Background

Ethnicity: Dangerfield's father was born in New York, to Russian Jewish parents, and his mother was a Hungarian Jewish immigrant.

Rodney Dangerfield was born Jacob Cohen on the 22nd of November, 1921 in Babylon, New York, United States, the youngest son of Jewish parents. His father, Phil Roy, was a comic and juggler who toured the vaudeville circuit. Roy abandoned the family shortly after Dangerfield's birth, leaving Dangerfield's mother, Dorothy "Dotty" Teitelbaum, to raise her children alone.

Education

Rodney Dangerfield studied at Richmond Hill High School, graduating in 1939.

Career

Young Jack began his career at the age of 15 when he started writing jokes. At 17, he started performing at amateur nights before traveling the comedy circuit for 10 years as Jack Roy, without much success. Dangerfield landed his first big gig telling jokes at a resort in upstate New York, where he performed for ten weeks. Though he continued to land jobs at various comedy clubs, Dangerfield began driving delivery trucks and working as a singing waiter to make extra money. Despite bringing in as much as $300 a week, comedy didn't pay well enough, and Dangerfield struggled financially. When he married in 1949, he reluctantly gave up showbusiness for a more stable income as an aluminum wall-cladding salesman, living in New Jersey.

Eventually, however, domestic life soured for him and his mar­riage ended in divorce. The performing bug was still biting, so he decided to return to show business. Not wanting to be embarrassed in front of friends and fam­ily in case his return to comedy failed, he asked George McFadden, owner of the Inwood Lounge in New York City, to give him a performing name, and Rodney Dangerfield was born. Later, the comic had his name legally changed to Dangerfield. Slowly, he began to gain more work, and then in 1967 his agent got him an audition with television variety host Ed Sullivan, and Dangerfield’s career took off. He made several appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show, along with guest spots on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and appearances on shows with Merv Griffin and Dean Martin.

When his ex-wife passed away, the comic started a nightclub in 1969 called Dangerfield's in Manhattan so that he could provide some stability for his two sons. Next came movies, beginning with the forgettable 1971 film The Projectionist. After that, Dangerfield stayed away from movies until the hit 1980 comedy Caddyshack.

Dangerfield made a number of other films, though he preferred performing in front of a live audience. Among these movies are Back to School in 1986, the animated Rover Dangerfield in 1991, Ladybugs in 1992, and Little Nicky in 2000. Rodney made highly-publicized appearances on The Simpsons in 1989, In Living Color in 1990, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist in 1995, Home Improvement in 1991, Suddenly Susan in 1996, among others. He also had a dramatic role in the 1994 movie Natural Born Killers. But comedy was his forte, and, along with his albums and television appearances, he recorded his jokes in two books “I Couldn't Stand My Wife's Cooking So I Opened a Restaurant” in 1972 and “I Don't Get No Respect” in 1973. In 2004 Dangerfield’s autobiography “It's Not Easy Bein' Me: A Lifetime of No Respect but Plenty of Sex and Drugs” was published.

In addition to his standup and acting careers, Dangerfield also performed on Broadway in Rodney Dangerfield on Broadway! and released a number of comedy albums which included 1984's "Rappin' Rodney," a rap parody. Dangerfield also starred in a number of HBO specials, Rodney sometimes used these specials to showcase up-and-coming comedians.

Achievements

• Rodney Dangerfield was nominated for numerous awards such as Grammy Award in 1981, MTV Video Music Award in 1987 and American Comedy Award in 1995.
  
  Rodney Dangerfield was the first entertainer to personally own a Web site when he launched one in 1995.
  
  Dangerfield's comedy club was a success, and he was generous about providing a stage for unknown comedians - Jim Carrey, Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler, and Roseanne Barr were among the many comics who performed there.
  
  Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy hosted the first class of The Rodney Dangerfield Institute of Comedy in 2017.

Works

More photos

• book

  • No Respect

    (The beloved comedian who gets "no respect" offers a colle...)

    1995
  • It's Not Easy Bein' Me: A Lifetime of No Respect but Plenty of Sex and Drugs

    (An American comic icon tells the story of his second-act ...)

    2004
  • I Don't Get No Respect 1973
  • I Couldn't Stand My Wife's Cooking, So I Opened a Restaurant 1972

Religion

Dangerfield, while Jewish, referred to himself as a "logical" atheist.

Views

Quotations: "Comedy is essentially mood, not a series of one-liners, every joke is a complete story”.

“I tell ya, when I was a kid I had it rough. Once on my birthday, my old man gave me a bat. The first day I played with it, it flew away”.

“I tell ya with girls, I never have any luck. A belly-dancer told me I turned her stomach”.

“I tell ya, nothing works out. I bought a book, ‘100 Ways To Make Love’. I ended up in traction—it was a misprint”.

“I tell ya with my old man, I never got respect. He told me, “Never take candy from strangers, unless he offered me a ride”.

"Last week I told my wife, “If you would learn to cook, I could fire the chef”. She said, “If you could learn to make love, I could fire the chauffeur”.

