Who Is Dick Cusack?
Dick Cusack, whose full name was Richard John “Dick” Cusack, was an American actor, filmmaker, writer, and producer. He was born on August 29, 1925, in New York City and became known for his work in independent films, documentaries, and television. Although he appeared in numerous acting roles, he is perhaps best remembered as the patriarch of the talented Cusack family.
Dick Cusack was the father of actors John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Ann Cusack, Bill Cusack, and Susie Cusack. He encouraged creativity and the arts within his family, helping shape one of Hollywood’s most notable acting families.
Before his entertainment career, Cusack served in the U.S. Army and later worked in advertising and filmmaking. He passed away on June 2, 2003, at the age of 77 in Evanston, Illinois. His legacy continues through both his own work and the successful careers of his children.
Introduction: Cusack Acting Dynasty
Richard John “Dick” Cusack lived a life that defied easy categorization. He was a World War II veteran who played college basketball with a future NBA legend. He was a successful advertising executive who walked away from a lucrative career at the age of 45 to pursue his passion for storytelling. He was a documentary filmmaker who won an Emmy for a film about abortion at a time when the topic was deeply controversial. He was a playwright whose final work was completed just weeks before his death. He was an actor who appeared in some of the most memorable films of the 1980s and 1990s, often alongside his own children. And above all, he was the patriarch of the Cusack acting dynasty, father to five performers who would collectively shape American cinema and television for decades.
Born on August 29, 1925, in New York City, and passing away on June 2, 2003, in Evanston, Illinois, Cusack’s 77 years traced the arc of the American century. From the Depression-era streets of Manhattan to the battlefields of the Pacific, from the Mad Men world of 1960s advertising to the independent film renaissance of the 1990s, his story is not merely that of a man who found success in multiple careers. It is the story of a man who refused to accept that it was ever too late to reinvent oneself, who believed that art and conscience mattered more than comfort, and who raised a family that would carry those values into the cultural mainstream.
This biography examines Dick Cusack’s multifaceted life: his Irish Catholic roots, his wartime service, his years in advertising, his dramatic midlife career change, his work as a filmmaker and playwright, his acting career, his marriage to Nancy Carolan, and their life together in Evanston, and the extraordinary family they built. It explores how a man who spent the first half of his life selling products became, in the second half, one of the most influential figures in American acting, not through his own fame, but through the talent and commitment he nurtured in his children.
Dick Cusack Early Life: Irish Roots and Wartime Service
Richard John Cusack was born in Manhattan, New York City, into a family deeply rooted in Irish Catholic tradition. His parents, Margaret McFeeley and Dennis Joseph Cusack, had emigrated from Ireland or were the children of immigrants. All sixteen of Dick Cusack’s great-great-grandparents traced their lineage back to the Emerald Isle. The Cusack name itself had Norman French origins, arriving in Ireland in the 12th century and spreading across the island in the centuries that followed. For the Cusacks who settled in New York, as for millions of Irish Americans, Catholicism was not merely a religion but a way of life, a framework for understanding the world and one’s place within it.
Growing up in Manhattan during the 1930s, young Dick Cusack came of age in a city and a nation grappling with the Great Depression. The economic hardship of the era shaped a generation that would later be defined by its resilience and its willingness to serve when called. For Cusack, that call came with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Like millions of young American men, he enlisted in the armed forces and was deployed to the Pacific Theater of World War II.
Cusack served with the United States Army in the Philippines, a theater of the war that was among the most brutal and challenging. The Pacific campaign involved island-hopping warfare, jungle combat, and conditions that tested the physical and mental limits of those who fought there. The experience of war, of seeing death, of facing one’s own mortality, of witnessing both the worst and the best of human nature, would leave an indelible mark on Cusack. It would inform his later work as a filmmaker and playwright, giving him a sense of urgency about the issues that mattered and a conviction that life was too short to waste on pursuits that did not serve a larger purpose.
The end of the war brought Cusack back to the United States, but it did not bring an end to his service. Like many veterans, he faced the challenge of transitioning from military life to civilian existence, of finding meaning in a peacetime world that could seem trivial after the intensity of combat. For Cusack, the answer lay in education, specifically at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, one of the oldest Catholic colleges in the United States and an institution with a strong tradition of educating Irish Catholic men.
