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1 | Offered the role of Scoot Calvin/Santa Claus in The Santa Clause (1994), but had to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts. |
2 | Turned down the role of Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump (1994). |
3 | Turned down the role of Dave Seville in Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007). |
4 | Was considered for the role of Harry Sultenfuss in My Girl (1991), but was known at the time for acting only in comedies, not dramas and the role was given to Dan Aykroyd instead. |
5 | Admitted in an interview that the comments and jokes directed at him during his 2002 roast legitimately hurt him. As soon as the roast was over, he returned to his hotel room and was so depressed about it, he was sobbing most of the night and had to be consoled by roast master Paul Schäfer. Chase's roast was noted by fans and critics alike for being particularly mean-spirited, even by the standards of a roast. |
6 | He once wrote the back page of a Mad Magazine (issue #134, April 1970.) A satire of "Mission Impossible" (1966)_ titled "A TV Scene We'd Like To See.". |
7 | His ancestry includes English, as well as Scottish, Irish, Danish, and a smaller amount of Dutch and German, roots. |
8 | Met Saturday Night Live (1975) producer Lorne Michaels while in line to see a Monty Python movie. |
9 | Release of the book, "I'm Chevy Chase - And You're Not" by 'Rena Fruchter'. [2007] |
10 | Daughter Caley Chase is also an actor. |
11 | Moe's Southwest Grill, a fast-food chain, has menu items named after characters from three of his films: ¡Three Amigos! (1986) (the in-famous El Guapo sauce), Caddyshack (1980) (Billy Barou nachos with chicken), and Fletch (1985) (John Coctostan quesadilla with steak). |
12 | Would say "toy boat" after every time he stumbled over his words during Weekend Update. |
13 | Was the first person to say "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" on Saturday Night Live (1975). |
14 | Had back surgery shortly after his time with "SNL" as a result of all the comedic falls he had taken on-stage. |
15 | Plays piano, drums and saxophone. |
16 | Turned down the role of "Peter Venkman" in Ghostbusters (1984), which went to Bill Murray. According to Chase, the finished film is nothing like the script that he read, adding that the script was much scarier than the film. He did visit the set at least once, as a picture of him on the temple steps can be seen in Don Shay's book "Making Ghostbusters". |
17 | Turned down the role of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story (1995) because his agent greatly advised him against doing the project. He didn't want to turn it down, as he was interested in the project. |
18 | His mother Cathalene Parker Browning was the only daughter of Capt. Miles R. Browning, Admiral Halsey's Chief of Staff for much of WW2. |
19 | Was a favorite comedian of the students in Head of the Class (1986). |
20 | Is portrayed by John Viener in Gilda Radner: It's Always Something (2002). |
21 | Won an amateur orchestral conducting contest in Los Angeles, where he and other celebrities (such as Alan Rachins) competed to inspire appreciation for classical music. |
22 | Born to Edward Tinsley Chase, a Manhattan book editor and magazine writer, and his wife Cathalene Parker Browning, who both died in 2005. |
23 | Graduated from Bard College with a bachelor of arts degree in English (1967). |
24 | Before his breakthrough as a comedian, he worked as a cab driver, truck driver, motorcycle messenger, waiter, busboy, construction worker, audio engineer, produce manager in a supermarket, salesman in a wine store and theater usher. |
25 | After joking about Cary Grant being gay in a 1980 television interview, the Hollywood legend sued him for slander, but they later settled out of court. |
26 | Fans often imitate his famous, straight-faced, "I like it!" (from Modern Problems (1981)). |
27 | Wanted to be a doctor when he was younger. |
28 | In 2003, he appeared in two television commercials for Cola Turka, a soft drink developed to be in direct competition with both Coca-Cola and Pepsi, while keeping the money in the Turkish economy. The commercials, which were both comic and nationalistic in theme, feature Chase playing a confused American who notices his friend and family using Turkish idioms and exhibiting Turkish customs after consuming the drink. The commercials, exclusively shown in Turkey, were filmed in New York in English, but have Turkish subtitles. |
29 | Has streets named after him in Cochranton, Pennsylvania; Brea, California; Port Charlotte, Florida; and New Orleans, Louisiana. |
30 | His brother roomed across the hall from Ted Kaczynski "The Unabomber" at Harvard. |
31 | The role of Eric 'Otter' Stratton in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) was originally written with him in mind, but due to a scheduling conflict, he had to turn the role down. The role went to Tim Matheson instead. |
