Cornelius Crane “Chevy” Chase (born October 8 1943) is an American Emmy Award-winning comedian, writer, and television and film actor. Born into a prominent family, Chase became a sensation as a cast member in the inaugural season of Saturday Night Live, where his Weekend Update skit quickly became a staple of the show. Chase is also well known for his portrayal of the character Clark Griswold in four National Lampoon's Vacation films. In addition to his numerous movie roles, he has hosted the Academy Awards twice (1987 and 1988) and briefly had his own late-night talk show, The Chevy Chase Show.

Early life

Chase was born in Lower Manhattan, New York City. His father, Edward Tinsley "Ned" Chase, was a prominent Manhattan book editor and magazine writer. His mother, Cathalene Parker (née Browning), a concert pianist and librettist, was the daughter of Miles Browning, who served a critical role at the Battle of Midway in World War II; she was adopted as a child by Cornelius Vanderbilt Crane, and took the name Cathalene Crane. Chase's maternal grandmother was an opera singer who performed several times at Carnegie Hall. Chase is a fourteenth-generation New Yorker, and was listed in the Social Register at an early age. His mother's ancestors arrived in Manhattan starting in 1624. Among his ancestors are New York City mayors Stephanus Van Cortlandt and John Johnstone; John Morin Scott, General of the New York Militia during the American Revolution; Anne Hutchinson, dissident Puritan preacher and healer; and Mayflower pilgrim leader William Brewster. Chase's paternal grandfather was artist/illustrator Edward Leigh Chase, and his great-uncle was painter/teacher Frank Swift Chase.

Chase was named for his adoptive grandfather Cornelius, who lived at Castle Hill, Ipswich, Massachusetts, which was later used in the filming of The Witches of Eastwick.

The name Chevy was a nickname bestowed by his grandmother, derived from the medieval English Ballad of Chevy Chase. As a descendant of the Scottish Clan Douglas, the name "Chevy" seemed appropriate to her.

Chase's parents divorced when he was four; his father remarried into the Folgers coffee family, and his mother was remarried twice. Both his parents died in 2005. His mother, who later married Juilliard professor and composer Lawrence Widdoes, is buried at the Artists' Cemetery in Woodstock, New York. He made recent claims that he was abused as a child by his mother and stepfather, John Cederquist.

Chase was expelled from private schools like New York City's Dalton School and Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. He did well at the Stockbridge School in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and attended Riverdale Country School in The Bronx. He was valedictorian of his senior class and entered Haverford College, but was expelled (or 'separated') from it after one semester. He then transferred to Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, where he studied a pre-med curriculum, dated actress Blythe Danner for several years, and graduated in 1967 with a bachelor of arts degree in English.