Moriah Gill
The younger brother of Randy Quaid, Dennis Quaid is an actor known for both his dramatic and comedic roles. The Texas-born actor dropped out of the University of Houston to pursue a career in acting. His first roles were in I Never Promised You A Rose Garden, about a girl’s struggle for mental clarity and September 30, 1955, a film about a boy in a small town grieving James Dean’s death. He has seen much success for his films and earned Golden Globe and Emmy awards. These are our top 10 favorite Dennis Quaid movies.
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10. The Parent Trap
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Lindsay Lohan and Dennis Quaid onscreen together? Yes, please. The late ’90s remake film stars Quaid as the father of twins who met at summer camp and realize they’re twins who were separated by their parents’ divorce. Then comes the scheme of trying to get them back together.
9. D.O.A.
In this thriller directed by Annabel Jankel, Quaid is a sleuthin’ college professor. He wakes up from a night he doesn’t fully recall and goes to the hospital for medical assistance. He’s informed that due to a poison, he will not live past the next 36 hours. He starts clocking down a list of potential suspects of who could have done the deed.
8. Postcards from the Edge
Based on Carrie Fisher’s autobiography about her and her mother Debbie Reynolds’ troubled relationship, the film stars Meryl Streep in her first Oscar-nominated role. In the movie, Quaid is a film producer that saves her from an overdose by taking her to the ER.
7. The Big Easy
A Romantic thriller set in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was later adapted for the U.S.A. Network retelling the sorry of a police lieutenant who investigates a local mobsters murder. In a surprising turn of events, he is left investigating his own.
6. Soul Surfer
The Bethany Hamilton story, based on her autobiography, Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board, focuses on her life after a 2003 shark attack. Being left without her left arm at just 13 years old, she has to learn to re-orient her life. Quaid plays the young surfer’s father, Thomas Hamilton, in this moving film.
5. Enemy Mine
Wolfgang Peterson directed this 1985 dark science-fiction drama with a cult following is based on a novella, Enemy Mine. During an interstellar war between humans and human droid hybrids known as “Dracs,” the plot follows two members of each group, Dennis Quaid and a Drac pilot that crashland and eventually learn to work together to survive.
4. G.I. Joe
In G.I.Joe: The Rise of Cobra, the beloved GI Joe: A Real American Hero toy was brought to life in the live-action movie. Quaid stars as General Clayton M. Abernathy/Hawk, the field commander of the G.I.Joe team.
3. Great Balls of Fire
Dennis Quaid stars in the 1989 biopic about Jerry Lee Lewis… as Jerry Lee Lewis. From his rise as a rockabilly star to his alcoholism and his marriage and involvement to a younger cousin, the film catches it all. Including that famous declaration at his televangelist cousin Jimmy Swaggart’s (played by Alec Baldwin) church that, “If I’m going to hell, I’m going there playing the piano!”
2. Far From Heaven
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Far From Heaven is the movie that won Quaid the Spirit Award, a Golden Globe nomination, New York Film Critics Circle, and a S.A.G. nomination. The story centers on a couple, played by Quaid and Julianne Moore, and the twist that is thrown into their marriage when the wife realizes she is gay. Based on Douglas Sirk 1950’s film, Far From Heaven explores gender roles, race, sexual orientation thought the lenses of early American culture.
1. The Day After Tomorrow
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The science-fiction disaster film The Day After Tomorrow is almost synonymous with Dennis Quaids’ name. He starred in the movie alongside Jake Gyllenhaal, Ian Holm, and Emmy Rossum. The movie was based on a book, The Coming Global Superstorm, and depicts the climate disaster causing a new ice age and extreme global cooling.
