“Caddyshack” cast: See what’s become of the slobs, snobs, and Cinderella boys 45 years later

It may turn 45 this month, but Caddyshack still thrums with the youthful, subversive energy that made it a hole-in-one upon its 1980 release in theaters.

Caddyshack was the directorial debut of influential filmmaker (and occasional actor) Harold Ramis, who would go on to star in 1984’s Ghostbusters and direct enduring comedies like National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) and Groundhog Day (1993).

The snobs-vs-slobs classic centers on the hoity-toity Bushwood country club, with young caddy Danny Noonan (Michael O’Keefe) attempting to climb the social ladder with the help of Bushwood founder Elihu Smails (Ted Knight) and “nouveau riche” members like bored businessman Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) and gonzo real estate titan Al Czervik (Rodney Dangerfield).

When honoring the life and career of Ramis, who died in 2014, Entertainment Weekly praised the sports comedy for “[trashing] the world of respectability… as brilliantly as the Marx Brothers’ comedies or Woody Allen’s early, funny films.”

We’ll take any opportunity to revisit this film, so, in honor of its 45th anniversary, let’s cue up some Kenny Loggins and see where the Caddyshack cast is now.

Chevy Chase as Ty Webb

Chevy Chase was on the rise when he starred as Bushwood co-founder Ty Webb, the dry, would-be mentor to O’Keefe’s Danny.

Speaking with EW in 2004, Chase took a moment to praise the performance of his Caddyshack costar Bill Murray, which is notable considering the pair had previously gotten into a fistfight backstage at SNL.

”With Billy, I felt nervous, because they say what makes him a great comedian is the danger in his comedy. You’re never sure what he’ll do,” Chase said. “[Now] when I think of Caddyshack, I think of Billy. Incredible performance. Ty is just me with a tux on, being arrogant the way I was.”

After generating fame on Saturday Night Live (1975–1976), Chase starred in the box office hit Foul Play (1978), which soon gave way to Caddyshack. The actor and comedian, known for his singular brand of straight-faced slapstick, remained a theatrical draw throughout the 1980s and 1990s. He’s likely best known for playing hapless patriarch Clark Griswold in four National Lampoon’s Vacation films (five if you count 2015’s Vacation).

In 2009, Chase found success on the small screen with a supporting turn as Pierce Hawthorne on NBC’s Community (2009–2014). Though he appeared in more than 80 episodes of the sitcom, he famously clashed with his costars and the show’s creative team. It’s alleged in a 2018 New Yorker profile of Community star Donald Glover that Chase repeatedly made racist jokes on set and would try to “disrupt” Glover’s scenes during filming.

“I am saddened to hear that Donald perceived me in that light,” Chase said in response.

Speaking to his departure following Community‘s fourth season, Chase told Marc Maron in 2023 that “the show wasn’t funny enough for me, ultimately,” adding, “I felt a little bit constrained a bit. Everyone had their bits and stuff, I thought they were all good, but it just wasn’t hard-hitting enough for me.”

In 2024, Cory Michael Smith played Chase in Saturday Night, a comedy about the making of the sketch show’s premiere episode. After watching it for the first time, Chase reportedly told director Jason Reitman, “Well, you should be embarrassed.”

Rodney Dangerfield as Al Czervik

The great Rodney Dangerfield was a successful comedian throughout the 1960s and 1970s. But his profile skyrocketed thanks to his sublime turn as the loud-mouthed Al Czervik, a real estate developer who runs afoul of Knight’s square Smails. “Hey baby, you must’ve been something before electricity,” he memorably cracks to the judge’s wife.

Cindy Morgan, who played bombshell Lacey Underall, recalled to Sports Illustrated in 2010 that, funny as Dangerfield was, the comic was nervous about his performance. “I remember having lunch with Rodney one day and he’s tugging on his collar just like he does in his act, going, ‘Am I O.K.? It’s my first movie.’ It’s amazing how someone that funny could be insecure.”

Dangerfield went on to lead several comedies, including Easy Money (1983), Back to School (1986), and Ladybugs (1992), along with a deeply scary, dramatic turn in Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers (1994). He won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for his 1980 release No Respect, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002.

He also proved instrumental to many younger comedians, as both an influence and an advocate. Dangerfield, for example, often worked with a young Jim Carrey. “He was always there for me, always supported me, even when I was experimenting and didn’t know what the hell I was doing,” Carrey said on a 2020 episode of the Howard Stern Show. “He sat in the wings with his balls hanging out of his, you know, frigging robe on the side of the stage just howling with laughter, and I’d get off and he’d say, ‘Man, they’re looking at you like you’re from another f—ing planet.’”

In 2004, Dangerfield died at age 82 from complications after heart valve replacement surgery.