At Holy Cross, Cusack’s life intersected with two figures who would prove significant in different ways. The first was Bob Cousy, the legendary basketball player who would go on to revolutionize the NBA with the Boston Celtics. Cusack played on the Holy Cross basketball team alongside Cousy, competing at a high level of college athletics and developing the discipline and teamwork skills that would serve him throughout his life. The second figure was Philip F. Berrigan, a fellow student who would become one of the most prominent peace activists of the Vietnam War era. Berrigan’s commitment to social justice and nonviolent resistance would influence Cusack’s own political development, planting seeds of activism that would flower in his later years.
Cusack graduated from Holy Cross with a foundation in liberal arts and a network of relationships that would sustain him throughout his life. The college’s emphasis on intellectual rigor, moral reflection, and service to others aligned with his own emerging values. He was not yet an artist, but he was becoming a man who understood that life demanded more than mere survival. It demanded purpose, conviction, and the courage to act on one’s beliefs.
Dick Cusack Advertising Years: Success and Restlessness
Following his graduation from Holy Cross, Dick Cusack entered the world of advertising, a field that, in the 1950s and 1960s, represented the pinnacle of American commercial creativity. The postwar economic boom had created an enormous demand for consumer goods, and the advertising industry was the engine that drove that demand, crafting the images and narratives that persuaded Americans to buy cars, appliances, toothpaste, and countless other products.
Cusack proved to be exceptionally good at this work. He joined McCann-Erickson, one of the largest and most prestigious advertising agencies in the world, and spent seventeen years climbing the ranks of the industry. His writing talent, his understanding of human psychology, and his ability to craft compelling narratives made him a valuable asset in an industry that prized creativity above all else. During his time at McCann-Erickson, Cusack won multiple Clio Awards, the advertising industry’s highest honor, equivalent to the Oscars in film or the Emmys in television. These awards recognized his exceptional work in creating advertising campaigns that were not just effective but genuinely creative, that transcended the hard sell to achieve something approaching art.
Despite his success, or perhaps because of it, Cusack grew increasingly restless in the advertising world. The industry that had once seemed exciting and innovative began to feel hollow. He was, as he would later put it, spending his creative energy convincing people to choose between Colgate and Palmolive, a task that, however lucrative, seemed trivial in a world facing genuine crises. The 1960s were a decade of social upheaval and political awakening, and Cusack found himself drawn to the larger questions that advertising could not address.
In 1966, Cusack made a significant career move within the advertising industry, becoming creative director at Post, Keyes and Gardner. This was a promotion that recognized his talents and offered new challenges, but it did not resolve the fundamental tension between his creative aspirations and the commercial demands of the field. He was successful by every conventional measure, well-paid, respected, and award-winning, but he was not fulfilled.
The turning point came in 1970, when Cusack made a decision that would transform his life and the lives of his family. At the age of 45, with a wife and five children to support, he left the advertising industry entirely. The move was not gradual or cautious; it was a clean break, a leap into the unknown driven by the conviction that there were “bigger issues out there” than the products he had spent nearly two decades promoting. He founded Cusack Productions, a film production company that would allow him to pursue the kind of storytelling that mattered to him: stories about social issues, political questions, and the human condition.
The decision was courageous, even reckless by conventional standards. Cusack was not a young man starting with nothing to lose; he was a middle-aged professional with a family and a mortgage, walking away from financial security to chase a dream. His wife, Nancy, would later recall his words: “Who cares if you brush your teeth with Colgate or Palmolive? There are bigger issues out there.” This was not the voice of a man making a calculated career move; it was the voice of someone who had reached a breaking point, who could no longer reconcile his creative and moral impulses with the demands of commercial work.
The risk was enormous, but so was the reward. In leaving advertising, Cusack found not just a new career but a new identity, one that aligned with his deepest values and allowed him to make the kind of contribution to the world that he had always believed was possible. The man who had spent seventeen years selling products would spend the next thirty-three years making art, raising a family of artists, and proving that it is never too late to become the person you were meant to be.
