Rodney Dangerfield

Rodney Dangerfield
Dangerfield performing in 1972
Birth name	Jacob Cohen
Born	(1921-11-22)November 22, 1921 Deer Park, New York, U.S.
Died	October 5, 2004(2004-10-05) (aged 82) Westwood, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, film, television
Nationality	American
Years active	1940–1949, 1956–2004
Genres	Depression, Human sexuality, Aging, Deadpan, Self-deprecation, Dick jokes, Fat jokes, Alcoholism
Spouse	Joyce Indig (m. 1949–div. 1962; m. 1963–div. 1970) Joan Child (m. 1993; his death 2004)
Children	2
Signature
Website	rodney.com

Rodney Dangerfield (born Jacob Cohen, November 22, 1921 – October 5, 2004) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, producer and screenwriter known for the catchphrase "I don't get no respect!" and his monologues on that theme. He is also remembered for his 1980s film roles, especially in Easy Money, Caddyshack, and Back to School.

Dangerfield was born in Deer Park, in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. He was the son of Jewish parents, Dorothy "Dotty" (Teitelbaum) and the vaudevillian performer Phil Roy (Phillip Cohen). His mother was born in Hungary. Dangerfield's father was rarely home; Rodney would normally see him only twice a year. Late in life, Rodney's father begged him for forgiveness, and Rodney obliged.

After his father abandoned the family, his mother moved him and his sister to Kew Gardens, Queens, and he attended Richmond Hill High School, where he graduated in 1939. To support himself and his family, he sold newspapers and ice cream at the beach, and delivered groceries.

At the age of 15, he began to write for stand-up comedians, and he himself began to perform at a resort in Ellenville, New York, at the age of 19 under the name Jack Roy, to which he legally changed his name. He struggled financially for nine years, at one point performing as a singing waiter until he was fired, and also working as a performing acrobatic diver before giving up show business to take a job selling aluminum siding to support his wife and family. He later said that he was so little known then that "at the time I quit, I was the only one who knew I quit!"

In the early 1960s he started down what would be a long road toward rehabilitating his career as an entertainer, still working as a salesman by day. He divorced his first wife Joyce in 1961, and returned to the stage, performing at many hotels in the Catskill Mountains, but still with minimal success. He fell into debt (about $20,000 by his own estimate), and couldn't get booked. As he would later joke, "I played one club—it was so far out, my act was reviewed in Field & Stream."