Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Rodney Dangerfield (November 22, 1921 –
October 5, 2004), 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. 

==Early life and career==

He was born in Babylon, New York|Babylon, Long
Island, USA, the son of vaudeville|vaudevillian
Phil Roy (Philip Cohen). As a teenager, he got his
start writing jokes for Stand-up comedy|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
Awards|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.

In 1995, his application for membership in the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was
rejected. At the time, Dangerfield commented on
how then-president of AMPAS, Roddy McDowall, who
acted in a monkey suit in the Planet of the Apes
series of films, possibly felt that Dangerfield
wasn't dignified enough to join the organization. 
AMPAS would later change their decision and offer
membership, an offer he declined.

The confusion of Dangerfield's stage persona with
his real-life personality was a conception that he
long resented. Described by his wife as "classy,
gentlemanly, sensitive and intelligent"
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/605469
3/rodneydangerfield?pageid=rs.Artistcage&pageregio
n=triple3&rnd=1096316510181&has-player=true,
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 0066211077) was published. 
The book's original title was My Love Affair With
Marijuana, a reference to Marijuana|the drug he
smoked daily for sixty years.

==Later years==

On April 8, 2003, Dangerfield underwent
Neurosurgery|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.

He was married twice to Joyce Indig - from 1949 to
1962, and then from 1963 to 1970 - with whom he
had a son named Brian and a daughter named
Melanie. From 1993 to his death he was married to
Joan Child.



==Selected Filmography== 
*The Projectionist (1971)
*Caddyshack (1980)
*Easy Money (1983) (also writer)
*Back to School (1986) (also writer)
*Moving (1988) (Cameo)
*Rodney Dangerfield: Nothin' Goes Right (1988)
(documentary) (also writer)
*Rover Dangerfield (1991) (voice) (also writer and
producer)
*Ladybugs (1992)
*Natural Born Killers (1994)
*Casper (1995) (Cameo)
*Meet Wally Sparks (1997) (also writer and
producer)
*Rusty: A Dog's Tale (1998) (voice)
*The Godson (1998)
*Pirates: 3D Show (1999) (short subject)
*My 5 Wives (2000) (also writer and producer)
*Little Nicky (2000)
*Back by Midnight (2002) (also writer)
*The 4th Tenor (2002) (also writer)
*Three 'S' a Crowd (2005) (currently filming)
*Angels with Angles (2005) (currently filming)

==TV Work==
*The Dean Martin Show (regular performer from
1972-1973)
*Benny and Barney: Las Vegas Undercover (1977)
*It's Not Easy Bein' Me: The Rodney Dangerfield
Show (1982)
*Rodney Dangerfield: It's Not Easy Bein' Me (1986)
*Where's Rodney (1990-1991)
*Rodney Dangerfield's The Really Big Show (1991)
*Rodney Dangerfield: It's Lonely at the Top (1992)
*Rodney Dangerfield's 75th Birthday Toast (1997)
*The Electric Piper (2003) (voice)

== External links ==

* http://www.rodney.com/ Rodney Dangerfield's
website
*
http://www.oldkewgardens.com/ss-lefferts-1005.html
Article about Dangerfield from a Kew Gardens
website
*
http://www.esmail.com/modules.php?name=News&file=a
rticle&sid=12 Interview with Sam Esmail on
esmail.com
*imdb name|id=0001098|name=Rodney Dangerfield
*
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/605469
3/rodneydangerfield?pageid=rs.Artistcage&pageregio
n=triple3&rnd=1096316510181&has-player=true
Interview with Rolling Stone Magazine
* http://www.jungleroses.com/ Jungle Roses, the
website for his widow's flower importing business
*
http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=31581
93 Audio interview with Fresh Air's Terry Gross
from 7/6/04