Griswold in 1983's National Lampoon's Vacation. Directed by Ramis and written by John Hughes, the movie grossed $61 million on a $15 million budget—his most successful movie at the time.
In 1985, Chase played Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher in Fletch, based on Gregory Mcdonald's Fletch books, which grossed more than $50 million off an $8 million budget. That same year, he appeared in a sequel to Vacation, National Lampoon's European Vacation, which pulled in just shy of $50 million at the box office, and co-starred with fellow SNL alum Dan Aykroyd in Spies Like Us, which made $60 million. In 1986, Chase joined SNL veterans Steve Martin and Martin Short in the Lorne Michaels–produced comedy ¡Three Amigos! that made nearly $40 million, with Chase declaring in an interview that making Three Amigos was the most fun he had making a film. He also appeared alongside Paul Simon, one of his best friends, in Simon's 1986 second video for "You Can Call Me Al", in which he lip-syncs all of Simon's lyrics.
In 1987, his Cornelius Productions company signed a non-exclusive, first-refusal deal to develop four feature projects at the Warner Bros. studio, and set up a fifth project at Universal Pictures. Chase hosted the Academy Awards in 1987 and 1988, opening the telecast in 1988 with the quip, "Good evening, Hollywood phonies!" In 1988, he starred alongside Madolyn Smith in Funny Farm, a sizeable hit at $25 million that reached 64% approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes. That same year, he appeared (albeit via a glorified cameo) in a sequel to Caddyshack, Caddyshack II, which made less than $12 million, becoming one of his few flops at the time.
In 1989, Chase starred in a sequel to Fletch, Fletch Lives, which went on to gross more than $35 million, and made a third Vacation film, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, which pulled in $71 million and, thanks to its holiday theme, has become one of his more durable films. At the height of his career in the late 1980s, Chase earned around US$7 million per film and was a highly visible celebrity.
=== 1990–2009: Career fluctuations ===
Chase played saxophone onstage at Simon's free concert at the Great Lawn in Central Park in the summer of 1991. Later in 1991, he helped record and appeared in the music video "Voices That Care" to entertain and support U.S. troops involved in Operation Desert Storm, and supported the International Red Cross. Chase had three consecutive film flops: Razzie Award-nominated Nothing but Trouble (1991), Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992), and Cops & Robbersons (1994). The three releases had a combined gross of $34 million in the United States.
In September 1993, Chase hosted The Chevy Chase Show, a weeknight talk show, for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Although it had high commercial expectations, the show was cancelled by Fox after five weeks. Chase later appeared in a commercial for Doritos, airing during the Super Bowl, in which he made humorous reference to the show's failure.
Chase found success with some of his subsequent movies. Man of the House (1995), co-starring Farrah Fawcett, was relatively successful, grossing $40 million, and Vegas Vacation (1997, his fourth Vacation film) was a box office success, grossing $36.4 million. Snow Day (2000), in which Chase appeared, was also successful grossing over $60 million, as well as Orange County (2002), grossing more than $40 million. Chase was Hasty Pudding's 1993 Man of the Year, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in that same year. He also received The Harvard Lampoon's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. In 1998, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.
He was roasted by the New York Friars Club for a Comedy Central television special in 2002. This roast was noted for being unusually vitriolic, even by the standards of a roast. Some of the more recent films starring Chase (e.g., Vacuums, Rent-a-Husband, Goose!) have not been widely released in the United States. He returned to mainstream movie-making in 2006, co-starring with Tim Allen and Courteney Cox in the comedy Zoom, though it was both a critical and commercial failure. Chase guest-starred as an anti-Semitic murder suspect in "In Vino Veritas", the November 3, 2006, episode of Law & Order. He also guest-starred in the ABC drama series Brothers & Sisters in two episodes as a former love interest of Sally Field's character. Chase appeared in a prominent recurring role as villainous software magnate Ted Roark on the NBC spy-comedy Chuck. In 2009, Chase and Dan Aykroyd voiced themselves in the Family Guy episode "Spies Reminiscent of Us".
=== 2009–2014: Return to television ===
Starting in 2009, Chase returned to NBC in the sitcom Community, as aging moist-towelette tycoon Pierce Hawthorne. The show was created by Dan Harmon and starred Joel McHale, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Donald Glover, Danny Pudi, and Yvette Nicole Brown. The series received critical acclaim for its acting and writing, appeared on numerous critics' year-end "best-of" lists and developed a cult following. The New York Times critic Alessandra Stanley praised the casting of Chase writing, "Jeff has the kind of sardonic repartee and slapdash nonchalance that the comedian Chevy Chase had when he was the young star of the Fletch movies", while adding, "Even that is an inside casting joke: Mr. Chase, who is farcically loopy and delightful in the pilot."
