LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rodney Dangerfield (news), the goggle-eyed comic famed for his self-deprecating one-liners and signature phrase "I can't get no respect," died on Tuesday at age 82, his spokesman said.
A veteran Las Vegas headliner and TV variety-show fixture who became a pop culture sensation in middle age with a string of broad film comedies starting with "Caddyshack" in 1980, Dangerfield died at the UCLA Medical Center, where he had undergone heart valve replacement surgery on Aug. 25, spokesman Kevin Sasaki said.
Although his initial forays into show business fizzled, Dangerfield successfully restarted his career as a comedian in his 40s. Opening one of America's first comedy clubs -- the now-famous Dangerfield's in Manhattan -- he went on to become a national sensation in his own right and helped launch the careers of such comics as Jim Carrey (news) and Jerry Seinfeld.
His famous trademark white shirt and red tie are on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.
Picked by Mr. 50s.