Cult Heroes: Gary Busey

In a new regular series delving into the lives of Cult Heroes, I examine the career of Hollywood Screen Psycho Gary Busey.

“Listen you snot-nose little shit, I was taking shrapnel in Khe Sahn when you were crapping in your hands and rubbing it on your face.”
(Gary Busey - Point Break)

And the Oscar for best psycopathic rant of the year goes to Gary Busey. The veteran of over sixty films, you can be forgiven for not being immediately familiar with his name. When shown a picture of his face, however, you'll probably recognise him as Lethal Weapon's pain loving Mr. Joshua, Keanu Reeves' highly strung partner from Point Break, or unhinged surfer Leroy 'The Animal' from 1977 surf classic The Big Wednesday. Busey's career philosophy is beautifully simple, he sticks to playing characters who are close to, or more than often, fallen completely over the edge, and who well, die. In interview he proudly claims that he was the last person ever to get shot on TV's Gunsmoke. Even when Oscar nominated in 1978 for his role in The Buddy Holly Story, he was portraying Buddy Holly himself, who doesn't exactly walk away from that famous plane crash with just a couple of scratches and one bastard of a headache.

If we examine Busey's career we can definitely find a continuing pattern of entertaining screen demises. Lethal Weapon (shot by Danny “I'm getting to old for this shit” Glover), Under Siege (falls afoul of that walking bundle of charisma that is Steven Segal), Point Break (killed by Patrick Swayze - murdered by the bloke from Dirty Dancing come on now), The Firm (blown away while receiving a blow job from Holly Hunter - fair play) and of course Predator 2 (sliced and diced by big fucking alien). In the coming months he'll be back on the big screen getting laid to rest in Soldier, and seeing the colour of his blood courtesy of Jean `I got my first break playing a gay kickboxer' Van Damme in the `eagerly anticipated' and catchily titled, Universal Solder: The Return. So does Busey ever survive in order to see the end credits? Well there is that rare occasion in Steven King's Silver Bullet, where he manages to beat a werewolf to death with his bare hands, but you like to think he probably got hit by a car on his way home or something.

Off screen Busey's life is just as entertaining, and contains numerous flirtations with death and the law. He was given his first rock of cocaine in 1979, and continued to snort the annual output of a small Colombian nation ever year, up until he was finally busted for possession and served a spell at the Palm Spring's Penitentiary. When released Busey resumed his love of the white powder, and it took a near fateful overdose in May 1995 to eventually persuade him to relinquish his habit. Around the same time he decided to check into rehab to put an end to his sixteen year battle with alcoholism. After finally kicking both of these habits, Busey was forced to return to hospital to have a `plum-sized' tumour removed from his sinal cavity. The operation went without a hitch, and this prompted Busey to do what any other Hollywood Star would do under the circumstances, and return to Jesus.

Hearing the word of the `king of kings', however, has done nothing to stop Busey's wild behaviour. In 1997 he was accused to attacking a stewardess on a homebound flight. The following year he walked calmly away from an horrific motorcycle crash, even luckier when you consider he wasn't wearing any kind of helmet whatsoever. In January of this year he was once again back in Police custody for attacking his second wife, after he `grabbed her shoulders and wrestled her to the ground' during a household argument. The case will go to court early next year. In ancient times the Mayan people would hold ceremonies to elaborately stage their own deaths, in order to confuse the spirits and gain a longer life. You just gotta wonder if you examine Busey's cinematic career in relation to his actual life, if he isn't attempting to follow their example.

by Dave Wheeldon.