Cusack was born in New York City, the son of Margaret (née McFeeley) and Dennis Joseph Cusack. His family was of Irish Catholic background. He served with the U.S. Army in the Philippines in World War II. After the war Cusack attended College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he played basketball with Bob Cousy and roomed with Philip F. Berrigan, the peace activist. Cusack and his wife, Ann Paula “Nancy” (Carolan), had five children: Ann Cusack, Bill Cusack, Susie Cusack, Joan Cusack, and John Cusack, all of whom followed him into the acting profession. Until 1970 Cusack worked as a Clio Award winning advertising executive. He then pursued a career as a film actor, beginning with minor roles. Most of his acting roles were playing authority figures, such as a United States Senate Chairman, minister/chaplain, and U.S. Secretary of State; he played a judge in the TV movie Overexposed, and in theatrical releases Things Change and Eight Men Out. Cusack was a documentary filmmaker. His 1971 abortion documentary The Committee won an Emmy Award. He also owned a film production company He was honored with an award from the Evanston Arts Council for preserving a school and converting it into the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, which houses the Piven Theatre Workshop where his famous acting children trained. Two weeks prior to his death, he completed the final draft of a play to memorialize his former college roommate entitled, Backoff Barkman, which was produced posthumously in the Midwest. Dick Cusack died on June 2, 2003 in Evanston, Illinois from pancreatic cancer.