ROCKS OFF - The Rolling Stones Message Board

Royal Albert Hall, London - October 13, 2004
Thanks Moy!
[THE WET PAGE] [IORR NEWS] [SETLISTS 1962-2003] [THE A/V ROOM] [THE ART GALLERY] [MICK JAGGER] [KEITHFUCIUS] [CHARLIE WATTS ] [RON WOOD] [BRIAN JONES] [MICK TAYLOR] [BILL WYMAN] [IAN STEWART ] [NICKY HOPKINS] [MERRY CLAYTON] [IAN 'MAC' McLAGAN] [BERNARD FOWLER] [LISA FISCHER] [DARRYL JONES] [BOBBY KEYS] [JAMES PHELGE] [CHUCK LEAVELL] [LINKS] [PHOTOS] [MAGAZINE COVERS] [MUSIC COVERS ] [JIMI HENDRIX] [BOOTLEGS] [TEMPLE] [GUESTBOOK] [ADMIN]

[CHAT ROOM aka THE FUN HOUSE] [RESTROOMS]

NEW: SEARCH ZONE:
Search for goods, you'll find the impossible collector's item!!!
Enter artist an start searching using "Power Search" (RECOMMENDED) inside.
Search for information in the wet page, the archives and this board:

PicoSearch
ROCKS OFF - The Rolling Stones Message Board
Register | Update Profile | F.A.Q. | Admin Control Panel

Topic: Rodney Dangerfield RIP Return to archive
October 6th, 2004 05:57 AM
Ten Thousand Motels Comic Rodney Dangerfield Dies at Age 82


LOS ANGELES (AP) - Rodney Dangerfield, the bug-eyed comic whose self-deprecating one-liners brought him stardom in clubs, television and movies and made his lament "I don't get no respect" a catchphrase, died Tuesday. He was 82.

Dangerfield, who fell into a coma after undergoing heart surgery, died at 1:20 p.m., said publicist Kevin Sasaki. Dangerfield had a heart valve replaced Aug. 25 at the University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center.

Sasaki said in a statement that Dangerfield suffered a small stroke after the operation and developed infectious and abdominal complications. But in the past week he had emerged from the coma, the publicist said.

"When Rodney emerged, he kissed me, squeezed my hand and smiled for his doctors," Dangerfield's wife, Joan, said in the statement. The comic is also survived by two children from a previous marriage.

As a comic, Dangerfield - clad in a black suit, red tie and white shirt with collar that seemed too tight - convulsed audiences with lines such as: "When I was born, I was so ugly that the doctor slapped my mother"; "When I started in show business, I played one club that was so far out my act was reviewed in Field and Stream"; and "Every time I get in an elevator, the operator says the same thing to me: 'Basement?'"

In a 1986 interview, he explained the origin of his "respect" trademark:

"I had this joke: 'I played hide and seek; they wouldn't even look for me.' To make it work better, you look for something to put in front of it: I was so poor, I was so dumb, so this, so that. I thought, 'Now what fits that joke?' Well, 'No one liked me' was all right. But then I thought, a more profound thing would be, 'I get no respect.'"

He tried it at a New York club, and the joke drew a bigger response than ever. He kept the phrase in the act, and it seemed to establish a bond with his audience. After hearing him perform years later, Jack Benny remarked: "Me, I get laughs because I'm cheap and 39. Your image goes into the soul of everyone."

Flowers were placed on his star on Hollywood Boulevard after word of his death, and the marquee of The Improv, a comedy club where Dangerfield often performed, read "Rest In Peace Rodney."
"When you saw Rodney on 'The Tonight Show' sitting on the couch with Johnny Carson, you didn't want it to go to commercial," comic Bernie Mac said in a statement. "He always left you wanting more and I'm going to miss him."

Dangerfield had a strange career in show business. At 19 he started as a standup comedian. He made only a fair living, traveling a great deal and appearing in rundown joints. Married at 27, he decided he couldn't support a family on his meager earnings.

