Gary Busey is an American actor.
He has appeared in films such as The Buddy Holly Story Big Wednesday Lethal Weapon, Point
Break, Under Siege, Black Sheep, and The Gingerdead Man, and has had guest appearances on Gunsmoke,
Walker, Texas Ranger, Law & Order, Scrubs, and Entourage.
He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1978 for his role in The Buddy
Holly Story.
Early life Busey was born in Goose Creek, Texas, the
son of Sadie Virginia, a homemaker, and Delmer Lloyd Busey, a construction design manager.
He graduated from Nathan Hale High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1962.
While attending Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas on a football scholarship,
he became interested in acting.
He then transferred to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he quit school
just one class short of graduation.
Career Early career
Busey began his show business career as a drummer in The Rubber Band.
He appears on several Leon Russell recordings, credited as playing drums under the names
"Teddy Jack Eddy" and "Sprunk", a character he created when he was a cast member of a
local television comedy show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, called The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp
Meeting on station KTUL.
For his skits on Uncanny Film Festival, Busey drew on his American Hero, belligerent, know-it-all
character.
When he told Gailard Sartain his character needed a name, Sartain replied, "Take three:
Teddy, Jack and Eddy."
He played in a band called Carp, which released one album on Epic Records in 1969.
Busey continued to play several small roles in both film and television during the 1970s.
In 1975, as the character "Harvey Daley," he was the last person killed on the series
Gunsmoke.
Rise to prominence In 1974, Busey made his major film debut with
a supporting role in Michael Cimino's buddy action caper Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, starring
Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges.
In 1976, he was hired by Barbra Streisand and her producer-boyfriend Jon Peters to play
Bobby Ritchie, road manager to Kris Kristofferson's character in the remake film A Star is Born.
On the DVD commentary of the film, Streisand says Busey was great and that she had seen
him on a TV series and thought he had the right qualities to play the role.
In 1978, he starred as rock legend Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story with Sartain as The
Big Bopper.
For his performance, Busey received the greatest critical acclaim of his career and the movie
earned Busey an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and the National Society of Film
Critics' Best Actor award.
In the film, he changes the lyrics to the song "Well All Right" and sings, "We're gonna
love Teddy Jack..." a reference to his Teddy Jack Eddy persona.
In the same year he also starred in the small yet acclaimed drama Straight Time and the
surfing movie Big Wednesday, which is now a minor cult classic.
In the 1980s, Busey's roles included the critically acclaimed western Barbarosa, the comedies
D.C.
Cab and Insignificance, and the Stephen King adaption Silver Bullet.
Perhaps most notably, he played one of the primary antagonists in the smash hit action
comedy Lethal Weapon.
In the 1990s, he had prominent supporting roles in successful action films such as Predator
2, Point Break and Under Siege, which remain some of his best-known roles today.
He also appeared in a number of other notable films such as Rookie of the Year, The Firm,
Black Sheep, Lost Highway, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, further establishing himself
as a prolific actor in major films.
Many of these characters are defined by their dynamic yet odd and offbeat personalities.
Busey sang the song "Stay All Night" on Saturday Night Live in March 1979, Episode 14, Season
4, and on the Late Show with David Letterman in the 1990s.
Late career Since the 1990s, Busey has since appeared
in very few mainstream films.
In 2002, Busey voiced the character Phil Cassidy in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, then again
in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories in 2006.
In 2005, he also voiced himself on an episode of The Simpsons and appeared in the popular
miniseries Into the West.
Busey controversially appeared in the 2006 Turkish nationalist film Valley of the Wolves:
Iraq,, which was accused of fascism, anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism.
In 2007, he appeared as himself in a prominent recurring role on HBO's Entourage, in which
he parodied his eccentric image, ultimately appearing on three episodes of the show.
In 2008, he joined the second season of the reality show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.
Busey returned to reality television in Celebrity Apprentice 4, which premiered in March 2011,
and appeared again in Celebrity Apprentice 6.
There, he briefly reprised his role as Buddy Holly by performing "Not Fade Away".
In a series of 2010 YouTube advertisements for Vitamin Water, Busey appeared as Norman
Tugwater, a lawyer who defends professional athletes' entitlements to a cut from Fantasy
Football team owners.
In 2014 he became a celebrity spokesperson for Amazon Fire TV.
Personal life
In 1971, Busey's wife Judy Helkenberg gave birth to their son, William Jacob "Jake" Busey.
Busey and Helkenberg divorced when Jake was 19 years old.
Busey has a daughter named Alectra from a previous relationship.
In February 2010, Busey's girlfriend Steffanie Sampson gave birth to their son, Luke Sampson
Busey.
On December 4, 1988, Busey was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in which he was not
wearing a helmet.
His skull was fractured, and doctors feared he suffered permanent brain damage.
During the filming of the second season of Celebrity Rehab in 2008, Busey was referred
to psychiatrist Dr. Charles Sophy.
Sophy suspected that Busey's brain injury has had a greater effect on him than realized.
He described it as essentially weakening his mental "filters" and causing him to speak
and act impulsively.
Sophy recommended Busey take a medication called Depakote, with which Busey agreed.
In 1996, Busey publicly announced that he was a Christian, saying: "I am proud to tell
Hollywood I am a Christian.
For the first time I am now free to be myself."
In 1997, after recurring nosebleeds, he underwent surgery to remove a golf-ball-sized cancerous
tumor from his sinus cavity, and after surgery he underwent radiation therapy.
Filmography Film
Television
Video games 2002: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
2006: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories 2008: Saints Row 2
References
External links Gary Busey at the Internet Movie Database
Gary Busey at AllMovie