Rodney Dangerfield was a comedian and actor who popularized the catchphrase "I don't get no respect". Dangerfield, born Jacob Cohen, got his start writing jokes at the age of 15. He began performing stand up before the age of 20. His initial attempts failed and by the 1950s he was married and selling aluminum siding in New Jersey. Cohen made another attempt at stand up comedy as Rodney Dangerfield. His career took an unexpected turn when he appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show as a last-minute replacement for another act. His performance was a success and Dangerfield began headlining shows in Las Vegas and made frequent encore appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show. He became a regular on the Dean Martin Show and appeared on The Tonight Show 70 times. Over his long career Dangerfield remained a relevant force in the comedy world.

In 1969 he opened a manhattan nightclub called "Dangerfield's". The nightclub was the venue for an HBO show which helped popularize many stand-up comics, including Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey, Tim Allen, Roseanne Barr, Jeff Foxworthy, Sam Kinison, Andrew Dice Clay and Bob Saget.

• Note: The majority of the links in this timeline are to IMDb, which has pop-ups.

• 2005: Angels with Angles

• 2002: The Fourth Tenor

• 2002: Back By Midnight

• 2000: Little Nicky

• 2000: My Five Wives

• 1998: The Godson

• 1997: Meet Wally Sparks

• 1994: Natural Born Killers

• 1992: Lady Bugs

• 1986: Back To School

• 1983: Easy Money

• 1980: Caddyshack

• 1977: Benny and Barney: Las Vegas Undercover

• 1971: The Projectionist