Don Rickles
| Don Rickles | |
|---|---|
Rickles in 1973
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| Birth name | Donald Jay Rickles |
| Born |
May 8, 1926 Queens, New York, U.S. |
| Medium | Stand-up, film, television |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1943–present |
| Genres | Improvisational comedy, observational comedy, musical comedy, insult comedy |
| Subject(s) | United States culture, racism, self-deprecation, everyday life, religion, current events |
| Influences | Milton Berle |
| Influenced | Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jon Stewart, Howard Stern, Russell Peters, Jimmy FallonDave Attell,Lisa LampanelliJerry Seinfeld, Norm Macdonald, Todd Glass, Artie Lange, Larry the Cable Guy, Robert Smigel (as Triumph the Insult Dog), Kathy Griffin, Bianca Del Rio |
| Spouse | Barbara Sklar (m. 1965) |
| Children | 2 |
| Notable works and roles |
Hello Dummy! Run Silent, Run Deep Kelly's Heroes Casino Toy Story |
Donald Jay "Don" Rickles (born May 8, 1926) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Best known as an insult comic, he is also an actor, playing both comedic and dramatic roles on film. He received widespread exposure as a frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Late Show with David Letterman.
Rickles was born Donald Jay Rickles in the New York City borough of Queens on May 8, 1926 to Max Rickles (1897–1953), who emigrated in 1903 with his parents Joseph and Frances Rickles (Richters) from Kaunas, Lithuania (then in the Russian Empire), and Etta (Feldman) Rickles (1901–1984), born in New York to immigrant parents from the Austrian Empire. His family was Jewish and spoke Yiddish at home. Rickles grew up in the Jackson Heights area.
After graduating from Newtown High School, Rickles enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served during World War II on the motor torpedo boat tender USS Cyrene (AGP-13) as a seaman first class. He was honorably discharged in 1946. Two years later, intending to be a dramatic actor, he studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and then played bit parts on television. Frustrated by a lack of acting work, Rickles began performing stand-up comedy in clubs in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. He became known as an insult comedian when he responded to his hecklers. The audience enjoyed these insults more than his prepared material, and he incorporated them into his act. When he began his career in the early 1950s, he started calling ill-mannered members of the audience "hockey puck[s]". His style was similar to that of an older insult comic, Jack E. Leonard, though Rickles denies Leonard influenced his style.
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