Richard John "Dick" Cusack (August 29, 1925 – June 2, 2003) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 and filmmaker.

Life

Cusack was born in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 to Irish-American Catholic

Irish Catholic

Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...

 parents. He served with the U.S. Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 in the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. After the war Cusack attended College of the Holy Cross

College of the Holy Cross

The College of the Holy Cross is an undergraduate Roman Catholic liberal arts college located in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA...

 in Worcester, Massachusetts

Worcester, Massachusetts

Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....

, and played on the school's 1947 championship basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 team.

Cusack and his wife Nancy had five children: Ann Cusack

Ann Cusack

-Early life:Cusack was born in Brooklyn, New York, the sister of actors Joan, Bill, John and Susie. Her mother, Nancy, is a former mathematics teacher and political activist. Her father, Dick Cusack, was an actor, producer, and writer...

, Bill Cusack

Bill Cusack

William "Bill" Cusack is an American actor.Cusack was born in Evanston, Illinois, to an Irish American Catholic family. His father, Dick Cusack , as well as his siblings Ann, Joan, John, and Susie have also been actors. Cusack's mother, Nancy, is a former mathematics teacher and political...

, Susie Cusack

Susie Cusack

Susie Cusack is an American actress. She is the daughter of Dick Cusack and sister of Ann, Joan, Bill, and John.-External links:...

, Joan Cusack

Joan Cusack

Joan Mary Cusack is an American film, stage and television actress. Throughout her career, Cusack has appeared in many films as well as appearing in stage productions....

, and John Cusack

John Cusack

John Paul Cusack is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand by Me, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, The Ice Harvest,...

 all followed him into the acting profession.

He was a friend and college room-mate of peace activist Philip Berrigan

Philip Berrigan

Philip Francis Berrigan was an internationally renowned American peace activist, Christian anarchist and former Roman Catholic priest...

.

Dick Cusack died on June 2, 2003 in Evanston, Illinois

Evanston, Illinois

Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...

 from pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...

.

Career

Until 1970 Cusack worked as a Clio Award

Clio Awards

The Clio Awards are annual awards bestowed to reward innovation and creative excellence in advertising, design and communication. The categories include work in nearly all types of media, and the judges are advertising professionals from around the world....

 winning advertising executive.

He then pursused a career as a film actor, beginning with minor roles. Most of his acting roles were playing authority figures, such as a United States Senate Chairman, minister/chaplain, and U.S. Secretary of State; he played a judge in the TV movie Overexposed, and in theatrical releases Things Change and Eight Men Out

Eight Men Out

Eight Men Out is an American dramatic sports film, released in 1988 and based on Eliot Asinof 1963 book 8 Men Out. It was written and directed by John Sayles....

.

Cusack was a documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 filmmaker; his 1971 abortion documentary The Committee won an Emmy Award

Emmy Award

An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

. He also owned a film production company

He was honored with an award from the Evanston Arts Council for preserving a school and converting it into the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, which houses the Piven Theatre Workshop

Piven Theatre Workshop

The Piven Theatre Workshop is located in Evanston, IL and was founded by Joyce and Byrne Piven. For over 30 years, it has existed both as a professional theatre company and a training center for children and adults...

 where his famous acting children trained. Two weeks prior to his passing, he completed the final draft of a play to memorialize his former college roommate entitled, Backoff Barkman, which was produced posthumously in the Midwest.

