Once Chevy Chase broke ranks with "Saturday Night Live's" "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" and began making movies, the show's stars--and often the "SNL" sensibility--infused Hollywood comedies from the late '70s to today. Here's a look at the movies made by the original cast members and the years they were on the show--plus the films of early replacement Bill Murra y.
* Chevy Chase (1975-76)--Chase was the first "Not Ready for Prime Time Player" to leave "SNL" and head for Hollywood. He scored a big hit starring opposite Goldie Hawn in his first post-"SNL" film, 1978's "Foul Play," and found box-office success as the bumbling patriarch Clark Griswold in the "National Lampoon Vacation" comedy series and as investigative reporter I.M. Fletcher in two "Fletch" films. Chase also has had his share of clunkers over the past 14 years, including "Modern Problems," "Under the Rainbow" and "Oh, Heavenly Dog!," in which he played a murdered private detective who returns to Earth as Benji the pooch.
"Tunnelvision" (1976); "Foul Play" (1978); "Caddyshack" (1980); "Seems Like Old Times" (1980); "Oh, Heavenly Dog!" (1980); "Modern Problems" (1981); "Under the Rainbow" (1981); "Deal of the Century" (1983); "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983); "Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird" (1985); "Fletch" (1985); "National Lampoon's European Vacation" (1985); "Spies Like Us" (1985); "Three Amigos!" (1986); "Funny Farm" (1988, also producer); "Caddyshack II" (1988); "The Couch Trip" (1988); "Fletch Lives" (1989); "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (1989);"Nothing but Trouble" (1991); "L.A. Story" (1991); "Memoirs of an Invisible Man" (1992).
* Dan Aykroyd (1975-79)--Aykroyd has been working in movies nonstop since he left "SNL" in 1979. Several movies, including "Trading Places" and the two "Ghostbusters" comedies, were huge hits, but "My Stepmother Is an Alien," "The Great Outdoors" and "Nothing but Trouble," which he also wrote and directed, were critical and commercial flops. He shed his comedic personae and received a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for 1989's "Driving Miss Daisy," in which he played Daisy's ambitious son.
"Love at First Sight" (1977); "1941" (1979); "The Blues Brothers" (1980); "Neighbors" (1981); "It Came From Hollywood" (1982); "Trading Places" (1983); "Twilight Zone--The Movie" (1983); "Doctor Detroit" (1983); "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984); "Ghostbusters" (1984, also screenplay); "Nothing Lasts Forever" (1984); "Into the Night" (1985); "Spies Like Us" (1985, also screenplay); "One More Saturday Night" (1986, executive producer only); "Dragnet" (1987, also screenplay); "The Great Outdoors" (1988); "The Couch Trip" (1988); "My Stepmother Is an Alien" (1988); "Ghostbusters II" (1989, also screenplay); "Driving Miss Daisy"(1989); "Loose Cannons" (1990); "Nothing but Trouble" (1991, also wrote screenplay and directed);"Masters of Menace" (1991); "My Girl" (1991); "This Is My Life" (1992); "Charlie" (1992).
* John Belushi (1975-79)--Belushi was still on "SNL" when he starred as the ultimate slob Bluto in 1978's blockbuster comedy "National Lampoon's Animal House." And as "The Blues Brothers," Belushi and Aykroyd recorded two best-selling albums and starred in the 1980 film "The Blues Brothers." Belushi did try his hand at a character role ("Neighbors") and a romantic comedy ("Continental Divide") before his death in 1982.
"National Lampoon's Animal House" (1978); "Goin' South" (1978); "Old Boyfriends" (1979); "1941" (1979); "The Blues Brothers" (1980); "Continental Divide" (1981); "Neighbors" (1981).
* Jane Curtin (1975-80)--Though Curtin has only made two feature films since her days on "SNL," she has become one of TV's top comedic actresses thanks to her Emmy Award-winning performance as divorced mom Allie Lowell on the long-running CBS sitcom "Kate & Allie." Curtin did diverge from her comedic image in two television films. She received excellent reviews starring opposite Tom Selleck in the 1982 drama "Divorce Wars: A Love Story," but fared less successfully in "American Playhouse's" 1988 remake of the Alfred Hitchcock thriller "Suspicion."
"How to Beat the High Cost of Living" (1980); "O.C. and Stiggs" (1987).
* Garrett Morris (1975-80)--Morris has had a sporadic film career, but frequently appears in TV movies and series and is currently a regular on Fox's comedy series, "Roc."
"Car Wash" (1976); "How to Beat the High Cost of Living" (1980); "The Census Taker" (1984); "The Stuff" (1985); "Critical Condition" (1987); "The Underachievers" (1987); "Dance to Win" (1989); "Husbands, Wives, Money and Murder" (1989); "Blackbird Fly" (1990).
* Laraine Newman (1975-80)--Newman's appeared in supporting roles in a few films and has guest-starred on TV specials and movies.
