Age: 72
male
Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor. He became known during the 1980s after appearing in several successful films, including as Mike Brody in Jaws 3-D (1983), Alex Gardner in Dreamscape (1984), Remy McSwain in The Big Easy (1987), Tuck Pendleton in Innerspace (1987), Jefferson "Jeff" Blue in Undercover Blues (1993), Bowen in Dragonheart (1996), Joe Doe/William in Gang Related (1997), Frank Towns in Flight of the Phoenix (2004), Jack Hall in The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and Reverend Shaw Moore in Footloose (2011).
Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman) crafted The Running Man early in his career, though after such mega-hits as Carrie and The Shining. A bit of a departure from the supernatural horror that is most frequently associated with his work, the novel describes a science fiction dystopia where market capitalism and television game shows have spiraled out of control, and the separation between the haves and the have-nots has been formalized with separate currencies. King establishes characters quickly, creating sympathy in the first few pages for Ben Richards--whose 18-month-old baby girl is suffering from a horrible cough, perhaps pneumonia. Not able to afford medicine, Richards enters himself in the last-chance money-making scheme of the Free-Vee games. The games include Treadmill to Bucks, in which heart-attack prone contestants struggle to outlast a progressively demanding treadmill, or the accurately named Swim the Crocodiles. After a rigorous battery of physical and mental examinations, Richards is assigned "Elevator Six"--the path of a chosen few--that leads to The Running Man game. In this game, the stakes and the prizes are raised. Success means a life of luxury. Failure means death. Unfortunately, few ever win the game; in fact, as the producer tells Richards, in six years no one has survived.
