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Rodney Dangerfield

Rodney Dangerfield was born in Deer Park, Long Island, New York on November 22, 1921. His real name was Jacob Cohen and he began writing jokes at the age of 15. He started performing in his late teens. While working as a struggling comedian, Rodney worked as a singing waiter. When he appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1948, Rodney made Ed Sullivan laugh, while few people even provoked any kind of reaction out of the legendary host.

Dangerfield had the image of a lovable disgruntled everyman type that became a hit all across nightclubs in the 1960s. Dangerfield also made many appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Dean Martin Comedy Hour  By the mid 1970s, he had cemented his image as a comedian constantly tugging at his red tie, always proclaiming he gets no respect.

His big break came with many appearances on Saturday Night Live which brought him to a much wider audience and was hysterically funny on many occasions. In 1980, Dangerfield became a cornerstone of American comedy with the classic movie Caddyshack. Also, in 1980, Rodney came out with a popular comedy album, "Rappin Rodney", which earned him a Grammy for best comedy album. His next movie was Easy Money in 1983, a comedy that showed him as an insulting working class person who suddenly becomes a millionaire. The movie was also a big hit. His biggest film hit was Back to School (1986), which was one of the first comedies to gross over $100 million. In 1994, Dangerfield starred in his first dramatic role in the successful Oliver Stone film, Natural Born Killers. He played a critically-acclaimed role of an abusive father who drove one of the killers crazy.

In 1995, Dangerfield became the first entertainer to have a website on the world-wide web. During his career, Dangerfield made a record 70 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and was personally responsible for discovering many struggling comedians, including Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey, Roseanne Barr, Robert Townsend, Sam Kinison, Tim Allen, Rita Rudner and Jeff Foxworthy.

Rodney owned a legendary nightclub in Manhattan called "Dangerfield's" and in the 1990s, made highly-publicized appearances on The Simpsons, In Living Color, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Home Improvement and Suddenly Susan, among others.

Rodney Dangerfield died on October 5, 2004, after falling into a coma following heart surgery. He was buried at the beautiful and prestigious Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California. The epitaph on his tombstone reads "There goes the neighborhood".

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"One-Liners"