He returned to comedy at 42 and began to attract notice. He appeared on the Ed Sullivan show seven times and on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson more than 70 times.

After his first major film role in "Caddyshack," he began starring in his own movies.

He was born Jacob Cohen on Nov. 22, 1921, on New York's Long Island. Growing up in the borough of Queens, his mother was uncaring and his father was absent. As Philip Roy, the father and his brother toured in vaudeville as a pantomime comedy-juggling act, Roy and Arthur. Young Jacob's parents divorced, and the mother struggled to support her daughter and son.

The boy helped bring in money by selling ice cream at the beach and working for a grocery store. "I found myself going to school with kids and then in the afternoon I'd be delivering groceries to their back door," he recalled. "I ended up feeling inferior to everybody."

He ingratiated himself to his schoolmates by being funny; at 15 he was writing down jokes and storing them in a duffel bag. When he was 19, he adopted the name Jack Roy and tried out the jokes at a resort in the Catskills, training ground for Danny Kaye, Jerry Lewis, Red Button, Sid Caesar and other comedians. The job paid $12 a week plus room and meals.

In New York, he drove a laundry and fish truck, taking time off to hunt for work as a comedian. The jobs came slowly, but in time he was averaging $300 a week.

He married Joyce Indig, a singer he met at a New York club. Both had wearied of the uncertainty of a performer's life.

"We wanted to lead a normal life," he remarked in a 1986 interview. "I wanted a house and a picket fence and kids, and the heck with show business. Love is more important, you see. When the show is over, you're alone."

The couple settled in Englewood, N.J., had two children, Brian and Melanie, and he worked selling paint and siding. But the idyllic suburban life soured as the pair battled. The couple divorced in 1962, remarried a year later and again divorced.

In 1993, Dangerfield married Joan Child, a flower importer.

At age 42, he returned to show business as Jack Roy. He remembered in 1986:

"It was like a need. I had to work. I had to tell jokes. I had to write them and tell them. It was like a fix. I had the habit."

Even during his domestic years, he continued filling the duffel bag with jokes. He didn't want to break in his new act with any notice, so he asked the owner of New York's Inwood Lounge, George McFadden, not to bill him as Jack Roy. McFadden came up with the absurd name Rodney Dangerfield. It stuck.

Dangerfield's bookings improved, and he landed television gigs. After his ex-wife died, he took over the responsibility of raising his two children. He decided to quit touring and open a New York nightclub, Dangerfield's, so he could stay close to home. A beer commercial and the Carson shows brought him national attention.

His film debut came in 1971 with "The Projectionist," which he described as "the kind of a movie that you went to the location on the subway." He did better in 1980 with "Caddyshack," in which he held his own with such comics as Chevy Chase, Ted Knight and Bill Murray.

Despite his good reviews, Dangerfield claimed he didn't like movies or TV series: "Too much waiting around, too much memorizing; I need that immediate feedback of people laughing."

Still, he continued starring in and sometimes writing films such as "Easy Money,""Back to School,""Moving,""The Scout,""Ladybugs" and "Meet Wally Sparks." He turned dramatic as a sadistic father in Oliver Stone's 1994 "Natural Born Killers."

In 1995, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rejected Dangerfield's application for membership. A letter from Roddy McDowall of the actors branch explained that the comedian had failed to execute "enough of the kinds of roles that allow a performer to demonstrate the mastery of his craft."

The ultimate rejection, and Dangerfield played it to the hilt. He had established his own Web site ("I went out and bought an Apple Computer; it had a worm in it"), and his fans used it to express their indignation. The public reaction prompted the academy to reverse itself and offer membership. Dangerfield declined.

"They don't even apologize or nothing," he said. "They give no respect at all - pardon the pun - to comedy."

October 6th, 2004 06:54 AM
Gazza Sad news. Everytime I see him I automatically crack up laughing. A great entertainer.

