Rodney Dangerfield

His breakout film role came as a boorish nouveau riche golfer in the ensemble sports comedy film Caddyshack (1980). He subsequently starred in a string of comedy films such as Easy Money (1983), Back to School (1986), Rover Dangerfield (1991), Ladybugs (1992), and Meet Wally Sparks (1997). He took a rare dramatic role as an abusive father in Oliver Stone's satirical crime film Natural Born Killers (1994). Over his career he released seven comedy albums including his album No Respect (1980) which won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002. Health troubles curtailed his output through the early 2000s before his death in 2004, following a month in a coma due to complications from heart valve surgery.

• Name — Rodney Dangerfield • Birth Name — Jacob Cohen • Born — 22 November 1921 • Birthplace — Babylon, New York, U.S. • Died — 5 October 2004 • Place of death — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Resting Place — Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary • Occupation — * Stand-up comedian • actor • screenwriter • producer • Active — * 1937–2004 • Medium — * Stand-up comedy • film • television • Genre — * Blue comedy • observational comedy • insult comedy • Self-deprecation • satire • one-liners • Children — 2 • Website — rodney.com

Rodney Dangerfield was born Jacob Cohen on Long Island, Babylon, New York, on November 22, 1921. He was the son of Jewish parents Dorothy "Dotty" Teitelbaum and the vaudevillian performer Phillip Cohen, whose stage name was Phil Roy. His mother was born in Hungary. Phillip Cohen was rarely home; his son normally saw him only twice a year. Late in life, Cohen begged for, and received, his son's forgiveness. Cohen's mother was reportedly emotionally distant for most of his childhood and did not show signs of affection towards her son. In an interview with Howard Stern on May 25, 2004, Dangerfield told Stern that he had been molested by a man in his neighborhood. The man would pay Rodney a nickel and kiss him for five minutes. After Cohen's father abandoned the family, his mother moved him and his sister to Kew Gardens, Queens, where Dangerfield attended Richmond Hill High School, graduating in 1939. To support himself and his family, he delivered groceries and sold newspapers and ice cream at the beach.

At the age of 15, he began to write for stand-up comedians while performing at the Nevele, a former resort in Ellenville, New York. Then, at the age of 19 he legally changed his name to Jack Roy. He struggled financially for nine years, at one point performing as a singing waiter until he was fired, before taking a job selling aluminum siding in the mid-1950s to support his wife and family. He later quipped he was so little known that when he gave up show business, "I was the only one who knew I quit." In the early 1960s, he started reviving his career as an entertainer. Still working as a salesman by day, he returned to the stage, performing at hotels in the Catskill Mountains, but still finding minimal success. He fell into debt, about $20,000 by his own estimate and could not get booked. He later joked, "I played one club; it was so far out, my act was reviewed in Field & Stream." Dangerfield came to realize that what he lacked was an "image," a well-defined on-stage persona that audiences could relate to, one that would distinguish him from other comics. After being shunned by some premier comedy venues, he returned home where he began developing a character for whom nothing goes right. During Roy's comeback bid, he was scheduled to play the Inwood Lounge in Manhattan. Wanting to disguise himself from the longtime patrons who might have remembered him from the 1940s, Roy asked club owner George McFadden to change his name. "He came up with Rodney Dangerfield," the comedian said. "I don't know where it came from." McFadden may have taken it from The Jack Benny Program on NBC radio, which had first used "Rodney Dangerfield" as a character's name in 1941. Ricky Nelson also used the name as a pseudonym in a 1962 episode of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet.

Dangerfield reached national prominence appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show in March 1967. He soon began headlining shows in Las Vegas and continued making frequent appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. He also became a regular on The Dean Martin Show and appeared on The Tonight Show more than 70 times. In 1969, Dangerfield teamed up with Anthony Bevacqua to build the Dangerfield's comedy club in New York City, a venue where he could perform on a regular basis without having to constantly travel. In 1978, The Harvard Crimson described a show by Dangerfield at Dangerfield's, prior to him being Harvard Class Day Speaker. The club remained in continuous operation until October 14, 2020. Dangerfield's was the venue for several HBO comedy specials starring stand-up comics such as Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey, Tim Allen, Roseanne Barr, Robert Townsend, Jeff Foxworthy, Sam Kinison, Bill Hicks, Rita Rudner, Andrew Dice Clay, Louie Anderson, Dom Irrera, and Bob Saget. Dangerfield's re-opened in January 2024 as Rodney's Comedy Club. The re-launched venue pays homage to Dangerfield's legacy with art deco design and a focus on upscale comedy performances. His signature line, "I don't get no respect!", was adopted for the 1976 animated television show Jabberjaw. In 1978, Dangerfield was invited to be the keynote speaker at Harvard University's Class Day, an annual ceremony for seniors the day before commencement. • Illustration — Dangerfield's 1980 comedy album No Respect His 1980 comedy album No Respect won a Grammy Award. One of his TV specials featured a musical number, "Rappin' Rodney", which appeared on his 1983 follow-up album, Rappin' Rodney. In December 1983, the "Rappin' Rodney" single became one of the first Hot 100 rap records, and the associated video was an early MTV hit. The video featured cameo appearances by Don Novello as a last rites priest munching on Rodney's last meal of fast food in a styrofoam container and Pat Benatar as a masked executioner pulling a hangman's knot. The two appear in a dream sequence wherein Dangerfield is condemned to die and does not get any respect, even in Heaven, as the gates close without him being permitted to enter.

