“I am Chevy Chase and you are not.” This opening line from Saturday Night Live earned Chevy Chase many fans across America. He joined Saturday Night Live during its inaugural season.
Chevy Chase was born on 8 October, 1943, in Lower Manhattan to an affluent family. His father was a book editor and his mother, a pianist. Though Chase wanted to be a doctor, he was not a serious student and was expelled from various schools so he never enrolled in a medical college. He finally graduated, however, with a Bachelor of Arts in English.
Chevy Chase loved music, especially jazz, and played in a band called The Leather Canary. He did many odd jobs before embarking on his career as an actor, a writer and a comedian. Comedy was something that Chase took to instantly. He appeared in the National Lampoon Radio Hour , which was aired on Sundays and featured John Belushi as his co-host. He also wrote a spoof on Mission: Impossible for Mad magazine.
Saturday Night Live gave Chase his first major break. He used his flair for comedy to the fullest and was considered “America’s Funniest Man” by New York magazine. Despite his success he decided to leave the show after a year, a decision he regrets to this day. Still, he won two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for comedy writing and live comedy acting.
Chase stuck to the comedy genre even in movies such as Tunnel Vision (1976) and Oh Heavenly Dog (1980). He rejected National Lampoons Animal House, which was originally written with him in mind. Instead he starred in Foul Play (1978) because he wanted to do “real acting for the first time in his career”. After that he starred in the highly successful comedy Caddyshack (1980). He continued acting in films such as Modern Problems (1981) and National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983). The film he claimed he had the most fun with was Three Amigos (1986).
He refused American Beauty, which won Kevin Spacey an Oscar, because he claimed that after his marriage and kids he wanted to stay away from romantic films. Some of his other films weren’t such a great success, for example Nothing But Trouble (1991), Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) and Cops and Robbersons (1994).
Chase is currently married to Jayni and is an active charity fundraiser and an environmentalist. His last film was with Courtney Cox and Tim Allen called Zoom (2006). He has also appeared in a few sitcoms like Law and Order and Brothers and Sisters.
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