50 facts you didn’t know about actor Gary Busey

In 1978, he starred as rock legend Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story with Sartain as The Big Bopper. Learn 50 facts you didn't know about Gary Busey.

1. William Gary Busey is an American film and stage actor, and artist.

2. He has appeared in a variety of films, including Lethal Weapon, Point Break, and Under Siege, as well as guest appearances on Gunsmoke, Walker, Texas Ranger, Law & Order, and Entourage.

3. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1978 for his role in The Buddy Holly Story.

4. In addition he has had guest appearances on shows such as Gunsmoke, Walker, Texas Ranger, Law & Order, Scrubs, and Entourage.

5. Busey was born in Goose Creek, Texas, the son of Sadie Virginia (née Arnett), a homemaker, and Delmer Lloyd Busey, a construction design manager.

6. He graduated from Nathan Hale High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1962.

7. While attending Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas on a football scholarship, he became interested in acting.

8. He then transferred to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he quit school just one class short of graduation.

9. Busey began his show business career as a drummer in The Rubber Band.

10. He appears on several Leon Russell recordings, credited as playing drums under the names "Teddy Jack Eddy" and "Sprunk", 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 (which starred fellow Tulsan Gailard Sartain as "Dr. Mazeppa Pompazoidi").

11. For his skits on Uncanny Film Festival, Busey drew on his American Hero, belligerent, know-it-all character.

12. When he told Gailard Sartain his character needed a name, Sartain replied, "Take three: Teddy, Jack and Eddy."

13. He played in a band called Carp, which released one album on Epic Records in 1969.

14. Busey continued to play several small roles in both film and television during the 1970s.

15. In 1975, as the character "Harvey Daley," he was the last person killed on the series Gunsmoke (in the third-to-last episode, No. 633 - "The Busters").

16. In 1974, Busey made his major film debut with a supporting role in Michael Cimino's buddy action caper Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, starring Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges.

17. In 1976, he was hired by Barbra Streisand and her producer-boyfriend Jon Peters to play Bobby Ritchie, road manager to Kris Kristofferson's character in the remake film A Star is Born.

18. On the DVD commentary of the film, Streisand says Busey was great and that she had seen him on a TV series and thought he had the right qualities to play the role.

19. In 1978, he starred as rock legend Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story with Sartain as The Big Bopper.

20. For his performance in Buddy Holly, Busey received the greatest critical acclaim of his career and the movie earned Busey an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and the National Society of Film Critics' Best Actor award.

21. In the same year he also starred in the small yet acclaimed drama Straight Time and the surfing movie Big Wednesday, which is now a minor cult classic.

22. In the 1980s, Busey's roles included the critically acclaimed western Barbarosa (1982), the comedies D.C. Cab (1983) and Insignificance (1985), and the Stephen King adaption Silver Bullet (1985).

23. Perhaps most notably, he played one of the primary antagonists in the smash hit action comedy Lethal Weapon (1987).

24. In the 1990s, he had prominent supporting roles in successful action films such as Predator 2 (1990), Point Break (1991) and Under Siege (1992), which remain some of his best-known roles today. He also appeared in a number of other notable films such as Rookie of the Year (1993), The Firm (1993), Black Sheep (1996), Lost Highway (1997), and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), further establishing himself as a prolific actor in major films.

25. Many of his on screen characters are defined by their dynamic yet odd and offbeat personalities.

26. Busey sang the song "Stay All Night" on Saturday Night Live in March 1979 (season 4, episode 14), and on the Late Show with David Letterman in the 1990s.

27. In 2003, Busey starred on a Comedy Central reality show, "I'm with Busey."

28. In 2005, he also voiced himself on an episode of The Simpsons.

29. He appeared in the popular miniseries Into the West.

30. Busey controversially appeared in the 2006 Turkish nationalist film Valley of the Wolves: Iraq, (Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak, in Turkish), which was accused of fascism, anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism.

31. In 2007, he appeared as himself in a prominent recurring role on HBO's Entourage, in which he parodied his eccentric image, ultimately appearing on three episodes of the show.

32. In 2008, he joined the second season of the reality show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.

33. Busey returned to reality television in Celebrity Apprentice 4, which premiered in March 2011, and appeared again in Celebrity Apprentice 6. There, he briefly reprised his role as Buddy Holly by performing "Not Fade Away".

34. In a series of 2010 YouTube advertisements for Vitamin Water, Busey appeared as Norman Tugwater, a lawyer who defends professional athletes' entitlements to a cut from Fantasy Football team owners.

35. In 2014, he became a celebrity spokesperson for Amazon Fire TV.

36. He appeared in, and became the first American winner of the fourteenth series of the UK version of Celebrity Big Brother.

37. On September 1, 2015, it was announced that he will be competing on the 21st season of Dancing with the Stars. He is paired with professional dancer Anna Trebunskaya.

38. In 1971, Busey's wife Judy Helkenberg gave birth to their son, William Jacob "Jake" Busey.

39. Busey and Helkenberg divorced when Jake was 19 years old.

40. Busey has a daughter named Alectra from a previous relationship.

41. In February 2010, Busey's fiancee Steffanie Sampson gave birth to their son, Luke Sampson Busey.

42. On December 4, 1988, Busey was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in which he was not wearing a helmet. His skull was fractured, and doctors feared he suffered permanent brain damage.

43. In 1996, Busey publicly announced that he was a Christian, saying: "I am proud to tell Hollywood I am a Christian. For the first time I am now free to be myself."

44. In 1997, after recurring nosebleeds, he underwent surgery to remove a golf-ball-sized cancerous tumor from his sinus cavity, and after surgery he underwent radiation therapy.

45. Gary Busey is enjoying a 44 year career in Hollywood.

46. In fact, 2014 marks the 35th anniversary of The Buddy Holly Story, which garnered Busey a BAFTA win and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of Buddy Holly.

47. Busey became a household name and a TV sensation in his recent starring roles on Celebrity Wife Swap and The Celebrity Apprentice - All Stars.

48. Busey's other TV roles of note are his multiple appearances on HBO's Entourage, a recurring role on the syndicated sitcom Mr. Box Office and a special guest-star role on Two and a Half Men.

49. His son Luke was diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease in 2011.

50. In 2012, Busey founded the Busey Foundation For Children's Kawasaki Disease after his son Luke was diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease in 2011.