“When I was born, I got no respect. The doctor told my mother, “I did all I could, but he pulled through anyway”.

“I tell ya with my dog, I don’t get no respect. He keeps barking at the front door. He doesn’t want to go out, he wants me to leave”.

“I know I’m ugly. My dog found out we look alike. He killed himself”.

“I tell ya my old man was strict. He said, “No drinking in the house”. I had two brothers who died of thirst.

“Oh when I say I’m lonely, I’m very lonely. Well the other day in traffic, this guy gave me the finger, and I enjoyed I”t.

“I tell ya with my dog, I don’t get no respect. His favorite bone is in my finger”.

“I tell ya with girls, I don’t get no respect. I was making love to one girl and she started to cry. I said, “What’s the matter, you going to hate yourself in the morning?” She said, “No I hate myself right now”.

“I tell ya last Christmas I got no respect. I gave my kid a BB gun. He gave me a sweatshirt with a bulls eye in the back”.

“Oh when I was a kid, I got no respect. I played hide and seek. They wouldn’t even look for me”.

“I tell ya, my old man, he was never nice. I asked him if I can go ice skating on the lake. He told me to wait until it gets warmer”.

“Oh I’m a bad drinker. I got loaded one night, the next day I ended up in front of a judge. He told me, “You’re here for drinking”. I said, “Ok your honor, let’s get started”.

“My kid he drives me nuts. For three years now he goes to a private school. He won’t tell me where it is.

“I tell ya when I was a kid, I got no respect. Well the time I was kidnapped. They sent my old man a note. They said, “We owe $5,000, or you’ll see your kid again”.

“Oh with my old man, when I was a kid I got no respect. I told him, “How can I get my kite in the air?” He told me to run off a cliff”.

“I tell ya, I come from a tough neighborhood. Well the other night, a guy pulled a knife on me. I could see it wasn’t a real professional job, there was butter on it”.

“You know, the doctors say when you have sex, you lose 150 calories. I had sex once. I lost 150 calories, my watch and my wallet”.

“I tell ya, when I was a kid I got no respect. I told my mother I’m going to run away from home. She said, “On your mark…”

“In high school, I got no respect. I shared a locker with a mop”.

“Oh I tell ya, she was old. Well when she was born, the Dead Sea wasn’t even sick”.

“I tell ya, with my doctor, I don’t get no respect. I swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills. He told me to go home, and have a few drinks and get some rest”.

“I tell ya, when I was a kid I got no respect. When I went on a roller coaster, my old man, he told me to stand up straight”.

Personality

Constantly tugging at his red tie, Rodney Dangerfield presented himself as a disgruntled ordinary guy. "My image is something everyone identified with", he claimed.

Quotes from others about the person

• "The affection felt for Dangerfield when you saw him on TV or in the movies was doubled when you had the pleasure to meet him. He was a hero who lived up to the hype”. - Adam Sandler
  
  "There are not many people alive who could party with Rodney. He would have left you all for dead. He really went hard, he was fun. He was funny. In my free time on the movie [Caddyshack], I spent it with him. That’s who I wanted to talk to, that’s who had an irony and experience beyond us. He was super cool". - Bill Murray
  
  "Rodney Dangerfield made the world laugh, and laugh deeply because he was just so funny. Funny as a writer, funny as an actor, funny as a comedian, and funny as a man". - Bob Saget
  
  "He would find a place for you if he enjoyed what you did and believed in you. And that was rare. It just shows how generous he was. Most comics are threatened by other funny people". - Brad Garrett
  
  "Rodney, I’m cheap and I’m 39, that’s my image, but your ‘no respect’ thing, that’s into the soul of everybody. Everybody can identify with that....Every day something happens where people feel they didn’t get respect". - Jack Benny
  
  "He gave so much to people, he gave people so much joy & so much laughter & so much relief....One of the great experiences in my life is knowing Rodney Dangerfield. I’m so thankful, I’m so thankful". - Jim Carrey
  
  "I think Rodney enjoyed people who are unique and had their own voice. He always championed people who were off-beat". - Sandra Bernhard
  
  "One of the prime guys in my life....What a tremendous man this man was....For a man who said all his life he got no respect, it is amazing the impression he’s made on everybody". - Tim Allen

Connections

Rodney Dangerfield was married twice to Joyce Indig, the first time in 1949-1962. They remarried again in 1963, but after years of struggle, the relationship dissolved permanently in 1970. They had two children, Brian Roy and Melanie Roy-Friedman. In 1993, Rodney was married to Joan Dangerfield (aka Joan Child), a woman 30 years his junior, the owner of Jungle Roses, a national floral distribution company.

Father:

Phillip Cohen

Mother:

Dorothy Teitelbaum

Sister:

Marion Cohen

ex-wife:

Joyce Indig

Wife:

Joan Dangerfield

Daughter:

Melanie Roy-Friedman Dangerfield

Son:

Brian Dangerfield