Jack Roy (born Jacob Cohen; November 22, 1921 – October 5, 2004), better known by the stage name Rodney Dangerfield, was an American stand-up comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He was known for his self-deprecating one-liner humor, his catchphrase "I get no respect!", and his monologues on that theme.
Dangerfield began his career working as a stand-up comic at the Fantasy Lounge in New York City. His act grew in popularity as he became a mainstay on late-night talk shows throughout the 1960s and 1970s, eventually developing into a headlining act on the Las Vegas casino circuit. His breakout film role came as a boorish nouveau riche golfer in the ensemble sports comedy film Caddyshack (1980). He subsequently starred in a string of comedy films such as Easy Money (1983), Back to School (1986), Rover Dangerfield (1991), Ladybugs (1992), and Meet Wally Sparks (1997). He took a rare dramatic role as an abusive father in Oliver Stone's satirical crime film Natural Born Killers (1994).
Over his career he released seven comedy albums including his album No Respect (1980) which won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002. Health troubles curtailed his output through the early 2000s before his death in 2004, following a month in a coma due to complications from heart valve surgery.
Rodney Dangerfield was born Jacob Cohen on Long Island, Babylon, New York, on November 22, 1921. He was the son of Jewish parents Dorothy "Dotty" Teitelbaum and the vaudevillian performer Phillip Cohen, whose stage name was Phil Roy. His mother was born in Hungary. Phillip Cohen was rarely home; his son normally saw him only twice a year. Late in life, Cohen begged for, and received, his son's forgiveness.
Cohen's mother was reportedly emotionally distant for most of his childhood and did not show signs of affection towards her son. In an interview with Howard Stern on May 25, 2004, Dangerfield told Stern that he had been molested by a man in his neighborhood. The man would pay Rodney a nickel and kiss him for five minutes.
After Cohen's father abandoned the family, his mother moved him and his sister to Kew Gardens, Queens, where Dangerfield attended Richmond Hill High School, graduating in 1939. To support himself and his family, he delivered groceries and sold newspapers and ice cream at the beach.
At the age of 15, he began to write for stand-up comedians while performing at the Nevele, a former resort in Ellenville, New York. Then, at the age of 19 he legally changed his name to Jack Roy. He struggled financially for nine years, at one point performing as a singing waiter until he was fired, before taking a job selling aluminum siding in the mid-1950s to support his wife and family. He later quipped he was so little known that when he gave up show business, "I was the only one who knew I quit."
In the early 1960s, he started reviving his career as an entertainer. Still working as a salesman by day, he returned to the stage, performing at hotels in the Catskill Mountains, but still finding minimal success. He fell into debt, about $20,000 by his own estimate and could not get booked. He later joked, "I played one club; it was so far out, my act was reviewed in Field & Stream."
Dangerfield came to realize that what he lacked was an "image," a well-defined on-stage persona that audiences could relate to, one that would distinguish him from other comics. After being shunned by some premier comedy venues, he returned home where he began developing a character for whom nothing goes right.
During Roy's comeback bid, he was scheduled to play the Inwood Lounge in Manhattan. Wanting to disguise himself from the longtime patrons who might have remembered him from the 1940s, Roy asked club owner George McFadden to change his name. "He came up with Rodney Dangerfield," the comedian said. "I don't know where it came from." McFadden may have taken it from The Jack Benny Program on NBC radio, which had first used "Rodney Dangerfield" as a character's name in 1941. Ricky Nelson also used the name as a pseudonym in a 1962 episode of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet.
Dangerfield reached national prominence appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show in March 1967. He soon began headlining shows in Las Vegas and continued making frequent appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. He also became a regular on The Dean Martin Show and appeared on The Tonight Show more than 70 times.
In 1969, Dangerfield teamed up with Anthony Bevacqua to build the Dangerfield's comedy club in New York City, a venue where he could perform on a regular basis without having to constantly travel. In 1978, The Harvard Crimson described a show by Dangerfield at Dangerfield's, prior to him being Harvard Class Day Speaker. The club remained in continuous operation until October 14, 2020. Dangerfield's was the venue for several HBO comedy specials starring stand-up comics such as Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey, Tim Allen, Roseanne Barr, Robert Townsend, Jeff Foxworthy, Sam Kinison, Bill Hicks, Rita Rudner, Andrew Dice Clay, Louie Anderson, Dom Irrera, and Bob Saget.
Dangerfield's re-opened in January 2024 as Rodney's Comedy Club. The re-launched venue pays homage to Dangerfield's legacy with art deco design and a focus on upscale comedy performances.
His signature line, "I don't get no respect!", was adopted for the 1976 animated television show Jabberjaw.
In 1978, Dangerfield was invited to be the keynote speaker at Harvard University's Class Day, an annual ceremony for seniors the day before commencement.
His 1980 comedy album No Respect won a Grammy Award. One of his TV specials featured a musical number, "Rappin' Rodney", which appeared on his 1983 follow-up album, Rappin' Rodney. In December 1983, the "Rappin' Rodney" single became one of the first Hot 100 rap records, and the associated video was an early MTV hit. The video featured cameo appearances by Don Novello as a last rites priest munching on Rodney's last meal of fast food in a styrofoam container and Pat Benatar as a masked executioner pulling a hangman's knot. The two appear in a dream sequence wherein Dangerfield is condemned to die and does not get any respect, even in Heaven, as the gates close without him being permitted to enter.
Though his acting career had begun much earlier in obscure movies like The Projectionist (1971), Dangerfield's career took off during the early 1980s, when he began acting in hit comedy movies.
One of Dangerfield's more memorable performances was in the 1980 golf comedy Caddyshack, in which he plays an obnoxious nouveau riche property developer who is a guest at a country club, where he clashes with the uptight Judge Elihu Smails (played by Ted Knight). His role was initially smaller, but because he and fellow cast members Chevy Chase and Bill Murray proved adept at improvisation, their roles were greatly expanded during filming, much to the chagrin of some of their castmates. Initial reviews of Caddyshack praised Dangerfield's standout performance among the wild cast.