Actor Randy Quaid's Arrest, Part Of His 'Creative Process' Too?

'Tis been the season of exciting news.  RENT and IN THE HEIGHTS are setting out on National Tours. Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta Jones have finally been confirmed for the Broadway revival of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, and celebrity imports like Hugh Jackman, Daniel Craig and Jude Law are hanging around town while staring in A STEADY RAIN (Jackman and Craig) and HAMLET (Law).

But alas, every industry has its underbelly, which was clearly manifested in actor Randy Quaid's arrest in Malfa Texas last Thursday for skipping out on a California hotel bill in excess of $10,000, the Texas cops are reporting.

In addition to his extensive film resume ("Independence Day," "Brokeback Mountain," National Lampoons Vacation," "Kingpin")  Quaid is best known for starring in the long-running TRUE WEST and THE GOD OF HELL at the Actors Studio Drama. He has won the Golden Globe Award, and has been nominated for the Academy Award, Emmy Award and BAFTA Award. 

In February 2008, a five-member hearing committee of Actors' Equity Association banned Quaid from the union for life and fined him more than $81,000. The charges that brought the sanctions originated in a Seattle production of LONE STAR LOVE, a Western-themed adaptation of Shakespeare's THE MERRY WIFES OF WINDSOR, in which Quaid played the lead role of Falstaff. The musical was scheduled to come to Broadway, but producers cancelled it.  Reportedly, all 26 members of the musical cast brought charges against Quaid for being physically and verbally abusive to his costars  Quaid's own statement on the charges was "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." 

Last week's arrest in Texas was just as drama-filled, reports suggest, as his wife, Evi, was apparently throwing such a tantrum that the cops had to pin her to her car and handcuff her. 

Quaid later released an odd letter thanking the cops for a "great arrest," adding, "Texas does not bother people over hamburgers ordered by room service, supposedly burglarized; I promise you, we have paid our bill."

Quaid and his wife were released on $20,000 bail each a few hours after the arrest.

 

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