In 2010, Chase appeared in an online Vacation short film Hotel Hell Vacation, featuring the Griswold parents, and in the Funny or Die original comedy sketch "Presidential Reunion", where he played President Ford alongside other current and former SNL president impersonators. That same year, Chase appeared in the film Hot Tub Time Machine which received some praise, and a sequel.
Throughout the filming of Community, Chase became increasingly uncomfortable with the direction of Pierce's character arc. It was reported that in 2012 Chase had an outburst on set yelling if it continued he may be asked to call either Donald Glover or Yvette Nicole Brown's character the N-word. Chase later apologized for the outburst. Soon after his apology, Chase left the show due to increasing disagreements with his character and the show's creator Dan Harmon. After a mutual agreement with the network, his character was abruptly written out of the fourth season of Community. Chase later claimed that his exit was due to his personal opinions of the show rather than the outburst, claiming that it "wasn't funny enough". His departure was cemented by the writers, who killed off Pierce in the third episode of Community's fifth season.
=== 2015–present ===
In 2015, Chase reprised his role as Clark Griswold in the fifth Vacation installment, titled Vacation. Unlike the previous four films in which Clark is the main protagonist, he only has a brief though pivotal cameo appearance. In spite of largely negative critical reception, the film proved to be a financial success, grossing over $107 million worldwide.
In 2019, Chase was in the Netflix movie The Last Laugh where he starred alongside Richard Dreyfuss. In 2024, he starred in the film The Christmas Letter with Randy Quaid and Brian Doyle-Murray.
== Personal life ==
=== Marriage and family ===
Chase married Susan Hewitt in New York City on February 23, 1973. They divorced on February 1, 1976. His second marriage, to Jacqueline Carlin, was formalized on December 4, 1976, and ended in divorce on November 14, 1980; they had no children.
Chase resided in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles from 1980 until 1995 in a Tudor-style home. He was the Honorary Mayor of Pacific Palisades between 1986 and 1988.
He married his third wife, Jayni Luke, in Pacific Palisades on June 19, 1982. They have three daughters: Cydney, Caley, and Emily. The couple reside in Bedford, New York.
=== Substance abuse ===
In 1986, Chase was admitted to the Betty Ford Center for treatment of a prescription painkiller addiction. His use began after he experienced ongoing back pain related to the pratfalls he took during his Saturday Night Live appearances. In 2010, he said that his drug abuse had been "low level."
He entered the Hazelden Clinic in September 2016 to receive treatment for alcoholism.
=== Political views ===
An active environmentalist and philanthropist, Chase is a political liberal. He campaigned for Democratic presidential nominees Bill Clinton in the 1990s, and John Kerry in 2004.
In 2004, during a speech at a People for the American Way benefit at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts he mocked Republican President George W. Bush, Kerry's opponent in the 2004 election, referring to Bush as an "uneducated, real lying schmuck" and a "dumb fuck". His comments upset both the organizers and the crowd.
He endorsed Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign.
=== Fight with Bill Murray ===
Before performing a third-season episode of Saturday Night Live in 1978, Chase got into a fistfight with Bill Murray in John Belushi's dressing room. It occurred when Chase returned to host the show after his exit as a full-time cast member in 1976. Murray had reportedly made a derogatory comment about Chase's troubled marriage to Jacqueline Carlin, leading Chase to criticize Murray's physical appearance. The fight was witnessed by cast members Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner. In a talk show appearance in 2021, Newman noted of the altercation, "it was very sad and painful and awful." She added, "I think they both knew the one thing that they could say to one another that would hurt the most and that's what I think incited it." Chase and Murray later reconciled with the help of Harold Ramis and starred in Caddyshack in 1980.
=== Health ===
In 2020, Chase was put into a medically induced coma for eight days following heart failure. He spent five weeks in the hospital. At the time, it was announced as 'undisclosed issues with his heart'. Chase had a near-death experience while working on the set of Modern Problems in 1981. An electrical current went through Chase’s arms, back, and neck muscles when the lights short-circuited while filming a scene.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
=== Television ===
== Awards and nominations ==
In 1976, he was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Awards for "Writing for a Variety Series" as part of The Smothers Brothers Show's writers room. Also in 1976 he was nominated at the Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on the first season of Saturday Night Live. He won both nominations.
On September 23, 1993, Chase received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.
== Notes ==
== References ==
== Further reading ==
I'm Chevy Chase...and You're Not (The Authorized Biography) by Rena Fruchter. Virgin Books, 2007. ISBN 1-85227-346-1.
Who's Who in Comedy by Ronald L. Smith. Pp. 102–103. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0-8160-2338-7.
Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller. Back Bay Books.
== External links ==
Chevy Chase at IMDb
Interview with Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Martin Short about The Three Amigos in 1986 from Texas Archive of the Moving Image
Chevy Chase at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
Home
Languages