Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (/ˈtʃɛvi/; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of Saturday Night Live (1975–1976), where his recurring Weekend Update segment became a staple of the show. As both a performer and a writer on the series, he earned two Primetime Emmy Awards out of four nominations.[2][3]
For the town in Maryland, see Chevy Chase, Maryland. For other uses, see Chevy Chase (disambiguation).Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane Chase
October 8, 1943[1]
New York City, U.S.
- Stand-up
- film
- television
Bard College (BA)
1967–present
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Suzanne Hewitt(m. 1973; div. 1976)
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Jacqueline Carlin(m. 1976; div. 1980)
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Jayni Luke(m. 1982)
4
Miles Browning (maternal grandfather
Frank Swift Chase (granduncle)
Cornelius Vanderbilt Crane (adoptive maternal grandfather)
Edward Leigh Chase (paternal grandfather)
After leaving Saturday Night Live early in its second season, he established himself as a leading man, starring in some of the most successful comedy films of the 1980s, starting with his Golden Globe–nominated role in the romantic comedy Foul Play (1978).[3] Most famously, he portrayed Ty Webb in Caddyshack (1980), Clark W. Griswold in five National Lampoon's Vacation films, and Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher in Fletch (1985). He also starred in Seems Like Old Times (1980), Spies Like Us (1985), Three Amigos! (1986), and Funny Farm (1988).
He has hosted the Academy Awards twice (1987 and 1988) and briefly had his own late-night talk show, The Chevy Chase Show (1993). Chase had a resurgence with his role as Pierce Hawthorne on the NBC sitcom Community (2009–2014).[4][5]
Early life and education[edit]
Family[edit]
Cornelius Crane Chase was born in Lower Manhattan on October 8, 1943,[6] and grew up in Woodstock, New York.[7] He has an older brother, Ned Jr.[8]
His father, Edward Tinsley "Ned" Chase (1919–2005),[9] was a Princeton-educated Manhattan book editor and magazine writer.[10] Chase's paternal grandfather was artist and illustrator Edward Leigh Chase, and his great-uncle was painter and teacher Frank Swift Chase. His mother, Cathalene Parker (née Browning; 1923–2005), was a concert pianist and librettist, whose father, Rear Admiral Miles Browning, served as Admiral Raymond A. Spruance's Chief of Staff on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) at the Battle of Midway in World War II. Cathalene was adopted as a child by her stepfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt Crane, heir to The Crane Company, and took the name Catherine Crane.[11] Her mother, also named Cathalene, was an opera singer who performed several times at Carnegie Hall.[12]
Chase was named for his adoptive grandfather, Cornelius, while the nickname "Chevy" was bestowed by his grandmother from the medieval English ballad "The Ballad of Chevy Chase". As a descendant of the Scottish Clan Douglas, she thought the name appropriate.[13] Chase is a 14th-generation New Yorker, and was listed in the Social Register at an early age. His mother's ancestors arrived in Manhattan starting in 1624 — among those ancestors are:
Career[edit]
1967–1974: Early career[edit]
Chase was a member of an early underground comedy ensemble called Channel One, which he co-founded in 1967. He also wrote a one-page spoof of Mission: Impossible for Mad magazine in 1970 and was a writer for the short-lived Smothers Brothers TV show comeback in the spring of 1975. Chase made the move to comedy as a full-time career by 1973, when he became a writer and cast member of The National Lampoon Radio Hour, a syndicated satirical radio series. The National Lampoon Radio Hour also featured John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, and Brian Doyle-Murray, all of whom later became the "Not-Ready-For-Prime Time Players" on NBC Saturday Night (later re-titled NBC's Saturday Night and finally Saturday Night Live). Chase and Belushi also appeared in National Lampoon's off-Broadway revue Lemmings, a sketch and musical send-up of popular youth culture, in which Chase also played the drums and piano during the musical numbers. He appeared in the movie The Groove Tube, which was directed by another co-founder of Channel One, Ken Shapiro, featuring several Channel One sketches.