Dick Cusack’s Marriage to Nancy Carolan and the Move to Evanston
Dick Cusack’s personal life was anchored by his marriage to Ann Paula “Nancy” Carolan, a union that would last for 43 years and produce one of the most remarkable families in American entertainment history. Nancy, born in 1929 and originally from Massachusetts, was a former mathematics teacher and political activist who shared Cusack’s Irish Catholic heritage and his commitment to social justice. The couple married on February 14, 1960, Valentine’s Day, in a ceremony that joined two families with deep roots in the Irish American experience.
The early years of their marriage were spent in New York City, where Cusack was building his advertising career, and Nancy was teaching. The city was their home as they welcomed their first three children: Ann, born in 1961; Joan, born in 1962; and Bill, born in 1964. These were the years of the Kennedy administration, the early civil rights movement, and the cultural ferment that would define the 1960s. The Cusacks were not merely observers of this history; they were participants, engaged with the political and social questions of their time.
Around 1963 to 1966, the Cusack family made a pivotal move from New York City to Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago that would become their permanent home and the crucible in which their children’s talents would be forged. The move was prompted by Cusack’s advertising career; a job opportunity brought him to the Midwest, and the family decided that Chicago was a good place to raise children. As Joan Cusack would later recall, “They were both from the East Coast: Boston and New York City. After they married, my dad’s job brought them to Chicago for a couple of years, which they thought was a pretty good place to raise a family. So they were first-generation Chicagoans.”
Evanston proved to be an inspired choice. The city was home to Northwestern University, a vibrant arts community, and a progressive political culture that aligned with the Cusacks’ values. It was also the home of the Piven Theatre Workshop, founded by Byrne Piven and Joyce Piven, friends of the Cusack family who would play a crucial role in the development of the Cusack children’s acting careers. The workshop, housed in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, a building that Dick Cusack would later help preserve, provided a training ground for young actors that emphasized creativity, improvisation, and the humanizing power of theater.
In Evanston, the Cusack family welcomed two more children: John, born in 1966, and Susie, born in 1971. With five children to raise, Nancy devoted herself full-time to motherhood, creating a home environment that was nurturing, stimulating, and unconventional. The Cusack household was one where creativity was encouraged, where political discussion was commonplace, and where the arts were valued as highly as academic achievement. Dick and Nancy were not typical suburban parents; they were engaged, intellectually curious, and committed to raising children who would think for themselves and pursue their passions.
The Cusack children would later describe their father as “a really funny man, very silly. He loved comedy. We would watch Mel Brooks movies and Monty Python, and he would always find some humor in everything.” This sense of humor, irreverent, intellectual, deeply human, was one of Dick Cusack’s defining characteristics, and it was one that he passed on to his children. But he also passed on something more serious: a sense of moral purpose, a belief that art should serve something larger than entertainment, and a willingness to take risks in pursuit of one’s convictions.
The Cusack marriage was, by all accounts, a strong and supportive partnership. Nancy provided the stability that allowed Dick to take the enormous risk of leaving advertising for filmmaking. Dick, in turn, provided the example of a man who refused to settle for a life of mere comfort. Together, they created a family culture that valued creativity, integrity, and social responsibility, values that would be reflected in the work of all five of their children.
Documentary Filmmaking: The Committee and Social Conscience
Dick Cusack’s transition from advertising executive to filmmaker was not merely a career change; it was a moral and artistic awakening. Where advertising had required him to serve commercial interests, filmmaking allowed him to serve his conscience. And his conscience, shaped by his Catholic upbringing, his wartime service, and his friendship with Philip Berrigan, was deeply engaged with the social and political issues of his time.
The vehicle for this awakening was Cusack Productions, the company he founded in 1970. From the outset, Cusack Productions was not a typical commercial film company. Its focus was on documentary filmmaking, the genre that, more than any other, allows filmmakers to engage directly with reality, to expose injustice, and to give voice to the voiceless. Cusack understood that documentary film had the power to change minds, to mobilize public opinion, and to hold power accountable. This was the “bigger issue” he had been seeking.