I loved that line in "Caddyshack" that he shot at an overly pompous Ted Knight; "Who made you Pope of THIS dump?" - I've used that one numerous times ever since!
October 6th, 2004 07:03 AM
IanBillen
Wow, I seen him a few months back on the late show.
He was somethin. What a face and voice to go with it.
On the late show he talked about coming home stoned on Pot one night and accidentally eating a Chocolate Cake full of red ants. My thoughts are for him.
Ian
October 6th, 2004 07:15 AM
LadyJane A very funny man...just looking at his face would make me laugh.

Rodney...we respect ya!!

RIP

LJ.
October 6th, 2004 07:22 AM
Mr Hess I'm totally bummed.
All the old-time greats are passing away.
RIP Rodney!

"She was so big, that everytime her cell phone rang, people would think she was backing up!"
October 6th, 2004 07:52 AM
BILL PERKS "TELL THE COOK THIS IS LOW GRADE DOG FOOD"-"HEY RINGO,PLAY SOMETHIN HOT"-ALSO THE LOOK ON HIS FACE WHEN THE PURTO RICAN SON IN LAW SAYS "CAN I CALL YOU..DAD?"..THE BEST-HE'LL BE MISSED
October 6th, 2004 07:59 AM
nankerphelge Bummer.

One of my favorites.
What a lucky man to have won over one generation in nightclubs and Vegas, and then win over a whole new generation after Caddyshack.

What an ugly hat...
they should give away a bowl of soup with that hat.
Oh!
Looks good on you tho!
October 6th, 2004 09:30 AM
Joey

<------- http://www.rodney.com/rodney/home/home.asp

" I tell ya when I fly, I don't get no respect. I took one of those cheap flights, no frills. I finished eatin' and had to do the dishes. And I tell ya I got no confidence in the pilot. When he makes a left turn he puts his hand out. "

R.I.P. Rodney




October 6th, 2004 09:38 AM
glencar See ya Rodney.
October 6th, 2004 09:47 AM
Lil Brian
quote:
Gazza wrote:
I loved that line in "Caddyshack" that he shot at an overly pompous Ted Knight; "Who made you Pope of THIS dump?" - I've used that one numerous times ever since!



"Bushwood, a dump?" :-0

RIP Rodney. Thanks for the funny golf movie.
October 6th, 2004 10:36 AM
telecaster I was driving home and I saw a naked man running down the street. I asked him what happened and he said "You came home"
October 6th, 2004 10:48 AM
telecaster jb another great Jewish comedian passes
October 6th, 2004 11:23 AM
jb
quote:
telecaster wrote:
jb another great Jewish comedian passes

Yes Tele, Rodney was a great comedian who made me crack up everytime I saw him....Bill Perks, SS, and Jumacfly can go fuck themselves!!!
October 6th, 2004 11:35 AM
Joey
quote:
telecaster wrote:
jb another great Jewish comedian passes



W- W- W- What ?!?! .....Oh , sure :


Alan King
Joan Rivers
Sid Caesar
Rhonda Shear
Jackie Mason
Carol Leifer
Robert Klein
David Brenner
Woody Allen
Jon Stewart
Elayne Boosler
Keith Moon
October 6th, 2004 12:15 PM
Gimme Shelter RIP Rodney
October 6th, 2004 01:14 PM
Lazy Bones I read the news sitting in the barber shop this morning. You gotta respect 82, though!

RIP, Rodney!
October 6th, 2004 01:28 PM
jb
quote:
Lazy Bones wrote:
I read the news sitting in the barber shop this morning. You gotta respect 82, though!

RIP, Rodney!

LIEBE MEINE ABS-MONKE
October 6th, 2004 07:04 PM
stonedinaustralia like most of us, i'm sure, i thought caddyshack was absolutely hilarious - loved the name of his yacht - "seafood"
October 6th, 2004 10:43 PM
Soldatti Sad lost