Comedian Chevy Chase checks into rehab for a 'tune-up'

Veteran comedian Chevy Chase has checked into rehab for a “tune-up” after battling alcohol-related problems.

The 72-year-old American actor, known for his performances in films like National Lampoon’s Vacation, Caddyshack and Fletch, last sought treatment in rehab 30 years ago for a painkiller pill addiction.

Today Mr Chase’s representative confirmed the comedian is an inpatient at the Hazelden Addiction Treatment Centre in Minnesota - the same place the late Robin Williams booked into in 2014.

Mr Chase “wants to be the best that he can be,” he told US celebrity website TMZ, referring to his rehab stint as a “tune-up.”

He is in the middle of shooting one film, Dog Years, while a second, The Christmas Apprentice, has already wrapped.

In 1986, the star, who made his name on the long-running US series Saturday Night Live, checked into the Betty Ford drug clinic in California.

His publicist at the time remarked that the comedian had developed a “dependency on prescription drugs relating to chronic and long-term back problems.”

In 2010, Mr Chase told Esquire magazine that when it came to drugs, he had always been “pretty low-level.”

“I never shot things up or freebased,” he said. “I checked myself into the Betty Ford Clinic after my nose started to hurt.”

Mr Chase was born into a prominent New York family and has hosted the Oscars ceremony twice, in 1987 and 1988.

His most recent TV role was in the comedy Community between 2009 and 2012.