Donald Jay Rickles was an American stand-up comedian and actor.
40 Facts About Don Rickles
2.
Sharkey, having previously starred in two eponymous half-hour programs, an ABC variety show titled The Don Rickles Show and a CBS sitcom identically titled The Don Rickles Show.
3.
Don Rickles won a Primetime Emmy Award for the 2007 documentary Mr Warmth: The Don Rickles Project.
4.
Don Rickles was born in Queens, New York City, United States, on May 8,1926.
5.
Don Rickles's mother, Etta Rickles, was born in New York City to Austrian immigrant parents.
6.
Frustrated by a lack of acting work, Don Rickles began performing comedy in clubs in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles.
7.
Don Rickles became known as an insult comedian when he responded to his hecklers.
8.
When Don Rickles started his career in the early 1950s, he started to call ill-mannered members of the audience "hockey pucks".
9.
Don Rickles's style was similar to that of an older insult comic Jack E Leonard, though Rickles denied Leonard influenced his style.
10.
Sinatra's support helped Don Rickles become a popular headline performer in Las Vegas.
11.
Don Rickles earned the nicknames "The Merchant of Venom" and "Mr Warmth" for his poking fun at people of all ethnicities and all walks of life.
12.
In 1958, Don Rickles made his film debut in a serious part in Run Silent, Run Deep with Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster.
13.
Don Rickles guest-starred in Get Smart as Sid, an old war buddy of Max's, who comes to stay with him.
14.
Don Rickles recalled in his 2007 memoir that at a White House dinner, Barbara Bush teased him about his decision to appear in those films.
15.
Don Rickles subsequently began to appear more frequently on television talk shows, first appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1965.
16.
Don Rickles became a frequent guest and guest host, appearing more than 100 times on The Tonight Show during Carson's era.
17.
Don Rickles made frequent appearances on The Dean Martin Show and became a fixture on The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast specials.
18.
In 1970, Rickles had a notable role as Crapgame in Kelly's Heroes, sharing the marquee poster with co-stars Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, and Carroll O'Connor.
19.
In 1972, he starred in The Don Rickles Show, which lasted for 13 episodes.
20.
The series is remembered for the cigarette box incident when Johnny Carson made an impromptu visit during a Tonight Show taping, to the adjacent TV studio, during an episode's taping feigning "incensed" ire that Don Rickles broke his wooden cigarette box, on the previous night's show, while Bob Newhart was guest hosting The Tonight Show.
21.
Don Rickles occasionally appeared as a panelist on Hollywood Squares and was depicted in comic-book form by Jack Kirby during his work on the Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen series.
22.
In 1985, when Frank Sinatra was asked to organize and perform at Ronald Reagan's second presidential inaugural celebration, he insisted Don Rickles be allowed to perform and do it unrehearsed.
23.
In 1993, Don Rickles starred in another short-lived sitcom titled Daddy Dearest, with Richard Lewis.
24.
Don Rickles starred as George Wilson in 1998's Dennis the Menace Strikes Again; that same year, he portrayed a film theater manager in Dirty Work and voiced Cornwall, one of the heads of a two-headed dragon, in Quest for Camelot.
25.
Don Rickles made a cameo appearance as himself in a recurring dream sequence in "Sub Conscious", an episode of The Unit, which aired in February 2007.
26.
Don Rickles won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, besting a number of notable comics, including David Letterman, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert.
27.
In 2009, Don Rickles appeared on Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List and met Griffin's mother Maggie to fulfill one item on Maggie's "bucket list".
28.
In 2011, Don Rickles reunited with his Casino co-star Joe Pesci in a Snickers advertisement highlighting actors known for their "short fuses".
29.
On May 11,2015, Don Rickles appeared as a guest on one of the final episodes of The Late Show with David Letterman.
30.
Until his death in 2017, despite being impeded by multiple surgeries following a bout with necrotizing fasciitis in 2013, Don Rickles continued touring across the United States.
31.
Don Rickles was reportedly slated to reprise his role in Toy Story 4, but died before recording any dialogue.
32.
On March 14,1965, Don Rickles married Barbara Sklar of Philadelphia.
33.
Don Rickles admitted to having a difficult time romantically in his 20s and 30s, meeting Sklar through his agent when he was 38 years old and falling for her when she failed to get his sense of humor.
34.
Barbara Don Rickles died from non-Hodgkin lymphoma on March 14,2021, exactly 56 years after the couple married.
35.
Don Rickles befriended mobster "Crazy" Joe Gallo following a performance at the Copacabana in 1972.
36.
Gallo, whom Don Rickles had ribbed mercilessly during his set, despite being warned not to do so, accepted Don Rickles' ribbings in good humor and invited him to Umberto's Clam House after the show.
37.
Bush with his friend Frank Sinatra, although Don Rickles himself was a "lifelong" Democrat.
38.
Don Rickles considered Bob Newhart his best friend, and the two often vacationed together along with their wives, who were close.
39.
Don Rickles was buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery.
40.
Don Rickles just started showing up at places and insulting me.