Cusack’s breakthrough as a filmmaker came remarkably quickly. In 1971, just one year after founding his production company, he won an Emmy Award for writing the documentary “The Committee.” The film addressed the subject of abortion at a time when the procedure was illegal in most of the United States and deeply stigmatized in American society. Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that would legalize abortion nationwide, was still two years away. “The Committee” was thus not just a documentary but an act of political courage, a willingness to tackle a taboo subject and to present it with the seriousness and nuance it deserved.
The Emmy was a significant recognition, establishing Cusack as a filmmaker of substance and establishing Cusack Productions as a company capable of producing award-winning work. But the award was not the point; the point was the work itself, the opportunity to engage with issues that mattered. Cusack would continue to make documentary films throughout his career, including a series of films for the United Nations that addressed global issues of peace, development, and human rights.
Cusack’s documentary work reflected his belief that film should be a force for social good. He was not interested in art for art’s sake, nor in filmmaking as a path to personal fame or fortune. He was interested in storytelling as a means of understanding the world and, where possible, changing it. This commitment to socially engaged filmmaking was unusual in an era when American cinema was increasingly dominated by commercial considerations, and it set a powerful example for his children, who would bring similar commitments to their own work.
The themes that animated Cusack’s documentaries, justice, peace, and human dignity, were also the themes that animated his life. He was active with the North Suburban Peace Initiative, an organization dedicated to promoting peace and social justice in the Chicago area. He received recognition from the Evanston Arts Council for his work in preserving the Noyes School and converting it into the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, a hub for artistic and cultural activity in the community. These were not vanity projects or charitable gestures; they were expressions of a deeply held belief that art and community were inseparable, that creativity had a responsibility to serve the common good.
Playwright: Words for the Stage
While Dick Cusack is best remembered as an actor and filmmaker, his work as a playwright represents an equally significant dimension of his creative life. Playwriting was, in many ways, the purest expression of his artistic impulses, the opportunity to create entire worlds from imagination, to shape dialogue and character without the constraints of budget or location that filmmaking imposed.
Cusack’s plays included “Punto,” “The Last Word of the Bluebird,” and “The Night They Shot Harry Lindsey,” the last also known by the more elaborate title “The Night They Shot Harry Lindsey With a 150mm Howitzer and Blamed It on the Zebras.” These titles suggest a playwright with a sense of humor, a taste for the absurd, and a willingness to experiment with form and tone. They also suggest a writer who was not afraid to take risks, to venture into territory that was unconventional or even bizarre.
The subject matter of Cusack’s plays reflected his preoccupations as a thinker and citizen. He was drawn to themes of violence, justice, and the absurdity of human conflict, themes that had personal resonance given his wartime experience and his commitment to peace. His plays were not commercial successes in the traditional sense; they were works of personal expression, written because they needed to be written, because they gave form to ideas and emotions that could not be contained in any other way.
The most poignant chapter of Cusack’s playwriting career came in the final weeks of his life. In May 2003, as he was dying of pancreatic cancer, he completed the final draft of a play entitled “Backoff Barkman.” The play was written to memorialize his former college roommate, Philip Berrigan, the peace activist who had died earlier that year. The title was a reference to Berrigan’s activism, the “bark” of protest against the “man” of authority, and the play was a testament to a friendship that had spanned more than five decades.
Completing a play while dying of cancer is an act of extraordinary creative will. It suggests a man for whom art was not a hobby or a profession but a necessity, a way of processing experience and maintaining a connection with the world even as his body was failing. “Backoff Barkman” was produced posthumously in the Midwest, a final gift from a playwright who had never stopped writing, never stopped believing in the power of words to honor the dead and inspire the living.
Acting Career of Dick Cusack: The Accidental Thespian
Dick Cusack’s acting career began, by his own account, almost by accident. He was not a trained actor; he was a writer and filmmaker who happened to be in the right place at the right time when an opportunity presented itself. The opportunity came from Byrne Piven, his friend and the co-founder of the Piven Theatre Workshop, who asked Cusack to play a bell captain in the play “The Man in 605.” It was a small role, a favor for a friend, but it opened a door that Cusack had not known existed.
