This tall, burly, likable actor has made his mark in a variety of comic and dramatic roles, finding shadings and character nuances in even the most unsympathetic parts. Quaid's range is evident in strong starring roles (as a young, flamboyant President Lyndon Johnson in "LBJ: The Early Years", a 1987 TV-movie) and in small unflattering roles (a crass car racing promoter in "Days of Thunder", 1990).
While still a college drama student, Quaid was discovered by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich and made his screen debut in the director's first feature, "Targets" (1968). He followed with a role in the same director's superbly acted ensemble piece, "The Last Picture Show" (1971), as Cybill Shepard's would-be suitor. Quaid went on to appear in other early Bogdanovich productions, including "What's Up, Doc?" (1972) and "Paper Moon" (1973), and gradually established himself as a versatile, talented character player. For his role as the brig-bound kleptomaniac sailor opposite Jack Nicholson in "The Last Detail" (1973), Quaid received an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor.
Quaid has worked with a number of diverse, often important, directors such as Hal Ashby ("Bound for Glory" 1976), Alan Parker ("Midnight Express" 1978) and Walter Hill ("The Long Riders" 1980, in which he co-starred with brother Dennis), though sometimes in lesser films like Arthur Penn's "The Missouri Breaks" (1976) and Ashby's "The Slugger's Wife" (1985). He played Chevy Chase's bumbling brother-in-law in the John Hughes-scripted comedies "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983) and the equally funny, if more tasteless sequel, "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (1989).
Quaid picked up an Emmy nomination for his supporting work in an ABC-TV production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1984), playing Mitch, Stanley's poker partner and potential suitor for Stella's sister Blanche, a role played in the original production by Karl Malden. He did a season as part of the "Saturday Night Live" ensemble (NBC, 1985-86) bringing a more finished actorly technique to the types of roles that earlier might have gone to John Belushi. He earned a second Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe for his over-the-top portrayal of the title character in "LBJ: The Early Years" (NBC, 1987), and was the star of his own sitcom "Davis Rules" (ABC, 1991; CBS, 1991-92), as a harried father and elementary school principal.
Quaid turned in a wonderfully sly performance as a cannibalistic suburban father in Bob Balaban's underrated black comedy, "Parents" (1989). In "Quick Change" (1990), he played bank robber Bill Murray's bewildered accomplice, and reprised the character Lester Marlow, now the town's insecure banker, in "Texasville" (also 1990), Bogdanovich's failed sequel to "The Last Picture Show". Quaid was also convincing as a rumpled staff reporter in director Ron Howard's take on twenty-four hours in the life of a struggling city tabloid, "The Paper" (1994). He offered a nice turn as a divorced father coping with returning to the dating world and experiencing the "date from hell" (Janeane Garofalo) in "Bye Bye, Love" (1995). The following year, he was featured as a drunken crop-duster who joins in fighting invading aliens in the blockbuster hit "Independence Day" and offered a turn as a dim-witted bowler in the lowbrow comedy "Kingpin."
Quaid continued to take on a variety of roles throughout the next several years. He appeared in a horror movie about killer cockroaches (Bug Buster 1998), in a Western/Fantasy ( Purgatory, TNT, 1999) and as a businessman who rents a cottage filled with Leprechauns (The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns, NBC 1999). In 2002, Quaid landed a role in the short-lived FOX sitcom "The Grubbs" asthe father in an eccentric family which was based on the British series "The Grimleys." Also on TV, Quaid reprised his popular "Vacation" role as the Griswold's Cousin Eddie, for USA's "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Vacation" (2003) in which his boss sends him and his family on a South Pacific vacation, hoping Eddie won't sue him after being bitten by a lab monkey. After a regular role in the short-lived CBS family drama "The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire" (2003) he then starred as Tornado Tommy in the CBS miniseries "Category 6: Day of Destruction" (2004), a natural disaster drama about three enormous weather systems that ultimately collide over Chicago, creating the worst super-storm in the nation's history. He reprised the role in the sequel "Category 7: The End of the World" (2005) where, having left Chicago in ruins, the disastrous storm gathers strength and begins to ravage the rest of the world. He also starred in the crime telepic "5ive Days to Midnight" (2004) as a police detective, and took on the iconic role of Col. Tom Parker, the highly controlling manager of the King of Rock and Roll (Jonathan Rhys-Davis in the 2005 CBS miniseries "Elvis."
After supporting turns in the horror film "Grind" (2003) and the animated feature "Home on the Range" (2004), Quaid reunited with director Harold Ramis and made for a menacing mob boss pursuing the accountant (John Cusack) who's stolen from him in the pitch-black comedy-noir "The Ice Harvest" (2005). That same year, he had a strong supporting turn in director Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" as the stern rancher who sends a pair of ranch hands (Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger) on a sheep drive that sparks a long, turbulent romance between the two.