Posted on 12/27/2006 11:05:07 AM PST by Roberts
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Comedian Chevy Chase, who became famous in the 1970s portraying Gerald Ford as an amiable klutz, praised the former president on Wednesday and said they later became friendly in spite of the biting comedy routines.
Chase, 63, was an original cast member on the trend-setting late-night comedy television show "Saturday Night Live" and frequently opened the show pretending to be Ford stumbling and falling. The parody in 1975-6 helped reinforce a popular image about Ford's clumsiness, even though the president had been a star athlete in college.
"He had never been elected period, so I never felt that he deserved to be there to begin with," the actor said about Ford, who died on Tuesday at age 93. "That was just the way I felt then as a young man and as a writer and a liberal."
"Later on we became friends and he was a very, very sweet man," Chase said in a telephone interview from a Colorado ski resort. "He took my wife and I on a whole lovely trip through Grand Rapids to show us where he had been as a child and what not. We kept in touch and he was just a terrific guy."
Chase, who has since starred in many film comedies, said Ford helped boost his career, but said another politician could have just as easily become the comedic punching bag in such politically turbulent times.
Chase was initially hired as a writer, not an actor but the humor he wrote mocking Ford helped change that.
"I wrote all those Gerald Ford jokes and (producer) Lorne (Michaels) put me on the air," he said. "Doing the stunt falls and stuff ... started me."
"As far as making my career, it could have been anybody who had been a Republican after Nixon and pardoned him."
Wish I could say the same thing about Chevy.
Chevy also went to the Betty Ford clinic.
Time has a way of telling the truth...
So he's not a liberal anymore? Could have fooled me.
Nope. He's just no longer young...or a writer.
"Chase, 63,"
Makes me feel old.
I like Johnny Carsons assessment of Chevy Chase: "Chevy couldn't ad-lib a fart after a boston-baked bean dinner."
Nope. He's just no longer young...or a writer.
Or funny.
Dana Carvey was invited to the White House by Bush (41) after doing him on SNL, as well.
The best thing I can say about Chevy is that President Ford was infinitely preferable to Carter and Clinton.
Nice Fortune City logo.
Yep, I'm sure Leno will find nice things to say about Pres. Bush when Bush dies, after making constant fun of how dumb the president is. Never mind that Pres. Bush has a degree from Yale and an MBA from Harvard and Leno has none. Nevermind that the most ignorant politicians in the US are Democrats.
In the eyes of the msm, the only good Republican is a dead Republican. Sickening.
His moments of glory were the "Vacation" movies. Since the last one in '97, which was decent but nothing like the 80s movies, he's done nothing of note.
I still say, "Wouldn't be prudent."
Actually, I think, at least in comparision to Letterman, Leno is pretty even-handed with his jokes. Letterman makes less effort to hide his liberal bias.
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