Trivia

Older brother of Dennis Quaid. The two have not communicated in over 20 years due to a bad real estate deal in Montecito, California.

Upon arriving in Hollywood, he found work as a janitor on Hollywood Boulevard. Within one year, he had been cast in The Last Detail (1973) and later earned Golden Globe, BAFTA and Academy Award nominations.

An arrest warrant was issued for Randy and his wife, Evi Quaid, for failure to show up at a Santa Barbara, California court for an unpaid hotel bill on April 14, 2010. In a plea bargain, he was found not guilty of skipping out of the bill, while Evi was sentenced to a misdemeanor on April 28.

Randy Quaid in 2010 had applied for refugee status from "Hollywood StarWhackers" in British Columbia Canada with his wife Evi who turned out to be 1/2 Canadian. They withdrew the refugee claims as a result of Evi Quaid being a duel citizen.

Married his wife, Evi Quaid, three times, once in Monticeto, California. Once in Hollywood close to his favorite hotel and Walk of Fame star, and once in Toronto, Canada since becoming a refugee claimant. They were married at the San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara, California in 1989. 20 years later in 2009, they were arrested for allegedly defrauding the innkeeper, conspiracy, and burglary after allegedly skipping out on a $10,000 bill at the same hotel after an extended stay there in June 2009. Later it was learned the credit card used was overcharged by $73,000.

Cast in The Ice Harvest (2005) when Harold Ramis called him and asked him to do it, just as he did when he asked him to do the first "Vacation" film for him that he also directed.

Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard on October 7, 2003. At a Screen Actors Guild awards show, he revealed that the star was near the site of the Roosevelt Hotel, where the promising actor first arrived off a bus from Houston three decades before.

He and his wife filed for bankruptcy in 2000, owing the I.R.S. $412,000; the state of California had several tax liens against them totaling more than $207,000. The state was paid in full in 2005 and the IRS debt was settled. The case was closed in 2004.

He and his wife lived for long stretches of time in high-end hotels such as the Bel-Air, and the Carlyle, in New York.

Filed a lawsuit against Focus Features and producers David Linde and James Schamus in March 2006, claiming he was fleeced into working cheaply by the filmmakers' assertion that Brokeback Mountain (2005) was "a low-budget, art-house film, with no prospect of making any money." Brokeback Mountain, whose three Oscars included Best Director for Ang Lee, topped $82 million at the domestic box office. Quaid had been seeking at least $10 million but later dropped the lawsuit in May of 2006. "The circumstances of him dropping the suit are as mysterious as the circumstances under which he filed his claim," a Focus Features spokeswoman said at the time. The NYT Stated Focus had agreed to pay an undisclosed settlement.

He was banned for life from the Actors' Equity Association as the result of fellow actors' official complaints about his behavior during the 2007 run of "Lone Star Love" -- a retelling of The Merry Wives of Windsor set in the 1860s in which Randy was cast as Colonel John Falstaff -- at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre. He was also fined $81,572 by the union for his actions in Seattle, the equivalent of two weeks' salary for the cast; all 26 members of the cast brought charges against Quaid, maintaining that he "physically and verbally abused his fellow performers and that his oddball behavior forced the show to close." Another major issue was Randy's costume, over which he insisted he had final approval (he dyed his hair beet red and wore a codpiece the size and shape of an official N.F.L. football). Reacting to Equity's decision, Quaid said, "I am guilty of only one thing: Giving a performance that elicited a response so deeply felt by the actors and producers with little experience of my creative process that they actually think I am Falstaff.". (2008)

Played the character of Doc Holliday in the movie Purgatory (1999). His brother, Dennis Quaid, played the same character in the movie Wyatt Earp (1994).

Enjoys painting in his spare time.

In 1994, he lived in a home in Santa Monica, but when an earthquake destroyed it he flew to New York, checked into the Carlyle Hotel and stayed for close to a year before relocating back to Los Angeles.

He has appeared in four films that have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: The Last Picture Show (1971), Bound for Glory (1976), Midnight Express (1978) and Brokeback Mountain (2005).

Was the voice of Capital One Credit cards from 2004-2010.

Nominated for an Oscar at the age of 22 for his work with Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail (1973).

A full 5 inches taller than his brother, Dennis Quaid.

Randy Quaid went to college at the University of Houston.

Quaid's father, Buddy Quaid, told Randy that he is a first cousin, twice removed, of performer Gene Autry. Gene's maternal grandparents, Andrew Clinton Ozment and Margaret Malinda Pierce, were also Quaid's paternal great-great-grandparents. Quaid is further rumored to be a cousin of Richard Harris, but no evidence of this has arisen.

Met his wife, Evi Quaid, on the set of Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989) in New York. Evi, 24 at the time, was a production assistant assigned to drive actors to the set and assist the costume designer.

Milos Forman cast Quaid as the "King of Spain" in Goya's Ghosts (2006) after seeing his work as Tom Parker in Elvis (2005) with Jonathan Rhys Meyers by phoning him and saying, "You are a great actor. You must be my King or I must repaint Goya".

Ex-brother-in-law of P.J. Soles and Meg Ryan.

Was considered for the role of Billy Bibbit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975);.

Moved to Los Angeles, California on his 21st birthday.

Father of seven frozen embryos with wife Evi Quaid. He has one child, Amanda Quaid, from his marriage to ex-wife Ella Jolly.

Colored his hair red and rented a fake full length fur coat from Universal for the "Slam Dance" opening night for his film Real Time (2008), the second film to be featured at "Slam Dance" starring Randy Quaid.

He has appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Last Picture Show (1971) and Brokeback Mountain (2005).

Played two real-life, ceremonial colonels. Tom Parker and Harland Sanders.

Has an Australian cattle dog named Doji Quaid. (2011)

Was directed by wife Evi Quaid in The Debtors (1999).

Uncle of Zoe Grace Quaid, Boone Quaid and Jack Quaid.

Quaid's father, Buddy Quaid (born William Jesse Rudy John Quaid, Jr.), left the family after Randy moved to Hollywood, giving Quaid a step sister named Brandy Quaid and stepbrother named Buddy Quaid (full name: William Jesse Rudy John Quaid III).

Brother-in-law of Kimberly Buffington.

Endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2024.

Cousin of Bo Brinkman. First cousin once removed of Corbett Tuck and Dakota Brinkman.