Rodney Dangerfield

Rodney Dangerfield must be counted among the more remarkable figures in contemporary comedy. His standup career predates that of his old friend Lenny Bruce yet the peak of his success in films coincided with the rowdy, adolescent hijinks favored by "Saturday Night Live" alumni in the post-"Animal House" era. By all rights, Dangerfield should be a comedy dinosaur but his greatest hits are barely a decade old and he has continued to matter in the 90s through the turn of the century. As the founder and owner of the NYC comedy club Dangerfields and the host of a series of cable comedy specials, the veteran comic has lent a hand to once struggling comics who later became stars in their own right. This impressive roll call includes Jim Carrey, Roseanne, Jerry Seinfeld, Sam Kinison and Robert Townsend. Despite his seniority, Dangerfield has found that the typical audience member for his live act is barely out of his or her teens.

Goggle-eyed, slovenly and sweaty, Dangerfield is a character comic in the illustrious tradition of a Groucho Marx, W C Fields or Jack Benny. His trademark white shirt and red tie is even displayed at the Smithsonian. His signature line "I don't get no respect" still prompts spontaneous applause on late night talk shows. Perhaps part of Dangerfield's continuing appeal to youth culture has an element of camp or kitsch like the vogue for Tom Jones. On the other hand, he just may be rightfully treasured as an enduring American classic like Frank Sinatra. In any event, Dangerfield began performing under the name of Jack Roy in the 1940s, working his way up from singing waiter to comic. He then returned to entertainment as a middle-aged comedian after working for over a decade as a house painter and aluminum siding salesman in New Jersey.

Forever tugging at the necktie which threatens to strangle him, razzing both himself and his audience, Dangerfield offered a harried, middle-aged Everyman type which enabled him to move from nightclubs to TV commercials and comedy specials in the 1970s. Dangerfield first started to click with appearances on "The Tonight Show", "The Dean Martin Show" and "The Ed Sullivan Show", at the same time revitalizing his nightclub act nationwide. He has starred in a number of his own comedy specials, beginning in 1982 and boasting such titles as "It's Not Easy Bein' Me" (ABC, 1982), "Exposed" (ABC, 1985) and "Nothin' Goes Right" (HBO, 1988). He has also done guest shots in recent years on the likes of "In Living Color", "Suddenly Susan" and "Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist".

Dangerfield made his film debut as a tyrannical theater owner who bedevils Chuck McCann in the cult comedy "The Projectionist" (filmed in 1969 but unreleased until 1971). But he really came to the fore with his second film, the comedy hit "Caddyshack" (1980), playing a wealthy boor trying to buy a country club. His subsequent comedies have played up an ill-mannered, comically white trash/fish out of water image: he was a sudden millionaire in "Easy Money" (1983), a Midwestern transplant in "Moving" (1988), a Vegas pooch in the animated "Rover Dangerfield" (1991), a girls' soccer coach in "Ladybugs" (1992) and a sleazy talk show host in "Meet Wally Sparks" (1997). His biggest hit to date has been the highly enjoyable "Back to School" (1986). He even enjoyed a popular song, "Rappin' Rodney," and starred in the amusing video. Despite his popularity, Dangerfield was rejected when he applied for membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in 1995 for failing to demonstrate "mastery of his craft"; Dangerfield cannily worked the snub to his advantage in his act and fans flocked to his wensite to express their outrage. When the Acdemy reversed itself and proferred membership, Dangerfield declined. "They don't even apologize or nothing," he said. "They give no respect at all--pardon the pun--to comedy."

Dangerfield was already in his 70s when he made his dramatic acting debut--of sorts--as the spectacularly abusive father of Juliette Lewis in an unsettling sitcom-styled domestic sequence of Oliver Stone's intentionally controversial "Natural Born Killers" (1994). His self-penned "Meet Wally Sparks" (1997), in which he portrayed a TV talk show host, however, did not impress. Indeed, the bulk of the comic's late-career outings--"The Godson" (1998), "My Five Wives" (2000), "Back By Midnight" (2002), and "Angels With Angles" (2004)--didn't make the most of the good will audiences typically extended toward Dangerfield, but he did get some good notices for his turn in the good-natured and silly "The 4th Tenor" (2002), in which he played a lovestruck restauranteur who travels to Italy to learn to sing opera to win over an aria-singing diva--Dangerfield also co-wrote the script--and he had a welcome cameo as Lucifer in Adam Sandler's spawn-of-Satan comedy "Little Nicky" (2000). Dangerfield was in ill health toward the end of his career but solidered on in the spotlight for quite awhile, always appreciative of a little respect wherever he could find it.