Rodney Dangerfield

RODNEY DANGERFIELD (http://www.triviatribute.com/images4/rodneydangerfield2.jpg)

Rodney Dangerfield was born in Babylon, NY in 1921. His real name was Jacob Cohen. He later changed his name to Rodney Dangerfield because of a show one night.

He had one of the hardest childhoods that you can have. His father was never around (he was always doing show business around the east coast). His mom never paid any attention to him. She never gave him a hug or a kiss or even said goodbye when he went to school. One time when he brought his report card home with an A+, his mom hardly glanced at it. But nevertheless, he didn’t get down on himself and at age fifteen began writing jokes. Before he was 20, he went on the road to perform. His first stage name was Jack Roy. He struggled at first, so he also took a job as a singing waiter. He got married when he was 28 (in 1949) to Joyce Indig. With her he had two kids, Brian and Melanie.

Rodney stopped show business for awhile, and got a job as an aluminum siding salesman. Later, he tried again to get back in as a comedian. One night, he was nervous about a show. He wanted to use a different name that night so that if he screwed up, nobody would know him. He asked a guy off the street to give him a name, and the man said, “How about Rodney Dangerfield?” Rodney hated the name, but he used it on the show. It was a big hit with the crowd. That is how he got his name. His name became quite popular all around the east coast and he got booked on The Ed Sullivan Show. He was a hit with Ed. He also made many appearances on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show. That’s when he really hit it big. Then he started doing movies. He appeared in titles such as: Caddyshack, Back To School, Easy Money, Little Nicky, and even in a dramatic movie, Natural Born Killers. His trademark became “I get no respect,” which he started almost all of his jokes with.

Towards the end of his life, he had many surgeries (heart and brain surgeries). He died In October 2004 because of complications from heart surgery. He lived a full life life, though. He did many great things and inspired many people like me.

The thing that most inspires me about him was the fact that no matter what challenges came his way (health issues, a very depressing childhood and getting into show business), he persevered through them all. Another heroic quality about him is that he never gave up whenever he couldn’t get a good job as a comedian, he stuck with it. Just look at where that determination got him.

His comedy was possibly even more inspiring. His ability to make people laugh was incredible. He would just say joke after joke after joke, never stopping. The crowed never stopped laughing. That was how Rodney Dangerfield did it.