65
GARY BUSEY
HAS MORE LIFE
LEFT IN HIM
TWO DECADES AFTER A CRASH THAT ‘TURNED HIS PERSONALITY
UP TO 11,’ THE OSCAR NOMINEE AND ICON OF UNHINGED AGGRESSION
(IN FILM AND ON YOUTUBE) HAS BECOME A FOULMOUTHED MALIBU
MYSTIC ABOUT TO PLAY GOD ONSTAGE: ‘THERE IS NO DEATH’
BY SETH ABRAMOVITCH • PHOTOGRAPHY BY ADAM AMENGUALI
n a townhouse in a
gated community in
Malibu, Gary Busey,
75, is posing behind
his cluttered desk for
a photographer. The process is
not as simple as it sounds. Once
considered one of Hollywood’s
most promising leading men after
his Oscar nomination for 1978’s
The Buddy Holly Story, Busey suf-
fered a major head injury in a 1988
motorcycle accident, resulting
in an inability to censor himself.
“The post-accident version of him
turned his personality up to 11,”
Jake Busey, Gary’s 48-year-old son
and an accomplished actor in his
own right (he had a recurring role
on Stranger Things’ third season),
later explains. “I feel like I lost my
dad on December 4, 1988.”
How Busey’s injury manifests
itself can be amusing, or insult-
ing, or downright disturbing.
During the shoot, he asks a slen-
der male photo assistant, “Did you
used to be a woman? You came out
great.” Later, he turns to a female
hairstylist and says, “If you’re
not having fun, I have something
for you to have fun: I’ll tick le you
till you pee.” At one point, when
I interject that I find something
he says interesting, he snaps,
“You’ve interrupted me, so I won’t
continue.” (He later apologizes.)
Whenever he’s pleased with some-
thing he’s said, which is often, he
punctuates it with a high-pitched,
“Yeah!” His pet parakeet, Greenie,
mimics the sound from its cage,