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Rodney Dangerfield

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Rodney Dangerfield
Dangerfield in New York in 1978
Birth nameJacob Cohen
Born(1921-11-22)November 22, 1921
Babylon, New York, U.S.
DiedOctober 5, 2004(2004-10-05) (aged 82)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
MediumStand-up, television, film
NationalityAmerican
Years active1940–1949
1962–2004
GenresOne-liners, word play, black comedy
Subject(s)Self-deprecation, depression, childhood, marriage, human sexuality, aging, drinking, health
SpouseJoyce Indig (1949-1962; 1963-1970) (2 children)
Joan Child (1993-2004)
Notable works and rolesAl Czervik in Caddyshack
HBO television specials
Thornton Melon in Back to School
Ed Wilson in Natural Born Killers
Monty Capuletti in Easy Money
Signature
Websiterodney.com
Template:Infobox comedian awards

Rodney Dangerfield (November 22, 1921 – October 5, 2004), born Jacob Cohen, was an American comedian, and actor, known for the catchphrases "I don't get no respect" or "I get no respect, I tell ya" and his monologues on that theme. He is also famous for his 1980s film roles, notably in Easy Money, Caddyshack and Back To School.

Early life and career

Dangerfield was born on Long Island in the town of Babylon, the son of Jewish parents. His father was the vaudevillian performer Phil Roy (Philip Cohen). His ancestors came to the United States from Hungary.[5] He would later say that his father "was never home—he was out looking to make other kids," and that his mother "brought him up all wrong".

As a teenager, he got his start writing jokes for standup comics; he became one himself at 19 under the name Jack Roy. He struggled financially for nine years, at one point performing as a singing waiter (he was fired), and also working as a performing acrobatic diver before giving up show business to take a job selling aluminum siding to support his wife and family. He later said that he was so little known then that "at the time I quit, I was the only one who knew I quit!"

In the early 1960s he started down what would be a long road toward rehabilitating his career, still working as a salesman by day. He came to realize that what he lacked was an "image"—a well-defined on-stage persona that audiences could relate to and that would distinguish him from similar comics.

He took the name Rodney Dangerfield, which had been used as the comical name of a faux cowboy star by Jack Benny on his radio program at least as early as the December 21, 1941, broadcast and later as a pseudonym by Ricky Nelson on the TV program The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. However, Jack Roy remained his legal name, as he mentioned from time to time.[6] During a question-and-answer session with the audience on the album No Respect, Rodney joked that his real name was Percival Sweetwater.

Career surge

Fate intervened one Sunday night when The Ed Sullivan Show needed a last-minute replacement for another act.[when?] Dangerfield became the surprise hit of the show.

Dangerfield began headlining shows i Las Vegas and made frequent encore appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show.[7] He became a regular on The Dean Martin Show and appeared on The Tonight Show a total of 35 times.[8] In 1969 Rodney Dangerfield teamed up with longtime friend Anthony Bevacqua to build Dangerfield's. Rodney now had a venue in which to perform on a regular basis, without having to constantly travel. The club became a huge success. Dangerfield's has been in continuous operation for over 40 years, and is today the top comedy club in the country.[9] Dangerfield's was the venue for several HBO shows which helped popularize many standup comics, including Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey, Tim Allen, Roseanne Barr, Robert Townsend, Jeff Foxworthy, Sam Kinison, Bill Hicks, Rita Rudner, Andrew Dice Clay, Louis Anderson, and Bob Saget.[citation needed]

Rodney Dangerfield's comedy album No Respect.

His comedy album, No Respect, won a Grammy Award.[10] One of his TV specials featured a musical number, "Rappin' Rodney", which soon became one of the first MTV music videos.[citation needed]

Career peak

Dangerfield's career peaked during the early 1980s, when he began acting in comedy movies. His appearance in Caddyshack led to starring roles in Easy Money and Back To School.

Throughout the 1980s, Dangerfield appeared in a series of commercials for Miller Lite beer, including one where various celebrities who had appeared in the ads were holding a bowling match. After he was told "All we need is one pin, Rodney", Dangerfield's ball was shown going down the alley and bouncing off the pins.

In a change of pace from the comedy persona that made him famous, he played an abusive father in Natural Born Killers in a scene for which he had written his own lines.[citation needed]

Dangerfield was rejected for membership in the Motion Picture Academy in 1995 by the then head of the Academy's Actors Section, Roddy McDowall.[11] After fan protests the Academy reconsidered, but Dangerfield then refused to accept membership.

Dangerfield appeared in an episode of The Simpsons titled "Burns, Baby Burns" wherein he played a character who is essentially a parody of his own persona, Mr. Burns' son Larry Burns. He also appeared as himself in an episode of Home Improvement.

Dangerfield also appeared in the 2000 Adam Sandler vehicle Little Nicky, playing Lucifer, the father of Satan (Harvey Keitel) and grandfather of Nicky (Sandler).

He was recognized by the Smithsonian Institution, which put one of his trademark white shirts and red ties on display.[citation needed] When asked about the honor, he joked that the museum was using his shirt to clean Charles Lindbergh's plane.[citation needed]

Dangerfield played an important role in comedian Jim Carrey's rise to stardom. In the 1980s, after watching him at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, he signed Carrey to open his tour performances.

Personal life

He was married to Joyce Indig, with whom he had a son, Brian, and a daughter, Melanie. From 1993 to his death, he was married to Joan Child, who was instrumental in setting up his Internet site. He and comic Sam Kinison were also very good friends.

