Editing Rodney Dangerfield (section)

===Career peak===
Though his acting career had begun much earlier in obscure movies like ''[[The Projectionist]]'' (1971),<ref name= silent/> 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.<ref>[http://www.biography.com/listings/episode_details.do?episodeid=510360&airingid=511286 ''Caddyshack: The Inside Story''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610130346/http://www.biography.com/listings/episode_details.do?episodeid=510360&airingid=511286 |date=2011-06-10 }}, Bio.HD December 13, 2009.</ref> Initial reviews of ''Caddyshack'' praised Dangerfield's standout performance among the wild cast.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.pressreader.com/usa/chicago-sun-times/20200730/282376926911752 | work= Chicago Sun-Times | title=In a Wild Cast, It's Dangerfield Who Wins Our Respect | date=July 20, 1980}}</ref> 

Dangerfield's appearance in ''Caddyshack'' led to starring roles in ''[[Easy Money (1983 film)|Easy Money]]'' and ''[[Back to School]]'', for which he also served as co-writer. Unlike his stand-up persona, his comedy film characters were portrayed as successful, confident and generally popular despite being characteristically loud, brash, and detested by the wealthy elite.

Throughout the 1980s, Dangerfield also appeared in a series of commercials for [[Miller Lite]] beer, including one in which various celebrities who had appeared in the ads were holding a bowling match. With the score tied, after a bearded [[Ben Davidson]] told Rodney, "All we need is one pin, Rodney", Dangerfield's ball went down the lane and bounced perpendicularly off the head pin, landing in the gutter without knocking down any of the pins. He also appeared in the endings of [[Billy Joel]]'s music video of "[[Tell Her About It]]" and [[Lionel Richie]]'s video of "[[Dancing on the Ceiling (Lionel Richie song)|Dancing on the Ceiling]]".<ref>{{IMDb title|7126632|Lionel Richie: Dancing on the Ceiling}}</ref>
[[File:RodneyDangerfield1978.jpg|thumb|upright|Dangerfield in 1978]]
In 1990, Dangerfield was involved in ''Where's Rodney?'', an unsold TV pilot for [[NBC]]. The show starred [[Jared Rushton]] as a teenager, also named Rodney, who could summon Dangerfield whenever he needed guidance about his life.<ref>{{Cite web|title=...Where's Rodney?|url= https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0224983/|website=IMDb|access-date=2020-10-23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| url= https://www.vulture.com/2013/07/wheres-rodney-was-one-of-many-questions-raised-by-wheres-rodney.html |title='Where's Rodney?' Was One of the Many Questions Raised By 'Where's Rodney?'|last= Cormier| first=Roger|date=2013-07-22| website= Vulture.com| language=en| access-date=2019-05-12}}</ref>

In a change of pace from the comedy persona that made him famous, he played an [[child abuse|abusive]] father in ''[[Natural Born Killers]]'' in a scene for which he wrote or rewrote all of his own lines.<ref>De Vries, Hilary. [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-08-21-ca-29578-story.html "Natural Born Actor : Comic titan Rodney Dangerfield is getting respect for his performance as a hateful dad in 'Natural Born Killers.'"] ''L.A. Times''. August 21, 1994.</ref>

Dangerfield was rejected for membership in the [[Motion Picture Academy]] in 1995 by the head of the academy's Actors Section, [[Roddy McDowall]]. After fan protests, the academy reconsidered, but Dangerfield then refused to accept membership.<ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/dangerfield-dies-20041006-gdjv9i.html | work=The Sydney Morning Herald | title=Dangerfield dies | date= October 6, 2004 | access-date= October 24, 2020}}</ref>

In March 1995, Dangerfield was the first celebrity to personally own a website and create content for it.<ref>{{cite magazine |last= Kim |first= Albert |date= August 11, 1995 |title= Rodney Dangerfield on the World Wide Web |url= https://ew.com/article/1995/08/11/rodney-dangerfield-world-wide-web |magazine= [[Entertainment Weekly]] |access-date= July 28, 2020}}</ref> He interacted with fans who visited his site via an "E-mail me" link, often surprising people with a reply.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.culturesonar.com/rodney-dangerfield-website | work=Culture Sonar | title=Rodney Dangerfield Finally Gets Some Respect | date=August 10, 2016}}</ref> By 1996, Dangerfield's website proved to be such a hit that he made ''Websight'' magazine's list of the "100 Most Influential People on the Web".<ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/jokers-in-cyberspace-1345719.html | work=The Independent | title=Jokers in cyberspace | date=May 5, 1996}}</ref>

Dangerfield appeared in "[[Burns, Baby Burns]]", an episode of the animated television series ''[[The Simpsons]]'' in which he played [[Mr. Burns]]'s son Larry Burns, a character who is essentially a parody of Dangerfield's onstage persona. He also appeared as himself in an episode of ''[[Home Improvement (TV series)|Home Improvement]]''.

Dangerfield appears in the 2000 [[Adam Sandler]] film ''[[Little Nicky]]'', playing [[Lucifer]], the father of [[Satan]] ([[Harvey Keitel]]) and grandfather of Nicky (Sandler).

Dangerfield was recognized by the [[Smithsonian Institution]], which has displayed one of his trademark white shirts and red ties. When he handed the shirt to the museum's curator, Rodney joked, "I have a feeling you're going to use this to clean [[Charles Lindbergh|Lindbergh]]'s plane."<ref>{{cite web| url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1356&dat=19820429&id=kLRPAAAAIBAJ&pg=6577,8156255 |title=news report | work= Ocala Star-Banner| date= April 29, 1982 | agency= Associated Press |access-date=July 24, 2013}}</ref>

Dangerfield played an important role in comedian [[Jim Carrey]]'s rise to stardom. In the 1980s, after watching Carrey perform at the [[Comedy Store]] in Los Angeles, Rodney signed Carrey to open for Dangerfield's Las Vegas show. The two toured together for about two more years.<ref>{{Cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W2hHyD0oOWYC&q=rodney+dangerfield+smithsonian&pg=PR11|title=It's Not Easy Bein' Me: A Lifetime of No Respect but Plenty of Sex and Drugs| first=Rodney|last=Dangerfield|date=March 1, 2005|publisher=Harper Collins |via=Google Books| isbn= 9780060779245}}</ref> When Dangerfield celebrated his 80th birthday on ''[[The Tonight Show with Jay Leno]]'' in November 2001, Carrey made a surprise appearance to thank Dangerfield for his years of support.