Though his acting career had begun much earlier in obscure movies like The Projectionist (1971), Dangerfield's career took off during the early 1980s, when he began acting in hit comedy movies. One of Dangerfield's more memorable performances was in the 1980 golf comedy Caddyshack, in which he plays an obnoxious nouveau riche property developer who is a guest at a country club, where he clashes with the uptight Judge Elihu Smails (played by Ted Knight). His role was initially smaller, but because he and fellow cast members Chevy Chase and Bill Murray proved adept at improvisation, their roles were greatly expanded during filming, much to the chagrin of some of their castmates. Initial reviews of Caddyshack praised Dangerfield's standout performance among the wild cast. Dangerfield's appearance in Caddyshack led to starring roles in Easy Money and Back to School, for which he also served as co-writer. Unlike his stand-up persona, his comedy film characters were portrayed as successful, confident and generally popular despite being characteristically loud, brash, and detested by the wealthy elite. Throughout the 1980s, Dangerfield also appeared in a series of commercials for Miller Lite beer, including one in which various celebrities who had appeared in the ads were holding a bowling match. With the score tied, after a bearded Ben Davidson told Rodney, "All we need is one pin, Rodney," Dangerfield's ball went down the lane and bounced perpendicularly off the head pin, landing in the gutter without knocking down any of the pins. He also appeared in the endings of Billy Joel's music video of "Tell Her About It" and Lionel Richie's video of "Dancing on the Ceiling." • Illustration — Dangerfield in 1978 In 1990, Dangerfield was involved in Where's Rodney?, an unsold TV pilot for NBC. The show starred Jared Rushton as a teenager, also named Rodney, who could summon Dangerfield whenever he needed guidance about his life. 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 wrote or rewrote all of his own lines. Dangerfield was rejected for membership in the Motion Picture Academy in 1995 by the head of the academy's Actors Section, Roddy McDowall. After fan protests, the academy reconsidered, but Dangerfield then refused to accept membership. In March 1995, Dangerfield was the first celebrity to personally own a website and create content for it. He interacted with fans who visited his site via an "E-mail me" link, often surprising people with a reply. By 1996, Dangerfield's website proved to be such a hit that he made Websight magazine's list of the "100 Most Influential People on the Web". Dangerfield appeared in "Burns, Baby Burns", an episode of the animated television series The Simpsons in which he played Mr. Burns's son Larry Burns, a character who is essentially a parody of Dangerfield's onstage persona. He also appeared as himself in an episode of Home Improvement. Dangerfield appears in the 2000 Adam Sandler film Little Nicky, playing Lucifer, the father of Satan (Harvey Keitel) and grandfather of Nicky (Sandler). Dangerfield was recognized by the Smithsonian Institution, which has displayed one of his trademark white shirts and red ties. When he handed the shirt to the museum's curator, Rodney joked, "I have a feeling you're going to use this to clean Lindbergh's plane." Dangerfield played an important role in comedian Jim Carrey's rise to stardom. In the 1980s, after watching Carrey perform at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, Rodney signed Carrey to open for Dangerfield's Las Vegas show. The two toured together for about two more years. When Dangerfield celebrated his 80th birthday on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in November 2001, Carrey made a surprise appearance to thank Dangerfield for his years of support.

Dangerfield was married twice to Joyce Indig, a singer. They married on October 3, 1951, divorced in 1961, remarried in 1963, and divorced again in 1970, although Rodney lived largely separated from his family. Together, the couple had two children: son Brian Roy (born 1960) and daughter Melanie Roy-Friedman, born after her parents remarried. From 1993 until his death, Dangerfield was married to Joan Child, whom he met in 1983 at a flower shop she owned in Santa Monica, California. At the time of a People magazine article on Dangerfield in 1980, he was sharing an apartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side with a housekeeper, his poodle Keno, and his closest friend of 30 years, fellow aluminum siding salesman Joe Ancis, whom Dangerfield called "the funniest man in the world"; Ancis was also a friend of and major influence on Lenny Bruce. Ancis, who Roseanne Barr described as "too psychologically damaged to be able to live in a germ-infested world on his own", lived with Dangerfield until Ancis's death in 2001. Dangerfield resented being confused with his on-stage persona. Although his wife Joan described him as "classy, gentlemanly, sensitive, and intelligent," he was often treated like the loser he played, and documented this in his 2004 autobiography, It's Not Easy Bein' Me: A Lifetime of No Respect but Plenty of Sex and Drugs. In this work, he also discussed being a marijuana smoker; the book's original title was My Love Affair with Marijuana. Although Jewish, Dangerfield referred to himself as atheist during an interview with Howard Stern on May 25, 2004, about four months before his death. Dangerfield added during the interview that he was a "logical" atheist, adding: "We're gorillas – does a gorilla come back?". In the same interview, he lamented that he "suffered greatly for being a perfectionist"; he also said: "My mother never hugged me, kissed me, nothing, okay? Other kids would go to sleep listening to a fairy tale. I went to sleep with a fight downstairs, listening to a guy yelling: 'Enough! Enough!'."