The confusion of Dangerfield's stage persona with his real-life personality was a conception that he long resented. While Child described him as "classy, gentlemanly, sensitive and intelligent,"[12] people who met the comedian nonetheless treated him as the belligerent loser whose character he adopted in performance. In 2004 Dangerfield's autobiography, It's Not Easy Bein' Me: A Lifetime of No Respect but Plenty of Sex and Drugs (ISBN 0-06-621107-7) was published. The book's original title was My Love Affair With Marijuana, a reference to his smoking material of choice for 60 years.[13]

Later years and death

Dangerfield's headstone at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery

On April 8, 2003, Dangerfield underwent brain surgery to improve blood flow in preparation for heart valve-replacement surgery on August 24, 2004. Upon entering the hospital, he uttered another characteristic one-liner when asked how long he would be hospitalized: "If all goes well, about a week. If not, about an hour and a half."

In September 2004, it was revealed that Dangerfield had been in a coma for several weeks. Afterward, he began breathing on his own and showing signs of awareness when visited by friends. However, on October 5, 2004, he died at the UCLA Medical Center, from complications of the surgery he had undergone in August. He was a month and a half short of his 83rd birthday. Dangerfield was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. In keeping with his "no respect" persona, his headstone reads simply, "Rodney Dangerfield... There goes the neighborhood.”[14]

Joan Child held an event in which the word "respect" had been emblazoned in the sky, while each guest was given a live Monarch butterfly for a Native American butterfly-release ceremony led by Farrah Fawcett.[15]

Homages

The George Lopez sitcom's episode "Leave it to Lopez" was dedicated in the memory of Rodey Dangerfield.

UCLA’s Division of Neurosurgery named a suite of operating rooms after him and gave him the “Rodney Respect Award”, which his wife presented to Jay Leno on October 20, 2005. It was presented on behalf of the David Geffen School of Medicine/Division of Neurosurgery at UCLA at their 2005 Visionary Ball.[16]

Saturday Night Live ran a short sketch of Dangerfield (played by Darrell Hammond) at the gates of heaven. Saint Peter mentions that he heard Dangerfield got no respect in life, which prompts Dangerfield to spew an entire string of his famous one-liners. After he's done, he asks why Saint Peter was so interested. Saint Peter replies, “I just wanted to hear those jokes one more time” and waves him into heaven.

On September 10, 2006, Comedy Central aired a special titled Legends: Rodney Dangerfield which commemorated his life and legacy. Featured comedians included Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Jay Leno, Ray Romano, Roseanne Barr, Jerry Seinfeld, Bob Saget, Jerry Stiller, Kevin Kline and Jeff Foxworthy.[17]

The ending credits of The George Lopez Show feature an homage to Rodney Dangerfield.[citation needed]

In 2007, it was reported that a Rodney Dangerfield tattoo is among the most popular celebrity tattoos in the United States.[18]

In the 2009 Family Guy episode "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side", a cartoon version of Rodney Dangerfield makes an appearance.

On Triple M's now defunct radio program 'Get This', co-anchor Ed Kavalee used to champion the digital addition of Rodney Dangerfield to movies in an attempt to make them more interesting. Callers would often make their own suggestions regarding this.

In the final taping of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on May 29, 2009, Leno credited Dangerfield with the style of joke Leno had been using for the past few years. The format of the joke is that the comedian tells a sidekick how bad something is—in this case, guitar player Kevin Eubanks—and the sidekick sets up the joke by asking just how bad that something is.

Filmography

TV work

Discography

  • What's in a Name? (1966) re-released as The Loser (1977)
  • I Don't Get No Respect (1980)
  • No Respect (1981)
  • Rappin' Rodney (1983)
  • La Contessa (1995)
  • Romeo Rodney (2005)
  • 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Rodney Dangerfield (2005)
  • Greatest Bits (2008)

References

  1. ^ Biography: Rodney Dangerfield, The Biography Channel, January 21, 2010
  2. ^ Jerry Seinfeld: The Comedian Award, HBO, April 1, 2007
  3. ^ "Bob Saget on Tom Green Live - Episode 168". Tom Green Live. ManiaTV!. 2007-08-02. Archived from the original on 2008-04-21. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  4. ^ Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. Season 14. 2008-01-11. BBC One. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episode= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=9ihusHzginAC&pg=PA3&dq=%22rodney+dangerfield%22+hungary
  6. ^ Kapelovitz, Dan (October 2004). "Clear and Present Dangerfield". Hustler. Retrieved 2007-05-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040053/fullcredits#cast:imdb cast list for Ed Sullivan Show
  8. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055708/fullcredits#cast:imdb episode guide for Tonight Show
  9. ^ Associated Press (2004-10-07). "Rodney Dangerfield dead at 82". MSNBC.com. Retrieved 2006-09-14.
  10. ^ http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/Winners/Results.aspx:grammy award winners search from grammy.com
  11. ^ "Dangerfield dies". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2004-10-06.
  12. ^ Hedegaard, Erik (2004-05-19). "Gone to Pot". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-05-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ Pearlman, Jeff (2004-07-18). "Dangerfield is no laughing matter". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2006-09-14. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ http://www.seeing-stars.com/ImagePages/RodneyDangerfieldGravePhoto.shtml
  15. ^ http://www.rodney.com/rodney/about/about.asp
  16. ^ http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/7483:University of California website
  17. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0865327/ reference to Legends: Rodney Dangerfield
  18. ^ Chen, Perry (2007-02-23). "Op-Art: All the Body's a Stage". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-05-21. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
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