Gary Busey

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Gary Busey

Gary Busey in 1976
Born William Gareth Jacob Busey, Sr.
June 29, 1944 (1944-06-29) (age 63)
Goose Creek, Texas, U.S.
Spouse(s) Tiani Warden (September 23, 1996–2001) (divorced)
Judy Helkenberg (December 30, 1968–1990) (divorced) 1 child

William Gareth Jacob "Gary" Busey, Sr. (born June 29, 1944) is an Academy Award- and Golden Globe Award-nominated American film and stage actor, as well as an artist. He has appeared in a number of films, including The Buddy Holly Story, Big Wednesday, Lethal Weapon, Point Break, The Firm and Under Siege.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Personal life

Busey was born in Goose Creek (now Baytown), Texas, the son of Virginia (née Arnett), a homemaker, and Delmer Lloyd Busey, a construction design manager.[1] He graduated from Nathan Hale Highschool in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He attended Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas on a bowling scholarship where he became interested in acting. He is listed as one of the university's "outstanding alumni."[2] He then transferred to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, where he quit school just one class short of graduation. In 1971, wife Judy Helkenberg gave birth to his son, fellow actor Jake Busey. Gary and Judy divorced when Jake was nineteen. 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.[3] Busey has spoken out as being a Born Again Christian as a result of a near-death experience he had resulting from his motorcycle accident.[4] He currently lives in Malibu

[edit] Career

Busey began his show-business career as a drummer in the "Rock Band" Funky Street Beats. He appears on several Leon Russell recordings, credited as playing drums under the name "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 (which starred fellow Tulsan Gailard Sartain as "Dr. Mazeppa Pompazoidi"). He played in a band called Carp, who released one album on Epic Records in 1969.[5] 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 Banging Our Heads with Trash Lids (in the third to the last episode, No. 633 - "The Los Carnales").

In 1978, he starred as Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story with Sartain as The Big Bopper. The movie earned Busey an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. In the same year he also starred in the critically-acclaimed surfing movie Big Wednesday.

In the 1980s, Busey's roles included Silver Bullet (adapted from Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King), Insignificance,and Lethal Weapon. In the movie, D.C. Cab, Busey portrayed the character, Dell. Dell, much like Busey at the time, was self-absorbed and using drugs regularly. At one point of D.C. Cab, Dell is singing along with a cassette recording of Gary Busey singing the song, Why Baby Why (which Busey recorded, but still remains unreleased)[6]. In the 1990s, he appeared in Predator 2, Rookie of the Year, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Under Siege, The Firm and Point Break.

Throughout the 70's and 90's, Busey would occasionally perform live. Busey sang the song "Stay All Night" on Saturday Night Live in March of 1979 and on the Late Show with David Letterman in the 90's.

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.

Gary Busey appeared in the 2006 Turkish film, Valley of the Wolves Iraq, (Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak, in Turkish). The film, accused of anti-Americanism,[7] and anti-Semitism,[8] tells the story of the U.S. Army run amok in Iraq, and brought into check by a brave Turkish soldier; Gary Busey plays a Jewish-American Army doctor who harvests fresh organs from injured Iraqi prisoners to sell to rich patients in New York, London and Tel Aviv.

In 2007, he appeared as "himself" on HBO's Entourage. Producers at HBO asked Busey to play a "character" on the show who was the self-named actor who is also a famous painter and sculptor. Although Busey is not actually a painter, he does love to sing and write music.

Busey was once again 'front and center' in the media, when during the E! broadcast of the 2008 Oscar red carpet pre-show, he interrupted host Ryan Seacrest's interview with Jennifer Garner and Laura Linney. Busey proceeded to give Garner a hug and kissed her neck, to which Garner expressed her distaste moments later. Busey later apologized for the incident.

Busey recently took part in a photo shoot done by famed photographer Tyler Shields where Gary was put in a straight jacket. The shoot was reportedly for Tyler's book called the dirty side of glamour. The proceeds from which are to be given to charity. A reporter from Inside Edition was there to cover the shoot and speak with Gary about his upcoming projects but the program chose to edit together raw clips from the interview to show more of Gary's crazy side.

The video clip and its many offshoots an re-edits have made their way around the net. Posted on sites such as Insideedition.com,[9] Filmdrunk.com[10] and the photographer's own site Tylershields.com.[11] Adding to the speculation that Gary might not be as insane as he appears, many bloggers and websites have begun to wonder if he is simply pretending to be so eccentric or if he really is as off the wall and unabashed as he seems.

Busey has recently starred in several advertisements for the upcoming video game Saints Row 2, entitled "Street Lessons with Uncle Gary".

[edit] Filmography

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

poop (2009) Pre Production

[edit] Television appearances

[edit] References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
  1. ^ Gary Busey Biography (1944-)
  2. ^ Gary Busey. eBiog. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
  3. ^ Moran, W. Reed (2001-07-05). Gary Busey ministers to brain injury community. USA Today. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
  4. ^ Actor Gary Busey Discusses His Faith in Christ
  5. ^ Carp at All Music Guide
  6. ^ People Weekly, May 15, 1989, pp. 65–68
  7. ^ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Turkish rush to embrace anti-US film
  8. ^ Turkish Film Uproar: Attacking the American Enemy on Screen - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News
  9. ^ Inside Edition
  10. ^ Welcome - FilmDrunk.com
  11. ^ Tyler Shields

[edit] External links


v • d • e
Lethal Weapon films
Films
Lethal Weapon (1987) • Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) • Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) • Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)
Characters
Cast
Crew
Music
Other articles


Persondata
NAME Busey, Gary
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Busey Sr., William Gareth Jacob
SHORT DESCRIPTION Actor
DATE OF BIRTH 1944-6-29
PLACE OF BIRTH Goose Creek, Texas, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH