Editing Gary Busey (section)

===Rise to prominence===
[[File:Gary Busey (1976).jpg|thumb|right|200px|Busey at the premiere of ''[[A Star Is Born (1976 film)|A Star Is Born]]'' in 1976]]
In 1974, Busey played Truckie Wheeler in the ABC television comedy ''[[The Texas Wheelers]]''.<ref>Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows 1946 – Present'', Ballantine Books, 1979, page 619.</ref> During that same year he made his major film debut with a supporting role in [[Michael Cimino]]'s buddy action caper ''[[Thunderbolt and Lightfoot]]'', starring [[Clint Eastwood]] and [[Jeff Bridges]].

In 1976, he was hired by [[Barbra Streisand]] and her producer-boyfriend [[Jon Peters]] to play Bobby Ritchie, road manager to [[Kris Kristofferson]]'s character in the remake film ''[[A Star Is Born (1976 film)|A Star is Born]]''. On the DVD commentary of the film, Streisand says Busey was great and that she had seen him on a TV series and thought he had the right qualities to play the role.

In 1978, he starred as rock legend [[Buddy Holly]] in ''[[The Buddy Holly Story]]'' with Sartain as [[The Big Bopper]]. For his performance, Busey received the greatest critical acclaim of his career and the movie earned an [[Academy Award]] nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]] and the [[National Society of Film Critics]]' [[National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor|Best Actor award]] for him. In the same year he also starred in the small yet acclaimed drama ''[[Straight Time]]'' and the surfing movie ''[[Big Wednesday]]'', which is now a minor [[Cult film|cult classic]].