Rodney Dangerfield, born Jacob Cohen,
was an American comedian and actor, best known for
the line "I don't get no respect" and his
monologues on that theme.
Dangerfield was born in Babylon, Long Island, USA,
the son of vaudevillian Phil Roy (Philip Cohen). As
a teenager, he got his start writing jokes for standup
comics; he became one himself at 19, and struggled
financially for nine years under the name Jack Roy
before giving up show business to support his wife.
He returned to stand-up in the early 1960s; to give
his career a fresh start, he changed his name to Rodney
Dangerfield. The movie The Godfather inspired his trademark
line about the lack of respect he received. Headlining
performances in Las Vegas and dozens of performances
on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Dean Martin Show kept
him in the public eye. Dangerfield made 70 appearances
on The Tonight Show. Dangerfield also made an appearance
on The Simpsons as Mr. Burns' son, Larry. Larry Burns
was modeled after Dangerfield, including his tie tug.
Wanting to remain near his children after his divorce
from their mother, he became the owner of a Manhattan
nightclub in 1969; the nightclub, "Dangerfield's",
was the venue for an HBO show and helped popularize
many stand-up comics, including Jerry Seinfeld, Jim
Carrey, Tim Allen, Roseanne
Barr, Jeff Foxworthy, Sam
Kinison, Rita Rudner, and Bob Saget.
Dangerfield's career peaked during the early 1980s,
with his appearance in Caddyshack and the release of
his Grammy Award-winning comedy album No Respect. He
played an abusive father in Natural Born Killers in
a scene where he wrote his own lines.
In 1994, Dangerfield won an American Comedy Award
for lifetime creative achievement. He was also recognized
by the Smithsonian Institution, which put one of his
trademark white shirts and red ties on display.
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 one-liner of the type he was known
for: responding to how long he would be hospitalized,
he said, "If all goes well, about a week. If not,
about an hour-and-a-half."
In September 2004, it was revealed that Dangerfield,
then aged 82, had been in a coma for several weeks.
Afterward, he had been breathing on his own and had
been showing signs of awareness when visited by friends.
However, on October 5, 2004, he died at the UCLA Medical
Center, where he had undergone the surgery in August.
He was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park
Cemetery in Los Angeles. |