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Return to Me Return to Me Return to Me is a romantic movie rated PG. Return to Me was directed by Bonnie Hunt and starred David Duchovny as Bob and Minnie Driver as Grace...	Mr. Bennington
	High Fidelity High Fidelity (film) High Fidelity is a 2000 American comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Cusack and the Danish actress Iben Hjejle. The film is based on the 1995 British novel of the same name by Nick Hornby, with the setting moved from London to Chicago and the name of the lead character...	Minister
1999	The Jack Bull The Jack Bull The Jack Bull is a made for television western, produced for HBO, and directed by John Badham. The film is loosely based on Michael Kohlhaas, a novel by Heinrich von Kleist, with the script by Dick Cusack...	Jury Foreman	Television
1996	Chain Reaction Chain Reaction (film) Chain Reaction is a 1996 American film starring Keanu Reeves, Morgan Freeman, Rachel Weisz, Brian Cox, Kevin Dunn and Fred Ward. It presents a fictional account of the invention of bubble fusion using sonoluminescence and the attempts by the United States Government to prevent the spreading of this...	Senate Chairman
	Evil Has a Face	Lester	Television
1995	While You Were Sleeping While You Were Sleeping While You Were Sleeping is a 1995 romantic comedy film directed by Jon Turteltaub and written by Daniel G. Sullivan and Frederic Lebow. It stars Sandra Bullock as Lucy, a Chicago Transit Authority token collector and Bill Pullman as Jack, the brother of a man whose life she saves, along with Peter...	Doctor Rubin
1993	The Fugitive The Fugitive (1993 film) The Fugitive is a 1993 American thriller film based on the television series of the same name. The film was directed by Andrew Davis and stars Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones. The film was one of the few movies associated with a television series to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best...	Attorney Walter Gutherie
1992	Overexposed	Judge	Television
1990	Crazy People Crazy People Crazy People is a 1990 comedy film starring Dudley Moore and Daryl Hannah, and directed by Tony Bill.-Plot:Emory Leeson is an advertising executive who experiences a nervous breakdown. He designs a series of "truthful" advertisements, blunt and bawdy and of no use to his boss Drucker's firm.One of...	Mort
1989	The Package	Secretary of State
1988	Things Change	Judge
	Eight Men Out Eight Men Out Eight Men Out is an American dramatic sports film, released in 1988 and based on Eliot Asinof 1963 book 8 Men Out. It was written and directed by John Sayles....	Judge Friend
1984	The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck	Unknown	Television
1983	Class Class (film) Class is a 1983 American movie that was directed by Lewis John Carlino, the writer/director of the 1979 film The Great Santini. It features the film debuts of actors Andrew McCarthy, John Cusack, Virginia Madsen, Lolita Davidovich, and Alan Ruck....	Chaplain Baker
1980	My Bodyguard My Bodyguard My Bodyguard is a 1980 comedy-drama film released by 20th Century Fox, directed by Tony Bill , and written by Alan Ormsby...	Principal Roth

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Early Edition Early Edition Early Edition is an American television series that aired on CBS from September 28, 1996 to May 27, 2000. Set in the city of Chicago, Illinois, it follows the adventures of a man who mysteriously receives each Chicago Sun-Times newspaper the day before it is actually published, and who uses this...	Elderly Man	"The Wall: Part 2" (1 episode)
1994	Missing Persons Missing Persons (TV series) Missing Persons is an American television show set in Chicago. The show is about a fictitious missing persons unit. Each episode usually following the investigation into three or more cases....	Champion	"If You Could Pick Your Own Parents..." (1 episode)
1987	Sable Sable (TV series) Sable was a short-lived television program that aired on ABC during the 1987-1988 season, and was based on the comic book, Jon Sable: Freelance, by Mike Grell. Only seven episodes ever aired....	Mahoney	"Watchdogs" (1 episode)

Awards

Year	Award	Result	Recipient(s)
2000	Commitment to Chicago Award Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2000 The 13th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, given on 26 February 2001, honored the finest achievements in 2000 filmmaking.-Winners:*Best Actor:**Tom Hanks - Cast Away*Best Actress:**Ellen Burstyn - Requiem for a Dream*Best Cinematography:...	Won	Shared with: Nancy Cusack Ann Cusack Ann Cusack -Early life:Cusack was born in Brooklyn, New York, the sister of actors Joan, Bill, John and Susie. Her mother, Nancy, is a former mathematics teacher and political activist. Her father, Dick Cusack, was an actor, producer, and writer... Bill Cusack Bill Cusack William "Bill" Cusack is an American actor.Cusack was born in Evanston, Illinois, to an Irish American Catholic family. His father, Dick Cusack , as well as his siblings Ann, Joan, John, and Susie have also been actors. Cusack's mother, Nancy, is a former mathematics teacher and political... Joan Cusack Joan Cusack Joan Mary Cusack is an American film, stage and television actress. Throughout her career, Cusack has appeared in many films as well as appearing in stage productions.... John Cusack John Cusack John Paul Cusack is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand by Me, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, The Ice Harvest,... Susie Cusack Susie Cusack Susie Cusack is an American actress. She is the daughter of Dick Cusack and sister of Ann, Joan, Bill, and John.-External links:...

External links