1. Gary Busey portrayed Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor.
25 Facts About Gary Busey
1. 2.
Gary Busey's other starring roles include A Star Is Born, DC Cab, Silver Bullet, Eye of the Tiger, Lethal Weapon, Hider in the House, Predator 2, Point Break, Under Siege, The Firm, Drop Zone, Black Sheep and Lost Highway.
3.
Gary Busey attended Coffeyville Community College before attending Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, on a football scholarship, where he became interested in acting.
4.
Gary Busey quit school just one unit short of graduation.
5.
Gary Busey began his showbusiness career as a drummer in The Rubber Band.
6.
Gary Busey appears on several Leon Russell recordings, credited as playing drums under the name "Teddy Jack Eddy" 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 on station KTUL.
7.
Gary Busey played in a band called Carp, which released one album on Epic Records in 1969.
8.
Gary Busey continued to play several small roles in both film and television during the 1970s.
9.
In 1974, Gary Busey played Truckie Wheeler in the ABC television comedy The Texas Wheelers.
10.
Gary Busey played one of the primary antagonists opposite Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in the action comedy Lethal Weapon.
11.
Gary Busey starred in the psychological thriller Hider in the House.
12.
Gary Busey appeared in The Player, The Firm, Rookie of the Year, Black Sheep, Lost Highway, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Soldier.
13.
Gary Busey sang the song "Stay All Night" on Saturday Night Live in 1979, and on the Late Show with David Letterman in the 1990s.
14.
In 2002, Gary Busey voiced the character Phil Cassidy in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and later reprised the role in the prequel Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories in 2006.
15.
Gary Busey controversially appeared in the 2006 Turkish nationalist film Valley of the Wolves: Iraq, which was accused of fascism, anti-Americanism, and antisemitism.
16.
Gary Busey starred in the horror film The Gingerdead Man as the titular character and crazed killer Millard Findlemeyer.
17.
In 2009, Gary Busey appeared as a roaster at the Comedy Central Roast of Larry the Cable Guy.
18.
Gary Busey returned to reality television on Celebrity Apprentice 4 in 2011, and appeared again in Celebrity Apprentice 6.
19.
In 2019, Gary Busey starred as God in the Off-Broadway musical Only Human at the Theatre at St Clements in New York.
20.
On December 4,1988, Gary Busey was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in which he was not wearing a helmet.
21.
Gary Busey's skull was fractured, and he suffered permanent brain damage.
22.
In 1997, Gary Busey underwent successful surgery to remove a plum-sized cancerous tumor from his sinus cavity.
23.
Gary Busey described it as essentially weakening Busey's mental "filters", which led him to speak and act impulsively.
24.
Sophy recommended Gary Busey take valproic acid, and Gary Busey agreed.
25.
In 2011, Gary Busey endorsed Newt Gingrich during Gingrich's 2012 presidential campaign, but later withdrew his endorsement.