From this accidental beginning, Cusack built an acting career that spanned more than two decades and included roles in some of the most notable films of the late twentieth century. He appeared in approximately twenty films and several television shows, often cast in roles that drew on his natural authority and gravitas: judges, ministers, government officials, doctors. His physical presence was commanding, his voice deep and resonant, and his bearing suggested a man who had lived a life of substance. These were not qualities that could be taught; they were the product of experience, of having served in war, raised a family, and pursued multiple careers.
Cusack’s filmography reads like a tour through the American cinema of the 1980s and 1990s. He made his film debut in “My Bodyguard” (1980), playing a school principal alongside his daughter Joan, who had one of her earliest roles in the same film. He appeared in “Class” (1983) as Chaplain Baker, a role that placed him in a film starring his son, John. He played Judge Friend in “Eight Men Out” (1988), John Sayles’ acclaimed drama about the 1919 Black Sox scandal, again appearing alongside John. He was a judge in David Mamet’s “Things Change” (1988), a secretary of state in “The Package” (1989), and a doctor in “While You Were Sleeping” (1995).
Perhaps his most widely seen role was as Attorney Walter Gutherie in “The Fugitive” (1993), the Harrison Ford thriller that was one of the biggest hits of the decade. In a film full of memorable performances, Cusack’s brief appearance as a legal authority figure was typical of his work: professional, authoritative, and utterly convincing. He brought the same quality to his role as the Senate Chairman in “Chain Reaction” (1996) and as the minister in “High Fidelity” (2000), a film that starred his son John and became a cult classic.
Cusack’s final film role was in “Return to Me” (2000), a romantic comedy directed by Bonnie Hunt in which he played Mr. Bennington. It was a fitting final performance: warm, human, and grounded in the kind of everyday decency that characterized both his acting and his life. He also appeared in the HBO television film “The Jack Bull” (1999), which he wrote and in which his son John starred. This was a rare convergence of his multiple talents: writer, actor, father, and it represented the fullest expression of his creative vision.
On television, Cusack had roles in series such as “Sable” (1987), “Missing Persons” (1994), and “Early Edition” (1997). These were not starring roles; they were the kind of character work that sustained working actors and demonstrated the breadth of Cusack’s abilities. Whether playing a mahoney, a champion, or an elderly man, he brought the same commitment and professionalism to every role.
What made Cusack’s acting career remarkable was not its scale but its context. He was not a young man chasing stardom; he was a middle-aged man who had already lived several lives, who brought the weight of that experience to every performance. His authority on screen was not acted; it was earned. When he played a judge or a government official, he conveyed the sense of someone who understood power and responsibility, who had made difficult decisions and lived with their consequences. This authenticity was his greatest gift as an actor, and it was something that could not be taught in any acting school.
Father to a Dynasty: Raising the Cusack Acting Clan
If Dick Cusack’s own career was impressive, his greatest achievement was arguably the family he raised. All five of his children, Ann, Joan, Bill, John, and Susie, followed him into the acting profession, creating a dynasty that has few parallels in American entertainment history. The Cusack children have appeared in hundreds of films and television shows, earned Academy Award nominations, won Emmy Awards, and become some of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood. And they all started in the same place: the Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston, Illinois, under the guidance of their father’s friends Byrne and Joyce Piven.
Ann Cusack, the eldest, was the first to catch the acting bug. She began performing with the Piven Theatre Workshop at the age of ten, and her involvement inspired her younger siblings to follow suit. Ann would go on to a successful career in film and television, with breakout roles in “A League of Their Own” (1992) and appearances in films such as “Multiplicity,” “Sully,” and the television series “Better Call Saul” and “Mr. Mercedes.” She also performs with her band, Ann Cusack and the Generation Jones Band, demonstrating the musical and creative versatility that runs through the family.
