NEWS: Comic Rodney Dangerfield dies in L.A. at age 82[views:3662][posts:15]________________________________ [Oct 5,2004 11:30pm - Abbath ""] LOS ANGELES(Reuters) - Rodney Dangerfield, the goggle-eyed comic famed for his self-deprecating one-liners and signature phrase "I can't get no respect," died Tuesday at age 82, his spokesman said. Dangerfield, who became a pop culture sensation in middle age with a string of broad film comedies starting with "Caddyshack" in 1980, died at the UCLA Medical Center, where he had undergone heart valve replacement surgery on Aug. 25, spokesman Kevin Sasaki said. Dangerfield, whose initial forays into show business ended in failure, restarted his career as a comedian in his 40s. He went on to become a national sensation in his own right and helped launch the careers of such comics as Jim Carrey and Jerry Seinfeld. Dangerfield suffered a stroke following the surgery in August and "developed infectious and abdominal complications from which he did not recover," Sasaki said. During the past week, the entertainer emerged from a coma he had slipped into sometime after the operation, according to his wife, Joan. "When Rodney emerged, he kissed me, squeezed my hand, and smiled for the doctors," Joan Dangerfield said in a statement. A native of New York's Long Island, Dangerfield had endured a series of health problems in recent years. Last spring, he underwent brain surgery. A month later, Dangerfield greeted reporters at the hospital dressed in a sports shirt and Bermuda shorts and declared, "My brain is OK. I feel like a new man." Later, responding to a medical question, he answered, "Ask me about things I'm familiar with, like drugs or prostitution." TWO STARTS AT SHOWBIZ Born Jacob Cohen in Babylon, New York, in 1921, Dangerfield began writing jokes as a teenager, struggling as a comic and singing waiter in the "Borscht Belt" resorts of the Catskill Mountains under the name of Jack Roy in the 1940s. Leaving show business to earn a living as a house painter and aluminum siding salesman, he returned to the comedy circuit about a decade later, this time as Rodney Dangerfield. He eventually opened a New York nightclub and became a nationally recognized act with comedy albums and numerous TV appearances. Along the way he is credited with helping give a start to an impressive array of once-obscure talents who went on to become stars, among them Carrey, Seinfeld, Roseanne and the late Sam Kinison. Moving easily from nightclubs to TV to commercials to film, Dangerfield remained popular well past the peak of his career in the 1980s, forever tugging at his tie and drawing laughs with his catch phrase "I can't get no respect." Dangerfield made his film debut in the 1971 low-budget comedy "The Projectionist," playing the dual supporting roles of a tyrannical cinema manager and a serial villain, The Bat. But his big-screen breakout came in a string of rowdy comedies in the 1980s -- "Caddyshack," "Easy Money" and "Back to School." His movie appearances generally have mirrored his stand-up comedy persona, with Dangerfield playing boisterous, casually ribald characters with a rapid-fire patter of one-liners. Later film roles included the coach of a girl's soccer team in "Ladybugs" (1992), an abusive father in Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" (1994), a tabloid TV show reporter in "Meet Wally Sparks" (1997) and a wannabe opera star in "The 4th Tenor" (2002). or read here http://channels.netscape.com/ns/celebrity/...ry/0002%2F20041005%2F2051144383.htm |
| ___________________________________ [Oct 5,2004 11:42pm - dreadkill ""] rodney dangerfield was awesome. unfortunately, i knew this was coming soon. i just watched caddyshack a couple nights ago too. damn, what a funny bastard he was. |
| __________________________________ [Oct 6,2004 12:16am - powerkok ""] hey, who stepped on a duck? |
| ______________________________________ [Oct 6,2004 8:46am - Joe/NotCommon ""] NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. |
| ______________________________________ [Oct 6,2004 8:46am - Joe/NotCommon ""] Rodney Dangerfield was my favorite comedian ever, this ruins my entire day, probably the rest of the week. |
| _______________________________ [Oct 6,2004 8:49am - Abbath ""] ummm sorry? |
| ______________________________________ [Oct 6,2004 8:50am - Joe/NotCommon ""] You have no idea. This is the first time I've been upset since 1998 |
| ____________________________________ [Oct 6,2004 8:54am - Josh_Martin ""] [img] I'm gonna drink a million beers tonight and watch Easy Money. "I don't know how to sleep. I know how to pass out." Monty Capulleti |
| ____________________________________ [Oct 6,2004 8:55am - Josh_Martin ""] This is probably the most bummed out I'll ever be about a jew dying. |
| _____________________________________ [Oct 6,2004 9:04am - the_reverend ""] Some one liners from Rodney · I was so poor growing up...If I wasn't born a boy....I'd have nothing to play with. · A girl phoned me the other day and said .... "Come on over, there's nobody home." I went over. Nobody was home. · During sex, my girlfriend always wants to talk to me. Just the other night she called me from a hotel. · One day as I came home early from work ..... I saw a guy jogging naked. I said to the guy .... "Hey buddy, why are you doing that?" He said, "Because you came home early." · Its been a rough day. I got up this morning .... put on a shirt and a button fell off. I picked up my briefcase, and the handle came off. I'm afraid to go to the bathroom. · I was such an ugly kid........When I played in the sandbox the cat kept covering me up. · I could tell that my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio. · I was such an ugly baby...My mother never breast fed me. She told me that she only liked me as a friend. · I'm so ugly...My father carries around the picture of the kid who came with his wallet. · When I was born .... the doctor came out to the waiting room and said to my father........ I'm very sorry....... We did everything we could......But he pulled through. · I'm so ugly...My mother had morning sickness....... AFTER I was born. · I remember the time I was kidnapped and they sent a piece of my finger to my father. He said he wanted more proof. · Once when I was lost..... I saw a policeman, and asked him to help me find my parents. I said to him .... "Do you think we'll ever find them?" He said. "I don't know, kid ... there are so many places they can hide." · My wife made me join a bridge club. I jump off next Tuesday. · I'm so ugly...I worked in a pet shop, and people kept asking how big I'd get. · I went to see my doctor. "Doctor, every morning when I get up and look in the mirror... I feel like throwing up; What's wrong with me?" He said..."I don't know but your eyesight is perfect." · I went to the doctor because I'd swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills. My doctor told me to have a few drinks and get some rest. |
| ________________________________ [Oct 6,2004 9:07am - Lincoln ""] WHY!!!!!???????? That man was so funny!!!!!! AWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!! He was a comedic genius!!! |
| __________________________________ [Oct 6,2004 10:18am - litacore ""] what about his classic line at the end of Caddyshack, beats the crap out of Cascablanca "this is the start of a beautiful friendship...": ~~~*drumroll, kenny loggins song please*~~~ "HEY EVERYBODY, WE'RE ALL GONNA GET LAID!" |
| ______________________________ [Oct 6,2004 10:31am - blue ""] ouch. that sucks teh big time. rest in peace big boy. |
| _______________________________________ [Oct 6,2004 10:34am - Joe/NotCommon ""] · I went to the doctor because I'd swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills. My doctor told me to have a few drinks and get some rest. I never heard that one before, oh man. This is so horrible. I remember when everyone was so sad when that guy from Death died, now I know how all you pussies felt. |
| __________________________________ [Oct 6,2004 12:23pm - litacore ""] Chuck and Rodney are up there jammin' on a collaborative rendition of "No Respect" and "Pull the Plug" |
| _______________________________ [Oct 6,2004 7:06pm - Assuck ""] yea this does suck. even at the roast of whoever-it-was on comedy central, he was like 86 and was still the funniest guy there by far. |