RODNEY DANGERFIELD

By Richard Zoglin

DIED. RODNEY DANGERFIELD, 82, stand-up comic whose old-fashioned style of one-liners thrived in an era of hip young satirists; of complications following heart surgery; in Los Angeles. After struggling as a Catskills comic, using the stage name Jack Roy, he left the business for 12 years and sold aluminum siding. But he made a comeback in his 40s, with a new name (suggested by a club owner) and a new catchphrase, "I don't get no respect." A zealous joke writer--he would jot them down on the cardboard from his laundered shirts--he got his first big break with a spot on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1967. To avoid going on the road and leaving his kids, he borrowed money and opened his own club, Dangerfield's, in New York City. His tie-tugging tics and depressive one-liners became a staple on TV in the '70s and '80s; and as a late-blooming movie star in films like Caddyshack and Back to School, he made his old-style comedy seem eternally young. --By Richard Zoglin