• Illustration — Dangerfield's headstone at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary On November 22, 2001 (his 80 th birthday), Dangerfield suffered a mild stroke while doing stand-up on The Tonight Show. While Dangerfield was performing, host Jay Leno noticed something was wrong with Dangerfield's movements and asked his producer to call the paramedics. During Dangerfield's hospital stay, the staff was reportedly upset that he smoked marijuana in his room. Dangerfield returned to the Tonight Show a year later, performing on his 81 st birthday. On April 8, 2003, Dangerfield underwent brain surgery to improve blood flow in preparation for heart valve-replacement surgery on a later date. The heart surgery took place on August 24, 2004. Upon entering the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center, 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." Dangerfield died on October 5, 2004. He is interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. On the day of Dangerfield's death, the randomly selected Joke of the Day on his website happened to be: "I tell ya I get no respect from anyone. I bought a cemetery plot. The guy said: 'There goes the neighborhood!'". This led his wife, Joan Dangerfield, to choose "There goes the neighborhood" as the epitaph on his headstone, which has become so well-known that it has been used as a New York Times crossword puzzle clue. Dangerfield's widow 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 butterfly-release ceremony led by Farrah Fawcett.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes — Ref. • 1967–1971 — The Ed Sullivan Show — Himself — 17 appearances • 1969–1992 — The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — More than 70 appearances • 1970 — The Jackie Gleason Show — February 7, 1970 • 1972–1973 — The Dean Martin Show — Regular performer • 1977 — Benny and Barney: Las Vegas Undercover — Manager — Television movie • 1978 — The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour — Himself — 5-minute stand-up act • 1979, 1980, 1996 — Saturday Night Live — Cameo in '79 & '96, host in '80 • 1990 — Where's Rodney — Unsold pilot • The Earth Day Special — Dr. Vinny Boombatz — Television special • 1993 — In Living Color — Himself — Season 4, Episode 18 • 1995–2004 — The Tonight Show with Jay Leno — Frequent guest • 1996 — The Simpsons — Larry Burns — Voice; Episode: "Burns, Baby Burns" • Suddenly Susan — Artie — Episode: "Cold Turkey" • 1997 — Home Improvement — Himself — Episode: "Thanksgiving" • Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist — Episode "Day Planner" • Mad TV — Season 2, Episode 12 • 2001 — XFL — Cameo in Cheerleaders' Locker Room • 2003 — The Electric Piper — Rat-A-Tat-Tat — Voice; Television movie • 2004 — Phil of the Future — Max the Dog — Episode: "Doggie Daycare" • Still Standing — Ed Bailey — Episode: "Still Neighbors"

• Year — Title — Artist — Ref. • 1983 — "Tell Her About It" — Billy Joel • 1984 — "Rappin' Rodney" — Rodney Dangerfield • 1986 — "Dancing on the Ceiling" — Lionel Richie • "Twist and Shout" — Rodney Dangerfield • 1988 — "Wild Thing" — Sam Kinison • 2002 — "Dance with Me" — Michael Bolton

• Year — Title — Role — Notes — Ref. • 1982 — Rodney Dangerfield: It's Not Easy Bein' Me — Himself / Various — HBO special • 1983 — Rodney Dangerfield: I Can't Take It No More — ABC special • 1985 — Rodney Dangerfield: Exposed — HBO special • 1986 — Rodney Dangerfield: It's Not Easy Bein' Me — Himself • 1988 — Rodney Dangerfield: Nothin' Goes Right • 1991 — Rodney Dangerfield's The Really Big Show • 1992 — Rodney Dangerfield: It's Lonely at the Top — Paramount special • 1997 — Rodney Dangerfield's 75 th Birthday Toast — HBO special

• Title — Year • The Loser / What's in a Name (reissue) — 1966 / 1977 • I Don't Get No Respect — 1970 • No Respect — 1980 • Rappin' Rodney — 1983 • La Contessa — 1995 • Romeo Rodney — 2005

• Title — Year — Notes • Easy Money — 1983 • Rover Dangerfield — 1991

• Title — Year — Notes • 20 th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Rodney Dangerfield — 2005 • Greatest Bits — 2008

• Title — Year — Notes • No Respect: The Ultimate Collection — 2004 — 3xDVD box set

Rodney Dangerfield was recorded at birth as Jacob Cohen. He also worked under the name Rodney Dangerfield. The authorities additionally record the headings Jacob Rodney Cohen and Jack Roy. His recorded language was English. His recorded confession was atheism.

Rodney Dangerfield is recorded as having received star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.