Michael O’Keefe as Danny Noonan

Michael O’Keefe plays Danny Noonan, the caddy who tries to worm his way into the country club’s inner sanctum. According to O’Keefe, Danny was even more central to the story in early drafts of the script, but his role was diminished to shine a larger spotlight on the supporting ensemble.

Not that O’Keefe is complaining. In a 2024 interview with Cracked, he discussed how Chase, Dangerfield, Knight, and Murray deserved the extra attention. “None of those characters had the place in the [script] that they have in the final version,” he said. “But very quickly, within a week, it was so clear that Rodney was going to hit home runs every time he opened his mouth, and that Ted was absolutely insane in the right way in the role, and that Chevy was going to bring a lot to the table. And then once Bill came, he started doing his thing. That’s when they realized we’ve got to abandon this ‘Danny Noonan grows up and learns his lesson’ [plot].”

O’Keefe was already an Academy Award nominee for his work in 1979’s The Great Santini when he appeared in Caddyshack. The actor went on to lead films like Split Image (1982) and The Slugger’s Wife (1985).

Though he failed to become a box office draw, O’Keefe established himself as a reliable supporting player in movies (Ghosts of Mississippi, Michael Clayton) and TV (Roseanne, Homeland) over the last 40 years. Most recently, he appeared opposite Jon Hamm on Apple TV+’s Your Friends and Neighbors (2025).

The actor got serious about writing poetry in later years and received an MFA in writing from Bennington in his 50s. He’s also deeply spiritual, having been ordained as a Zen priest in 1994, though he later renounced his vows. Now, as detailed in his chat with Cracked, O’Keefe studies in a sect “that combines Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism.”

Ted Knight as Elihu Smails

We’re big fans of Ted Knight’s boisterous, bug-eyed performance as Elihu Smails, with EW’s own Dalton Ross routinely summoning it in articles.

Knight, beloved for his turn as Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977), was nearing the end of his career when he appeared in Caddyshack, which turned out to be his final film role.

He chased Caddyshack with numerous appearances on The Love Boat (1980–1983), as well as a starring role on the ABC sitcom Too Close For Comfort (1980–1986), which was renamed The Ted Knight Show after a 1986 retooling.

Knight died that same year at age 62 due to “complications from the surgical removal of a cancerous growth from his urinary tract,” per the New York Times. The year before his death, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Cindy Morgan as Lacey Underall

Cindy Morgan beguiled caddies (and audiences) as Caddyshack‘s Lacey Underall, the promiscuous niece of Judge Smails.

A former weather forecaster, Morgan found success as a model after moving to Los Angeles. Caddyshack was her film debut, and she followed it with a leading role in the sci-fi favorite Tron (1982).

“I was nervous when I went in to read for Lacey Underall, but I told myself, I just need to focus on one thing — whoever I’m reading with, I have to make him sweat,” Morgan told Sports Illustrated in 2010. “I read with [co-writer and producer] Doug Kenney, and when I saw a little trickle of sweat come down the side of his face, I knew I got the job.”

Throughout the 1980s, she appeared on several popular series, including CHiPs (1981), The Fall Guy (1986), and Matlock (1988–1989), and enjoyed a memorable arc as Gabrielle Short on the CBS soap Falcon Crest (1987–1988).

Morgan mostly stepped back from acting by the end of the 1990s. But she used her Caddyshack notoriety to help organize the Caddyshack Reunion Golf Tournament, raising money for families of National Guard members and reservists called to active duty.

In January 2024, Morgan, who was living in Lake Worth Beach, Fla., died of natural causes at age 69.

Bill Murray as Carl Spackler

Bill Murray was wrapping up his Emmy-winning stint on Saturday Night Live (1977–1980), and fresh off a leading role in the screwball camp comedy Meatballs (1979), when he stole scenes in Caddyshack as twisted groundskeeper Carl Spackler, who’s tasked with disposing of a gopher that’s tearing up the greens.

“There were no scripted lines for Bill in the whole movie,” Ramis told Sports Illustrated in 2010. “Everything we shot with him, he would just riff. That’s how he worked.”

“My part just kept growing like a mushroom,” Murray added. “I’d go back to New York and work on SNL, and they’d call me up and ask if I wanted to come back down and do some more. I was good back in those days. Improvising about golf was easy for me.”

Murray has achieved a fascinating career in the decades since Caddyshack, leading a slew of hit comedies — Ghostbusters (1984), What About Bob? (1991), Groundhog Day (1993) — before gaining traction as a dramatic actor with an affecting turn in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore (1998).

He went on to appear in nine more Anderson films — with leading roles in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) and Moonrise Kingdom (2012) — and also starred in works from Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers, The Dead Don’t Die) and Sofia Coppola (On the Rocks). For his vulnerable performance as an actor whose career is in decline in Coppola’s Lost in Translation, Murray was nominated for an Academy Award.

