Grand Lee Bush (born December 24, 1955) is an American actor of stage, television and major motion pictures.
Bush was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Essie and Robert Bush, who was an actor. Shakespearean-trained, Bush studied film and theatre at the Los Angeles Theatre Academy, University of Southern California and the Strasberg Academy in Hollywood. He continued his education by performing at the historic Globe Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and the annual Shakespeare Festival in Garden Grove, California.
Bush has been married to former television personality Sharon Crews since 1994. In 1994, Bush was recognized by the City of Los Angeles for his courage after he heroically saved the life of a shooting victim; he and the man he rescued are now close friends.
In 1983, Bush won a nomination for a Canadian Genie Award in the category of "Best Performance by a Foreign Actor" for his role in the feature film, Hard Feelings. Bush's introduction to cinema began five years earlier in 1977, when he landed a recurring role on the CBS sitcom Good Times. Bush later acted in other television episodics and miniseries, including Roots, before joining the cast of the rock musical Hair in 1979, in which he performed a solo.
Bush also performed in other musical dramas, including the TV series Fame and the feature film Streets of Fire. Bush's most notable contributions to cinema were his performances in such box-office blockbusters as Lethal Weapon (starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover), Hollywood Shuffle, Die Hard (starring Bruce Willis) and Colors (starring Sean Penn and Robert Duvall).
Colors, an American cult classic, sparked a long-term friendship between Bush and director Dennis Hopper. To date, Hopper has directed Bush in a total of three feature films, including Chasers and Catchfire. When Bush was cast in the 1989 feature film Licence to Kill, starring Timothy Dalton, his character Hawkins became one of James Bond's most notable film allies. The world premiere of the sixteenth "007" film was held in London, England, where the starring cast greeted His Royal Highness Prince Charles and Her Royal Highness Princess Diana.
By 1990, Bush had become a veteran of stage, television and motion pictures. He was hand-picked by William Peter Blatty to perform opposite George C. Scott, who portrayed a lieutenant in the horror film The Exorcist III, written and directed by Blatty; Bush played his sergeant.
Bush has acted opposite Sylvester Stallone in Demolition Man. Bush also played actor Todd Bridges' father in Building Bridges, an autobiographical short film about the rise and fall of the child star of Diff'rent Strokes.
In 1994, Bush was cast in the role of "Balrog" in the action/comedy Street Fighter, directed by Steven E. de Souza. The ensemble cast also included Jean-Claude Van Damme, Kylie Minogue, Ming Na and Raúl Juliá. To prepare for his role, Bush trained with kickboxing champion Benny Urquidez in Bangkok, Thailand, and Brisbane, Australia.
Writer/producer Dean Devlin and Bush worked together on two television series (Hard Copy on CBS in 1987 and The Visitor on FOX in 1997). Bush and actor Robert Davi co-starred in two films together (Die Hard and Licence to Kill). Bush has worked on two of Steven E. de Souza's films (Die Hard and Street Fighter). Dennis Hopper has directed Bush in three films (Colors, Chasers and Catchfire).
Bush has guest-starred in a total of five projects on which Nicholas is credited as either a writer, producer or director (The Renegades 1983, The Incredible Hulk, Airwolf, Renegade, and Walker, Texas Ranger). Bush played two separate characters on Walker, Texas Ranger, a CBS television series that starred Chuck Norris.
Bush and actor Clarence Gilyard not only celebrate identical birthdays (December 24, 1955), they also played brothers on Walker, Texas Ranger and co-starred in the film Die Hard. The Walker, Texas Ranger episode titled Brothers in Arms was written specifically for Bush by his closest friend, Nicholas Corea, while Corea lay on his death bed. Corea's eternal gift to Bush aired after the writer/producer/director departed his life. Bush viewed the episode privately with Corea's widow.
In 1991, Bush and his wife, Sharon Dahlonega, met for the first time on the set of Freejack, a sci-fi that also co-starred Emilio Estevez, Rene Russo and Mick Jagger; she was on assignment for BET to interview Bush, et al, during the Atlanta, Georgia, location filming.
