Rodney Dangerfield

• Born: November 22, 1921
• Birthplace: Babylon, New York
• Died: October 5, 2004
• Place of death: Los Angeles, California

Comedian and actor

Dangerfield, a comedian who specialized in self-deprecating humor, coined the catchphrase, “I don’t get no respect.”

Area of achievement: Entertainment

Early Life

Rodney Dangerfield (DAYN-jur-feeld) was born to Jewish parents in Babylon, New York. His father, Philip Cohen—a vaudeville performer—used the stage name Phil Roy. Using the name Jack Roy, Dangerfield began writing jokes at fifteen. At nineteen, he became a stand-up comic.

Dangerfield married Joyce Indig in 1949; they divorced in 1962 and remarried in 1963. Their union produced two children, Brian and Melanie. Dangerfield struggled to make money in comedy. To help support his wife and children, he sold aluminum siding and worked as a singing waiter and an acrobatic diver. He temporarily left show business.

In the early 1960’s, Dangerfield decided to try comedy again. This time he used a different persona to distinguish himself from the other comedians. He used self-deprecating humor, joked about mental depression, and employed the line, “I don’t get no respect.” He took the name Rodney Dangerfield from a character on Jack Benny’s radio show, but his legal name remained Jack Roy.

His break came when The Ed Sullivan Show needed a last-minute performer. Dangerfield took the spot and used his pessimistic monologue; his first joke employed the “no respect” gimmick. The middle-aged comic was a hit. He would appear on the show many more times during his career.

Reliably employed as a performer, Dangerfield wrote thousands of jokes belittling himself, performed in Las Vegas, and appeared regularly on The Dean Martin Show and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. In 1969, when his wife became too sick to care for their children, he bought a nightclub to be near his family. The Manhattan club, Dangerfield’s, became the setting for a Home Box Office (HBO) show, featuring such comics as Jim Carrey, Jerry Seinfeld, and Jeff Foxworthy. Dangerfield and his wife divorced in 1970. In 1971, he had his first film role in The Projectionist.

In 1980, Dangerfield appeared in the comedy film Caddyshack. Dangerfield portrayed Al Czervik, a newly rich Jew who is trying to buy an upscale country club that is segregated and anti-Semitic. Al tells an Asian friend who is entering the club, “I hear this place is restricted, Wang, so don’t tell ’em you’re Jewish, okay?”

Life’s Work

In 1981, Dangerfield recorded the Grammy Award-winning album No Respect for Casablanca/PolyGram Records. On a television program he performed “Rappin’ Rodney”; this performance became one of the first music videos on MTV. He began appearing in commercials for Miller Lite beer; he would later film advertisements for Arby’s (1980), Wickes Furniture (2000), and GladWare (2002). He accepted starring roles in the films Back to School (1986) and Easy Money (1983).

Dangerfield married Joan Child on December 26, 1993. Thirty years his junior, Child, a Mormon, helped him become one of the first entertainers to have a Web site. In 2000, he wrote and starred in the comedy My Five Wives, about a Mormon polygamist. His marriage to Child would endure until his death. Dangerfield had roles in twenty-eight films, including Natural Born Killers (1994). He produced many of them, co-composed many songs, provided a voice in animated films such as Steven Spielberg’s Casper (1997), and even sang in some films. He appeared on more than twenty television shows.

Dangerfield was insulted when actor Roddy McDowall, head of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences’ actor section, rejected him for membership in 1995. When fans protested Dangerfield’s exclusion, the academy invited him to join. Dangerfield, however, refused to do so. He did receive recognition from the Smithsonian Institution, which displayed his iconic red tie and white shirt. In 2002, he earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2004, Dangerfield published his autobiography, It’s Not Easy Bein’ Me: A Lifetime of No Respect but Plenty of Sex and Drugs.

Dangerfield’s health faltered in his later years. He underwent various brain and heart surgeries, and he received treatment for aneurysms. In September, 2004, he went into a coma. On October 5, 2004, Dangerfield died from complications from surgery, just short of his eighty-third birthday. Because “Rodney was a night person,” his wife held an evening butterfly-release ceremony led by actor Farrah Fawcett for his service. Skywriters wrote the word “respect” across the sky in tribute. Pallbearers included Adam Sandler, Michael Bolton, Carrey, and Bob Saget. Honorary pallbearers were George Carlin, Carl Reiner, Chris Rock, Roseanne Barr, and Jerry Stiller. Dangerfield’s widow selected Frank Sinatra’s “Come Fly with Me” as the recessional song because it was playing in Dangerfield’s hospital room when he died. Dangerfield’s headstone reads: “Rodney Dangerfield: There goes the neighborhood.” A DVD set, Rodney Dangerfield: The Ultimate No Respect Collection, was released on December 7, 2004. Many of its clips came from his more than seventy appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

Significance

The face, the voice, and the humor of Dangerfield remain easily recognizable on television, in his twenty-eight films, in his books, and on his recordings. Dangerfield was a song composer, a scriptwriter, and a singer. His line “I don’t get no respect” remains his trademark. Even though Dangerfield claimed to get no respect, his name appears on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; his white shirt and red tie are a part of the displays of the Smithsonian Institution, and he was the recipient of both the 1981Grammy Award and the 1995 Lifetime Creative Achievement Award for his comedy.

Bibliography

Dangerfield, Rodney. It’s Not Easy Bein’ Me: A Lifetime of No Respect but Plenty of Sex and Drugs. New York: HarperEntertainment, 2004. Dangerfield’s anecdotal autobiography appeared just before his death. The work combines humor and honesty. Cartoons, jokes, and photos appear as sidebars.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. “Ten Questions: Rodney Dangerfield on Respect, Pot, and Sex at Eighty-Two.” Time 163, no. 2 (May 17, 2004): 8. Dangerfield, an octogenarian, answers some personal questions, on such topics as his sex life, his depression, and the rocky start to his career as a performer.

Epstein, Lawrence J. The Haunted Smile: The Story of Jewish Comedians in America. New York: PublicAffairs, 2001. Insightful analysis of Dangerfield’s comedy style.