In 2001, Murray and several of his brothers, including Caddyshack co-writer Brian Doyle-Murray, opened up Murray Bros. Caddyshack Bar & Grill in St. Augustine, Fla. They opened a second location in the Chicago suburbs in 2018.

Scott Colomby as Tony D’Annunzio

Scott Colomby costarred in Caddyshack as the slick, sleeveless Tony D’Annunzio, Danny’s fellow caddy (and occasional nemesis).

Colomby was already a seasoned performer before Caddyshack, having appeared on episodes of Baretta (1976), Charlie’s Angels (1977), and One Day at a Time (1977–1978).

Following his memorable turn in Caddyshack, Colomby played Brian Schwartz in Bob Clark’s hit sex comedy Porky’s (1981), as well as its 1983 and 1985 sequels. He would later appear in films like Timemaster (1985) and Desperate Measures (1998), as well as episodes of The A-Team (1986), Dragnet (1991), and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1994), among many others.

Colomby is also a musician and stage actor. In the mid-1990s, he co-founded Big Elvin & the Professor’s Blues Theatre in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Brian Doyle-Murray as Lou Loomis

Brian Doyle-Murray, the older brother of Bill, stars in Caddyshack as the droll Lou Loomis, manager of the caddies. He also co-wrote the film with Ramis and Kenney, while Doyle-Murray and his brothers served as the inspiration for Danny and his large family.

“Doug and Brian Doyle-Murray had started talking about a country club comedy because Brian and his younger brother Bill had been caddies,” Ramis explained to Sports Illustrated.

Doyle-Murray acted alongside Bill in movies like The Razor’s Edge (1984), Scrooged (1988), and Groundhog Day (1993). You may also recognize him (and his gruff voice) from some of the last century’s most enduring comedies, like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989), Wayne’s World (1992), and Waiting for Guffman (1996).

In recent years, Doyle-Murray had a recurring role on the AMC cult hit Lodge 49 (2018–2019) and voiced the Flying Dutchman in multiple SpongeBob projects (2021–2023).

Sarah Holcomb as Maggie O’Hooligan

Sarah Holcomb costarred in Caddyshack as Maggie O’Hooligan, Danny’s Irish girlfriend who’s none too pleased by his dalliance with Lacey.

Caddyshack was the final film featuring Holcomb, who had previously played a memorable role in National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978).

While the exact circumstances of Holcomb’s departure from Hollywood are unclear, it’s been said that she reportedly withdrew from public life due to the hard-partying culture of the industry at the time.

According to Michael A. Smith, the author of Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel, Holcomb declined to speak with him when he attempted to interview her about nearly starring in Jaws 2. He did, however, speak with her brother, who confirmed that, at the height of her acting career, Holcomb had “found herself going down a path she did not want to travel.”

Writing on The Daily Jaws, he continued, “Despite her best efforts, she would invariably end up in situations she did not want to be a part of.”

Dan Resin as Dr. Beeper

The Indiana-born Dan Resin costarred in Caddyshack as Dr. Beeper, the snobby, in-demand doctor who serves as a flunky of sorts for Judge Smails.

Resin was a regular both on and off-Broadway, but he’s remembered by many for being one of several actors to portray the elegant Ty-D-Bol Man in ads for the toilet bowl cleaner.

Prior to Caddyshack, Resin appeared in several films, including two from the brilliant Larry Cohen: God Told Me To (1976) and The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977). He later worked with Brian De Palma on Wise Guys (1986) and Tony Randall on the mockumentary That’s Adequate (1990).

Resin died in July 2010 at age 79 of complications from Parkinson’s disease. Per his obituary, he spent most of his life in Secaucus, N.J., “where he was a communicant and Eucharistic Minister at Immaculate Conception Church.”

Henry Wilcoxon as Bishop Fred Pickering

Henry Wilcoxon enjoyed a long, fruitful career in show business prior to joining Caddyshack as Bishop Fred Pickering. In one of the film’s most surprising sequences, his character golfs the best game of his life during a terrifying storm, misses a putt, curses God, and gets struck by lightning. “Rat farts,” indeed.

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Wilcoxon worked closely with famed director Cecil B. DeMille. He starred in and produced many of DeMille’s films, including The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) and The Ten Commandments (1956). He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

He only appeared in one film after Caddyshack, the slasher Sweet Sixteen (1983). He also guested on a handful of TV series, including a 1983 episode of Pvt. Benjamin.

Wilcoxon died in March 1984 at age 78 after a struggle with cancer, per the New York Times.

Where can I watch Caddyshack?

Caddyshack is available for rental or purchase via Amazon Prime Video or Apple.

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