Christmas vacation actors
Christmas Vacation actors are the men in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), led by Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold. The film is a holiday comedy, not a public holiday.
How it works
Actors in Christmas Vacation, as a search, usually wants the male cast of the 1989 picture. Chevy Chase is Clark. Randy Quaid is Cousin Eddie. Johnny Galecki is Rusty, the son, recast from earlier Vacation films. John Randolph is Clark Sr. E. G. Marshall is Art, Ellen's father. William Hickey is Uncle Lewis. Brian Doyle-Murray is Frank Shirley, the boss. Nicholas Guest is Todd, the neighbor. Those are the men the plot keeps putting in the same house, driveway, and office.
The film is still National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, directed by Jeremiah Chechik, written by John Hughes, with a U.S. opening on 1 December 1989. Naming the actors does not change the feast. The men on the poster are performing a December story, not opening a federal Monday.
Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid, and the returning Vacation men are the spine. The new faces in 1989 include Galecki as Rusty and several of the in-laws. If a list mixes Dana Barron or Anthony Michael Hall into this Christmas chapter, that list has drifted into the 1983 road film. Those actors played Audrey and Rusty on the earlier trip, not in this one.
The men the plot leans on
Clark wants the lights to work, the tree to fit, and the bonus to arrive. Eddie arrives uninvited with a failing RV and a personal relationship to the sewer line. Rusty is old enough to notice the plan failing and young enough to be drafted into it. Clark Sr. and Art sit in the living room as the two grandfathers. Uncle Lewis handles a cigar as if the drapes were a detail. Frank Shirley holds the bonus that Clark has already spent in his head. Todd lives next door and would like the lights to stop.
That is a working map of the male roles. It is not a ranking. Chase is the lead. The others are the friction. A cast list that only says “Chevy Chase movie” is true and incomplete. The Christmas in the title is the setting those actors share.
Chevy Chase — Clark Griswold Jr. Randy Quaid — Cousin Eddie. Johnny Galecki — Rusty Griswold. John Randolph — Clark Griswold Sr. E. G. Marshall — Art Smith. William Hickey — Uncle Lewis. Brian Doyle-Murray — Frank Shirley. Nicholas Guest — Todd Chester.
Actors, credits, and the wrong film
Cody Burger plays Rocky, Eddie's son. Devin Bailey appears as young Clark. Sam McMurray is Bill at the office. Those names show up on longer bills. If you only needed the men people mean by “the actors,” start with Chase, Quaid, and Galecki, then the grandfathers and the boss. If you needed the women, that is a different list: Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen, and the actresses around her.
Match the year 1989 before you copy a name from another Vacation film. Treat Chase as Clark, not as a host of the feast. If a name belongs to the 1983 trip, leave it off this Christmas page. The actors in Christmas Vacation are not a choir of wise men. They are a stack of plans, cigars, and extension cords that will not share one fuse.
A holiday cast list is still a cast list. Put the film on in December if you want the joke. Write 25 December if you want the date. Do not ask John Randolph for the day of the week.
Questions and answers
- Who is the lead actor?
- Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold in the 1989 film.
- Who plays Cousin Eddie?
- Randy Quaid. He also played Eddie in earlier Vacation films.
- Is Johnny Galecki in the first Vacation?
- No. He is Rusty in the 1989 Christmas film. Earlier films used other actors for that son.
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