Dennis Quaid: From the Big Screen to Television

Celebrity Q&A, Featured Article
on September 17, 2012
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I am so happy to see Dennis Quaid on TV now that he is starring in “Vegas.” Why the switch from movies?
Lucy Harding, Tampa, Fla.
 
“Vegas” isn’t the first time that Quaid, 58, has appeared on TV. He starred in the TV movies “The Special Relationship,” “Dinner With Friends” and “Everything That Rises,” to name a few, but the last time that Quaid did episodic television was back in the ‘70s when he guest starred on “Baretta.” 
 
So here is what he has to say of his reason for taking a role in a series at this point in his career: “I came in because a lot of exciting things are happening on television now. A lot of the best writers have come to television. I think they feel like they have more control and the storylines get continued. ‘Vegas’ just seemed really authentic and a chance to play a character and let him unfold over a long period of time.” 
 
“Vegas,” loosely based on the real life of Sheriff Ralph Lamb, also known as the “Cowboy Sheriff,” 85, who headed law enforcement in Clark County, Nev., for 20 years, is set in the 1960s. “I love the era, and then being able to play a real-life character… I really like playing real-life characters,” the Houston, Texas-born Quaid says. “It saves on the research for a role as far as coming up with the character because [Ralph is] already there.”