gary busey

aboard the Kandy Kruise 09/14/2007 Born William Gary Busey

June 29, 1944 (1944-06-29) (age 64)

Goose Creek, Texas, U.S. Spouse(s) Tiani Warden (September 23, 1996–2001) (divorced)

Judy Helkenberg (December 30, 1968–1990) (divorced)

William "Gary" Busey (born June 29, 1944) is an Academy Award- and Golden Globe Award-nominated American film and stage actor and artist. He has appeared in a number of films, including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Buddy Holly Story, Big Wednesday, Lethal Weapon, Point Break, The Firm, Gingerdead Man, Black Sheep, Rookie of the Year, and Under Siege. Contents [hide] 1 Biography 1.1 Personal life 1.2 Career 2 Filmography 3 Television appearances 4 References 5 External links //

Biography

Personal life

Busey was born in Goose Creek (now Baytown), Texas, the son of Sadie Virginia (née Arnett), a homemaker, and Delmer Lloyd Busey, a construction design manager.[1] He graduated from Nathan Hale High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He attended Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas on a football 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. Busey 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 Christian as a result of his near-death experience.[4] He currently lives in Malibu.

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 (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 Gunsmoke (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 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 critically-acclaimed surfing movie Big Wednesday.

In the 1980s, Busey's roles included Silver Bullet (adapted from Cycle of the Werewolf