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Quick Facts
- NAME: Chevy Chase
- OCCUPATION: Film Actor, Television Actor, Screenwriter
- BIRTH DATE: October 08, 1943 (Age: 69)
- EDUCATION: Bard College
- PLACE OF BIRTH: New York, New York
- Originally: Cornelius Crane Chase
- ZODIAC SIGN: Libra
Best Known For
Chevy Chase is a comedic actor who is best know for his appearances on Saturday Night Live and his starring roles in the films Caddyshack and Fletch.
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Chevy Chase - Full Biography (45:31)
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Chevy Chase - Full Biography
Chevy Chase was the breakout star of "Saturday Night Live," winning over audiences with his cool, laidback persona and razor sharp wit. He went on to star in some of the biggest comedy hits of the 80s.
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Richard Pryor - Comedic Influences
Actress-Director Rain Pryor talks about her father Richard Pryor's comedic influences including Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Gleason and Bill Cosby and the comedians who have been inspired by him like Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock and Steve Harvey.
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Play NowChevy Chase. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 08:42, May 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/chevy-chase-9542517.
Chevy Chase. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/chevy-chase-9542517 [Accessed 19 May 2013].
"Chevy Chase." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 19 2013, 08:42 http://www.biography.com/people/chevy-chase-9542517.
"Chevy Chase," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/chevy-chase-9542517 [accessed May 19, 2013].
"Chevy Chase," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/chevy-chase-9542517 (accessed May 19, 2013).
Chevy Chase [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/chevy-chase-9542517.
Chevy Chase, http://www.biography.com/people/chevy-chase-9542517 (last visited May 19, 2013).
Chevy Chase. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/chevy-chase-9542517. Accessed May 19, 2013.
Synopsis
Comedic actor Chevy Chase was born October 8, 1943, in New York City. In his twenties, he wrote for the Smothers Brothers and National Lampoon. Though hired as a writer for Saturday Night Live in 1975, he soon began appearing in front of the camera. He starred in Caddyshack in 1980, National Lampoon's Vacation in 1983, and Fletch in 1985. In recent years, Chase has chosen to work in family films.
Contents
Early Life
Actor, comedian. Born Cornelius Crane Chase on October 8, 1943, in New York City. His grandmother nicknamed him Chevy Chase after the wealthy Maryland community. After being named valedictorian of his high school class, Chase went on to Bard College, where he earned a B.A. in English.
Chase spent his twenties at various odd jobs with the hope of pursuing a career in comedy. During this time, he wrote for the Smothers Brothers and National Lampoon, the latter of which eventually led to a lucrative franchise of Vacation movies. Chase's first stint as a performer was with the New York comedy video workshop Channel One, which evolved into the 1974 film Groove Tube. After seeing the film, producer Lorne Michaels hired Chase for the first season of Saturday Night Live in 1975.
Commercial Success
Though hired as a writer, Chase soon began appearing in front of the camera as the anchor of the show's popular Weekend Update segment. With the catchphrase opening "Good evening, I'm Chevy Chase and you're not," and a bumbling impersonation of President Gerald Ford, the actor quickly assumed breakout status, earning Emmys for both his writing and acting. He left after a single season to pursue film opportunities, but did not strike gold until Caddyshack in 1980, in which he played a golf pro who oozed confidence and deadpan humor. These would become Chase's trademarks.
In 1983, Chase starred in National Lampoon's Vacation, the first of four popular films chronicling the comic misadventures of the Griswold family, which included European Vacation in 1985, Christmas Vacation in 1989 and Vegas Vacation in 1997.
Chase's next box-office hit came in 1985, when he starred in the cult classic Fletch, a film widely considered to be the actor's best. As undercover newspaper reporter I.M. Fletcher, Chase created a classic comic hero with a genius for confusing his adversaries. He reprised the role in 1989 with Fletch Lives, but the film lacked the comedic genius of the original.
Later Roles
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Chase achieved moderate success in such films as Spies Like Us (1985) and Three Amigos! (1986). But despite an all-star cast in 1988, Caddyshack II received the same mixed-to-mediocre reviews as the Fletch sequel.
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Cast of Saturday Night Live
View groupLearn more about the cast of Saturday Night Live, including old-timers such as John Belushi, Billy Crystal, Jane Curtin, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Eddie Murphy and David Spade, as well as newer stars of the series, including Tracy Morgan, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg and Seth Meyers.
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Famous Harlem Residents
View groupAfter the Civil War, many of the country's best and brightest black advocates, artists, entrepreneurs and intellectuals moved to the New York City neighborhood of Harlem. Thanks largely to the efforts of these residents, Harlem became both the cradle of a cultural revolution and the heart of the civil rights movement. Meet some of the many people who gave—and continue to give—this neighborhood a voice, simply by calling it home.
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Screen Presidents
View groupSee our group of screen presidents, which includes actors who have played real-life American presidents as well as faux chief executives. Biography.com's Screen President group includes Frank Langella, Morgan Freeman, Josh Brolin, Dana Carvey, Will Ferrell, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Harrison Ford, Anthony Hopkins, Daniel Day-Lewis and many more.
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