Joan Cusack, born in 1962, became one of the most acclaimed actresses of her generation. Her film debut came in “My Bodyguard” (1980), alongside her father, and she quickly established herself as a unique talent: quirky, fearless, and utterly original. She earned Academy Award nominations for her roles in “Working Girl” (1988) and “In and Out” (1997), and won an Emmy Award for her work on the television series “Shameless.” Her voice work in the “Toy Story” franchise introduced her to new generations of audiences, and her collaborations with her brother John, including “Sixteen Candles,” “Grosse Pointe Blank,” and “War, Inc.,” are among the most memorable sibling pairings in cinema history.
Bill Cusack, born in 1964, pursued acting with the same dedication as his sisters, though his career took a somewhat different path. He appeared in films such as “Con Air” and “Grosse Pointe Blank” alongside his siblings, and was a founding member of New Crime Productions, the theater group that John Cusack formed with friends Jeremy Piven and Steve Pink. Bill’s work in theater and film demonstrated the family’s commitment to both commercial and artistic projects, and his later career in television promotions showed the same adaptability that characterized his father’s multiple careers.
John Cusack, born in 1966, became the most commercially successful of the Cusack siblings, with a career spanning more than four decades and over eighty films. From his teen roles in “Sixteen Candles” and “The Sure Thing” to his adult work in “Being John Malkovich,” “High Fidelity,” and “Grosse Pointe Blank,” John established himself as one of the most distinctive actors of his generation: intelligent, idiosyncratic, and unafraid to take risks. His collaborations with his father, in “Class,” “Eight Men Out,” “High Fidelity,” and “The Jack Bull,” were particularly meaningful, representing the intersection of two generations of Cusack creativity.
Susie Cusack, the youngest, born in 1971, completed the family’s acting roster. She made her film debut in “Hero” (1992) alongside Joan, and appeared in “High Fidelity” with John and Joan. While her career was less high-profile than some of her siblings, she brought the same commitment and talent to her work, rounding out a family ensemble that was unique in American entertainment.
What made the Cusack children’s success possible was not merely talent, though they had that in abundance, but the environment in which they were raised. Dick and Nancy Cusack created a home where creativity was valued, where hard work was expected, and where the pursuit of artistic excellence was considered a worthy life goal. They were not stage parents pushing their children toward fame; they were artists themselves who understood the demands of the profession and supported their children’s choices without imposing their own ambitions.
Dick Cusack’s influence on his children was profound but subtle. He did not teach them to act; he taught them to live with integrity, to take their work seriously, and to use their talents in the service of something larger than themselves. The values that animated his own career, the commitment to social justice, the willingness to take risks, the belief that art should matter, were passed on to his children, who have carried them into their own work in various ways. John Cusack’s political activism, Joan Cusack’s commitment to unconventional roles, and the family’s collective dedication to their craft all reflect the legacy of a father who showed them what was possible when one refused to settle for a life of mere comfort.
The Evanston Years: Community, Art, and Activism
The Cusack family’s life in Evanston was defined by a deep engagement with the community and a commitment to the arts that went far beyond their own professional interests. Dick Cusack was not content to be a passive resident of the suburb; he was an active citizen who believed that communities were built through participation and that the arts were essential to a healthy society.
One of Cusack’s most significant contributions to Evanston was his work with the Evanston Arts Council, which he chaired for a period. Under his leadership, the council undertook a project that would have a lasting impact on the city’s cultural life: the preservation of the Noyes School and its conversion into the Noyes Cultural Arts Center. This was not merely a real estate transaction; it was an act of cultural preservation, the transformation of a threatened building into a permanent home for artistic activity.
The Noyes Cultural Arts Center became the home of the Piven Theatre Workshop, where the Cusack children had trained and where generations of young actors would continue to develop their craft. By saving the building and ensuring its use for artistic purposes, Cusack was not just supporting his own children’s education; he was creating a legacy that would benefit the entire community for decades to come. The Evanston Arts Council recognized his contribution with an award, but the real reward was the continued vitality of the arts in a city that valued them.
