Chevy Chase was born William H. Stevenson in New York City on April 1, 1950. Chase's parents were from the upper middle classes. His father, Robert Lee Stevenson, was a doctor, and his mother, Margaret Rose (née Nelson), was a homemaker
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They owned a small radio and appliance store that sold to the wealthy elite of New York City. Although Chase did well in school, he did not excel academically. He went to school with Barron Hilton and Ron Jeremy and performed in the off-Broadway play "The Threepenny Opera".
At age fourteen he began performing at The Improv with his comedy partner Dana Carvey. It was there that he met his future wife Geise Krell who was an actress. In 1971 he joined Saturday Night Live as a writer and performer, but left after only three months, frustrated by his lack of creative control over sketches and scripts that were being written by others.
In 1972 he teamed up with Dana Carvey for their second short-lived show, Chappelle's Show which led to them being hired for "Saturday Night Live" in 1975 where they remained until Chase left in 1981. He has appeared in a number of movies both comedic and dramatic including Teen Wolf Too, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Wayne's World 2, The Blues Brothers (with John Belushi) and Beverly Hills Cop II (which also starred John Candy). He is one of the most popular comedians of all time and has won an Emmy Award (for writing The Jamie Kennedy Experiment), two Grammy Awards (for Best Spoken Word Album for The Medicine Show: On the Road to Wellville and Best Comedy Album for You're Welcome), four American Comedy Awards (for Best Male TV Personality; Best Talk Show; Best Writing; and Favorite Male TV Personality), and has an asteroid named after him (1866 Chase).