Two years later in 2002, he kicked the bad habit, and now, four years hence, he says he’s totally calmed down.

‘’I’m not out there going hog wild like I was when I first got single,’’ he says. ‘’I hadn’t been single since I was almost 23, so I never really got my chance. It was like I went through my 20s in a year and a half.’’

Quaid turns 52 this year, but directors (and women) don’t seem to have noticed. In his latest film, the comedy "Yours, Mine & Ours," he plays Coast Guard Admiral Frank Beardsley who brings a rigorous approach to parenting, keeping everything in the household in ship-shape and running like clockwork.

‘’I find it really unexpected that in my late 40s and early 50s, I’ve played a fit, military man and two athletes in four years,’’ says Quaid, who portrayed a baseball pitcher in "The Rookie" and a quarterback in Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday. ‘’I should be retiring from sports myself,’’ he jokes.

Funny thing is, Quaid drifted toward acting because he was too small to play sports growing up in Houston, Texas. But during his 31-year acting career, he’s starred as a bicyclist in "Breaking Away," his breakthrough role; a singer-turned-boxer in "Tough Enough," a track star in "Our Winning Season," and a football player in "Everybody’s All American."

To prepare for "Yours, Mine & Ours," Quaid had to get leaner because he’s playing "a no-nonsense military man, the ultimate role model for clean-living, not only physically, but also in terms of supervising his family," he says with a smile.

He kept himself in remarkable shape, thanks to yoga, some weight lifting, and playing golf which he is passionate about. In fact, Quaid has been rated as the best golfer in the acting fraternity of Hollywood, according to Golf Digest’s latest list of tinseltown’s Top 100 Golfers. His handicap of 1.1 beat out many of the other superstars (such as Tom Cruise who could only manage last place with his 36 handicap.)

Then there’s the exercise he gets playing basketball in his driveway with Jack, 15 – his son with former wife, Meg Ryan. ‘The best thing is that Jack is doing great, because it’s hardest on the kids,’’ Quaid reflects on his much publicized divorce with Ryan. "It was very tough for him. Now, he couldn’t be better.’’

Quaid says he has moved on, too. ‘’It’s one of the best times in my life now, actually. You go through something like that, especially how public it was, it tests you.’’

Quaid and Ryan, who share custody of their son, live 10 minutes apart. ‘’We’re friends,’’ he says. ‘’I wish her well. I’d like her to find really somebody great,’’ Quaid says.

The actor continues to live in the Santa Monica home the three once shared. ‘’I just love that house. I’m the one who found it,’’ says Quaid, who also spends four to five months a year on his Montana ranch.