32 | At 6' 4", he was the tallest original Saturday Night Live (1975) cast member and was the first "tall guy" on the show. Cast members over 6 feet usually dwarfed the rest of the cast. Among the other tall guys to follow were Dan Aykroyd, Dean Edwards, Will Ferrell, Bill Hader, Anthony Michael Hall, David Koechner, Norm MacDonald, Finesse Mitchell, Bill Murray, Kevin Nealon, Randy Quaid, Rob Riggle, Jason Sudeikis, Charles Rocket, Damon Wayans, and Fred Wolf. Only Nealon, Quaid and Rocket equaled Chase in height. |
33 | In a 1975 New York magazine cover story, NBC executives referred to Chase as "The first real potential successor to Johnny Carson" and claimed he would begin guest-hosting The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) within 6 months of the article. It never happened. |
34 | Chase is a member of the exclusive Hollywood Gourmet Poker Club. Members included fellow card players Martin Short, Steve Martin, Carl Reiner, Barry Diller, Neil Simon and the late Johnny Carson. |
35 | His big break was performing on Saturday Night Live (1975). Ironically, he was never signed as a cast member. He signed a one year writer contract and became a cast member during rehearsals. |
36 | Attended Riverdale Country School in New York City. |
37 | Helped campaign for John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential Election. |
38 | Admitted in an interview that making ¡Three Amigos! (1986) was the most fun he has had on a film. |
39 | Used to run five miles a day to stay fit and healthy. |
40 | Is a huge jazz fan. |
41 | At the height of his career he earned around $7 million per film. |
42 | Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. Pg. 102-103. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387. |
43 | He was the first member of the original Saturday Night Live (1975) cast to leave the show (after only one season), a decision he later said he regretted. He was replaced by Bill Murray. |
44 | Chevy Chase is the name of a 16th century ballad about the battle between Earl Douglas and Earl Percy, as well as the name of a city in Maryland. |
45 | Suffers from a fear of snakes. |
46 | Roasted into the New York Friar's Club on September 28, 2002. |
47 | His middle name, Crane, is from his mother's family. He spent childhood vacations at Crane Castle, his mother's family's vacation home in Ipswich, Massachusetts. |
48 | Was a long-time class clown expelled from private schools like NYC's Dalton but did well at Stockbridge School in Massachusetts. Expelled from Haverford College after bringing a cow into the third floor of a campus building. Transferred to Bard College, where he dated actress Blythe Danner and graduated in 1967. |
49 | Paul Simon is one of his best friends. He appeared alongside Simon in the music video "You Can Call Me Al," in which he lip-syncs all of Simon's lines. Due to that video's remarkable success, Chase was asked to return when Simon released his follow-up album. In the music video for "Proof", Chase was accompanied by another of his best friends, Steve Martin. |
50 | Chevy was actually a childhood nickname -- possibly based on the Washington, DC suburb -- bestowed by his grandmother. The Chase family was affluent and distinguished, and Chevy was listed in Social Register at early age. His paternal grandfather was painter/teacher Frank Swift Chase; his father, Ned Chase, was a prominent Manhattan book editor and magazine writer. His mother was descended from the Crane plumbing-fixture family. |
51 | Daughters: Cydney Cathalene Chase (born 1982), Caley Leigh Chase (born 1984) and Emily Evelyn Chase (born 1988), with wife Jayni Chase. |
52 | His parents divorced when he was four. His father remarried into the Folger coffee family. His mother's third marriage was to Juilliard School professor/composer Lawrence Widdoes. |
53 | Has perfect pitch: a rare ability to identify the pitch of musical notes without a point of reference. |
54 | Was valedictorian of his high school class. |
55 | Attended Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. |
56 | Was nearly killed (electrocuted) during the filming of Modern Problems (1981) when, during the sequence in which he is wearing "landing lights" as he dreams that he is an airplane, the current in the lights short-circuited through his arm, back, and neck muscles. The near-death experience caused him to experience a period of deep depression. |
57 | His short-lived TV talk show was billed as a Cornelius Production, Cornelius being Chevy's real first name. |
58 | Convicted of drunk driving. [1995] |
59 | He appeared in the music video and sang in the choir on the song "Voices That Care." |
60 | Winner of Harvard Lampoon Lifetime Achievement Award 1996. |
61 | Sat in as drummer with the college band The Leather Canary a couple of times. He refers to it as "a bad jazz band." The band also included Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, later of Steely Dan fame. |
62 | His now-famous "Good evening, I'm Chevy Chase and you're not" opening line on the "Weekend Update" segments of Saturday Night Live (1975) was a takeoff of New York news anchor Roger Grimsby's "Here now the news" opening line. |
63 | Prefers to do family-oriented movies and has turned down roles in several films including the lead in American Beauty (1999). |
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