Cusack’s activism extended beyond the arts to the political and social issues of his time. He was active with the North Suburban Peace Initiative, an organization dedicated to promoting peace and opposing militarism. This commitment to peace was consistent with his wartime experience; he had seen the reality of combat and understood its costs, and with his friendship with Philip Berrigan, who had dedicated his life to nonviolent resistance. Cusack’s political engagement was not theoretical; it was practical, grounded in the belief that individuals had a responsibility to work for a more just and peaceful world.
In 2000, the Cusack family, Dick, Nancy, and all five children, received the Commitment to Chicago Award, a recognition of their collective contribution to the city’s cultural and civic life. The award was a testament to the family’s impact not just as entertainers but as citizens, people who had given back to the community that had supported their success. For Dick Cusack, the award must have been particularly meaningful, as it recognized the values he had worked to instill in his children and the community he had helped to build.
Illness, Death, and Final Legacy
Dick Cusack was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the spring of 2003, a diagnosis that came swiftly and carried a grim prognosis. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive forms of the disease, and by the time symptoms appear, it is often too late for effective treatment. Cusack faced his illness with the same courage and creativity that had characterized his life, completing the final draft of “Backoff Barkman” just two weeks before his death.
He passed away on June 2, 2003, in Evanston, Illinois, at the age of 77. Variety announced his death, The New York Times, and media outlets across the country, all of which noted not just his own achievements but the extraordinary family he had raised. The obituaries emphasized his multiple careers, as an advertising executive, documentary filmmaker, playwright, actor, and the courage it had taken to reinvent himself at midlife. They also noted his role as patriarch of the Cusack acting dynasty, a legacy that would outlast any individual achievement.
Cusack was survived by his wife of 43 years, Nancy, who would live until 2022; his five children; and two grandchildren. Services were held at the Sheil Catholic Center in Evanston, a fitting venue for a man whose Catholic faith had been a constant throughout his life, even as he questioned and challenged the institutions of authority. Instead of flowers, the family requested donations to the North Suburban Peace Initiative and the Jonah House, organizations that reflected Cusack’s commitment to peace and social justice.
Nancy Cusack’s death in 2022, at the age of 93, marked the end of an era for the Cusack family. She had outlived her husband by nearly two decades, witnessing the continued success of their children and the expansion of the family legacy. Her obituary noted her role as “the matriarch of the Cusack acting dynasty,” a title that recognized her equal contribution to the family’s success. Together, Dick and Nancy had created something rare and precious: a family of artists who had achieved commercial success without sacrificing their integrity, who had remained close despite the pressures of fame, and who had never forgotten the values of their Irish Catholic, working-class roots.
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Conclusion
Dick Cusack’s life was a testament to the power of reinvention. A man who spent the first half of his life selling products became, in the second half, one of the most influential figures in American acting, not through his own fame, but through the talent and commitment he nurtured in his children. His journey from Manhattan to the Pacific Theater, from Worcester to Chicago, from advertising to filmmaking to acting, was driven by a refusal to accept that life had to follow a single trajectory, that one’s best work was behind them, or that it was ever too late to pursue one’s passions.
What distinguishes Cusack’s legacy is not any single achievement but the totality of his life: the courage to leave a successful career, the commitment to socially engaged art, the dedication to community, and the love that made possible one of the most remarkable families in American entertainment. He was not a perfect man; no one is. But he was a man who lived with purpose, who took risks in the service of his values, and who demonstrated that the American dream was not about accumulating wealth but about living authentically and contributing something meaningful to the world.
The Cusack children, Ann, Joan, Bill, John, and Susie, continue to work in film and television, carrying their father’s legacy into new generations. When John Cusack speaks out on political issues, when Joan Cusack brings her unique energy to a role, when any of the siblings collaborates on a project, they are channeling the values that Dick Cusack instilled in them: the belief that art should matter, that success should be earned, and that family is the foundation upon which everything else is built.
Dick Cusack’s name may not be as familiar to the general public as his children’s, but his influence is everywhere in their work. He was the soil from which they grew, the example against which they measured themselves, and the voice that encouraged them to pursue their dreams. In the end, that may be the greatest legacy any parent can leave: not fame, not fortune, but the example of a life lived with courage, creativity, and conviction. Dick Cusack lived such a life, and the world is richer for it.