Rodney Dangerfield

Rodney Dangerfield was born Jacob Cohen on November 22, 1921 in Deer Park, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. He was the son of Dorothy "Dotty" (Teitelbaum) and Phillip Cohen, who performed in vaudeville under the name Phil Roy. His father was born in New York, to Russian Jewish parents, and his mother was a Hungarian Jewish immigrant. Rodney began writing jokes at the age of fifteen, and started performing before he was 20. He took his act to the road for ten years, his stage name was "Jack Roy". While working as a struggling comedian, Rodney Dangerfield worked as a singing waiter. His first run at comedy was to no avail.

When he appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" (The Ed Sullivan Show (1948)), Rodney Dangerfield made Ed Sullivan laugh. Few people ever provoked any kind of reaction out of the legendary Ed Sullivan.

Rodney Dangerfield married Joyce Indig, in 1949 and had two children: Brian and Melanie.

During the 1950s, Rodney was an aluminum siding salesman, living in New Jersey. The comedian made another attempt at stand-up comedy, this time as Rodney Dangerfield.

Dangerfield had the image of a lovable disgruntled every-man type that became a hit all across nightclubs in the 1960s.

In 1961, Rodney divorced from his wife.

Dangerfield also made many appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) and The Dean Martin Show (1965) in the 1970s.

Dangerfield had made a record 70 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), and had discovered many struggling comedians, including Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey, Roseanne Barr, Robert Townsend, Sam Kinison and Tim Allen. The comedian owned a legendary nightclub in Manhattan called "Dangerfield's".

Rodney Dangerfield snatched a minor supporting part in the movie, The Projectionist (1970), in 1971.

By the mid 1970s, he had cemented his image as a comedian constantly tugging at his red tie, always proclaiming he gets no respect.

Based his famous "I get no respect" on The Godfather (1972), since he figured that "Vito Corleone" had respect. He also based it on an experience he had at a nightclub. One night, he saw an older, low-level gangster complaining about how young people gave him "no respect, no respect at all" and he never forgot it.

His big break came with many appearances on Saturday Night Live (1975), bringing himself to a much wider audience and proving hysterical on many occasions.

In 1980, Dangerfield became a cornerstone of American comedy with the classic Caddyshack (1980). Here, he played "Al Czervik", a rich golfer who was a basically nice guy who was extremely outspoken and very obnoxious. His character was often unhappy with the rich snobbery he was around, and he takes on the rich people that are so snobby to him. The average guy that his character portrayed was an instant hit, and a formula that Dangerfield often stuck with.

Also, in 1980, Rodney came out with a popular comedy album, "Rappin Rodney". The album earned Dangerfield a Grammy for best comedy album.

The next movie on Rodney's agenda was Easy Money (1983), a comedy that showed him as an insulting working class person who suddenly becomes a millionaire. The movie was also a big hit. Dangerfield became very sparse in his roles on TV and film about this time.

The year 1986 saw the comedy, Back to School (1986), his biggest film to date. The comedy was one of the first to gross over 100 million.

In the 1990s, he made highly-publicized appearances on The Simpsons (1989), In Living Color (1990), Dr.

After regaining consciousness from his brain surgery, his first request was to watch The Jerry Springer Show (1991).

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. Pg. 130-132. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387

In 1993, he married Joan Dangerfield (aka Joan Child), a woman thirty years younger than him, and a Mormon.

In 1994, Dangerfield starred in his first dramatic role in the successful Oliver Stone film, Natural Born Killers (1994). He played an abusive father who drove one of the killers crazy. His part was critically-acclaimed.

In 1995, Dangerfield entered the world of cyberspace, becoming the first entertainer to have a website on the world-wide web.

Katz, Professional Therapist (1995), Home Improvement (1991), Suddenly Susan (1996), among others.

In 1997, he starred in Meet Wally Sparks (1997), a political and talk show satire which was poorly received.

In 1997, he admitted to a lifelong bout with depression and, on his 80th birthday, had a mild heart attack. He has major fans from all kinds of people from all different backgrounds.

Dangerfield took a very small part, but was top-billed in the direct-to-video The Godson (1998), and starred in the direct-to-video link=tt0216930]. But it has not been all smooth sailing for this comedian.

In 2000, Dangerfield starred as "the Devil" in Little Nicky (2000). The movie was potentially a huge hit, but was a failure by most accounts.

On Nov. 22, 2001, he suffered what was called a "mild" heart attack on his 80th birthday.

On April 8, 2003, underwent arterial brain surgery to improve his body's blood flow in preparation for a heart valve replacement.

Was hospitalized 24 August 2004 for heart valve-replacement surgery.

One of the few actors to have played both God (in Angels with Angles (2005)) and Lucifer (in Little Nicky (2000).