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Rodney Dangerfield

Rodney Dangerfield

Rodney No Respect Dangerfield's feature film credits include starring in the classic hit comedy Caddyshack, as well as Easy Money which he co-wrote, the mega-hit Back to School (one of the first comedies to gross over $100 million), Ladybugs and Casper. In contrast to his comedy roles, he also played a dramatic role offered to him by Oliver Stone for Natural Born Killers, garnering critical praise for his realistic portrayal of the Father From Hell. Dangerfied then wrote, produced, co-composed the songs and performed the voice of the animated Rover Dangerfield.

His recent film credits include Meet Wally Sparks, Casper: A Spirited Beginning, Rusty: A Dog's Tale, The Godson and My Five Wives, in which he stars as a polygamist. He will, ironically, next appear as God in Everything's George featuring George Burns' first after-life performance as an angel trying to earn his wings.

Dangerfield began his career at the age of 15 when he started writing jokes. But it wasn't until the age of 40 that Dangerfield made the decision to relaunch his career as a performer and comedy writer for the second time. He opened his own club, the now famous Dangerfield's in Manhattan, which became a huge success, helping to launch the careers of Tim Allen, Roseanne Barr, Jim Carrey, Sam Kinison, Jerry Seinfeld, Rita Rudner, Robert Townsend and Louie Anderson, among others.

Besides being a Las Vegas headliner for over 20 years, Dangerfield has also made countless appearances on talk and television variety shows. He appeared a record 70 times on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and has continued that tradition by appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In 1981, Dangerfield won a Grammy Award for his comedy album, No Respect, and was the recipient of the Lifetime Creative Achievement Award from the 1994 American Comedy Awards. His trademark white shirt and red tie are on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2000.

Rodney Dangerfield Facts

Birth NameJacob Cohen
OccupationActor
BirthdayNovember 22, 1921
SignSagittarius
BirthplaceBabylon, Long Island, New York, USA
Date of deathOctober 5, 2004 (Los Angeles, California, USA, age 82)
Height5' 10½" (1m79)  How tall is Rodney Dangerfield compared to you?

Selected Filmography

Little Nicky
Casper
Back To School
Caddyshack
When Jews Were Funny
Natural Born Killers
Ladybugs
Easy Money
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