Jacob Cohen, also known as Rodney
Dangerfield, was born on November 22, 1921 in Babylon, New York. He started
writing jokes for older comics when he was fifteen. When he turned 19,
Jacob became a comic himself, but struggled financially under the stage
name Jack Roy before giving up nine years later.
Jacob returned to the stage in
1960 under the name Rodney Dangerfield (for which he is best known today)
and began to headline performances on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and “The Dean
Martin Show,” also, not forgetting mention his seventy appearances on “The
Tonight Show!” Rodney exploded on to the film scene in 1980 alongside SNL
comedians Bill Murray and Chevy Chase in the golf comedy, “Caddyshack.”
he starred as loudmouthed real estate developer Al Czervik.
Rodney was best known for his famous
one liner, “I don’t get no respect.” On stage, he looked like a very
nervous amateur. Sweaty and uncomfortable, and tugging on his trademark
red necktie, saying corny one liners like, “I was so ugly when I was born,
the doctor slapped my mother.” He was the portrait of discomfort!
Rodney has been
at a high-risk for nearly five years and almost had a major surgery during
each of those years. When the media asked about how long he would be hospitalized
upon entering his most recent heart surgery on August 24, 2004, he said:
"If all goes well, about a week. If not, about an hour-and-a-half."
On April 8,
2003, Dangerfield underwent brain surgery to improve blood flow in preparation
for heart valve-replacement surgery on August 24, 2004
In September 2004, it was revealed
that he had been in a coma for several weeks. Afterward, he had been breathing
on his own and had been showing signs of awareness when visited by friends.
However, Rodney Dangerfield passed away at the age of 84 on October 5th,
2004 (due to heart failure and surgical complications) at the UCLA Medical
Center, where he had undergone the surgery in August.
He was buried at the Westwood Village
Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
"Loved by thousands of fans and
hated by even more, Rodney Dangerfield has become an influential character
in the ever-changing culture of comedy.”
The relation to the line, ”so what? so lets dance!” and rodney dangerfield:
in the movie Caddyshack,
his character has a huge golf bag with a tv and a fridge and drinks and
everything you could think of. his caddy is saying something like: yo dude-
what you got in this thing? And rodney says: when i was your age i could
carry 20 pounds a day! and then his caddy says: so what? and he says: so
what? so lets dance!!! and everyone on the golf course starts dancing to
this really loud music coming out of his golf bag. it is really funny because
of the way he is dancing and just how random it is.