Don Rickles (1926-2017)

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dx23 · #1 Post by **dx23** » Thu Apr 06, 2017 6:22 pm

Don Rickles

#2 Post by **domino harvey** » Thu Apr 06, 2017 7:29 pm

Never funny, but for me he was always a strangely comforting presence in media nonetheless. RIP

bearcuborg · #3 Post by **bearcuborg** » Thu Apr 06, 2017 8:35 pm

For me, always funny. His live show was a unique experience every time I saw it, I don't know how he did it...it was magical.

#4 Post by **mfunk9786** » Thu Apr 06, 2017 9:00 pm

Yeah, always funny. Would never have had such a long and successful career if he weren't funny. Exhibit 1, of many

Titus · #5 Post by **Titus** » Thu Apr 06, 2017 9:18 pm

Yeah, that abrasive style of humor isn't really to my taste, but I nevertheless found him almost overwhelmingly funny. He was a monumental personality.

Cinephrenic · #6 Post by **Cinephrenic** » Thu Apr 06, 2017 9:46 pm

He was the best. Funny everytime. Love his Sinatra stories.

FrauBlucher · #7 Post by **FrauBlucher** » Thu Apr 06, 2017 10:26 pm

One more from a bygone era. Too bad. RIP.

colinr0380 · #8 Post by **colinr0380** » Thu Apr 06, 2017 11:31 pm

It is probably best not to link to it in an RIP thread, but he also had the most spectacularly painful looking immolation death in John Landis's vampire film Innocent Blood. While on the more benign end of the spectrum he was the voice of Mr Potato Head in the Toy Story films!

I hadn't realised though that he was in almost all of the Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello 'beach party' films from the 60s (that came in the wake of the original Beach Party film from 1963), including the seminal Muscle Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Pajama Party (with those young and groovy 60s hipsters Elsa Lanchester and Buster Keaton!) and of course Beach Blanket Bingo! (Perhaps all but Pajama Party having the same director William Asher probably meant the cast, not to mention the plot structure, stayed pretty much the same from film to film! From these trailers Buster Keaton looks to be very much in the equivalent role to Charles Hawtrey in the Carry On films!)

Feego · #9 Post by **Feego** » Fri Apr 07, 2017 12:29 am

I'm going to echo Domino's sentiments in that I too don't remember finding him particularly funny, yet I still enjoyed seeing him. Granted, my primary exposure to him was on countless TV episodes on Nick at Nite during my childhood. He seemed to make appearances on EVERYTHING (Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, F Troop, Get Smart, Gilligan's Island, etc.). I actually had no idea he was the voice of Mr. Potato Head in Toy Story!

The last time I saw him was a few weeks ago on an old re-run of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He was sitting alongside not only Carson and Ed McMahon, but also Michael Landon, Freddie Prinze and Carol Wayne. It struck me then that he was the eldest of the group and the only one still living. The others all, weirdly enough, passed away in order from youngest to oldest.

FrauBlucher · #10 Post by **FrauBlucher** » Fri Apr 07, 2017 9:31 am

NY Times...Good overview of Mr Rickles life

Polybius · #11 Post by **Polybius** » Mon Apr 10, 2017 3:57 am

I'm going to split the difference and go with "sporadically funny." He was always great with Carson ("What are you? The Governor of Guam?!?")

In a similar vein, I know he was a longtime friend of Bob Newhart's. I've always been sorry that they never documented that at any length. The dichotomy of their styles must've been something to see. Rickles always said that it was like having dinner with a giant emery board and Newhart said that the key to dealing with Mr. Warmth was to just tune him mostly out, checking in every few minutes to see if he was talking about anything interesting.

A big favorite of my late Step Grandfather (CPO Sharkey in particular), so that pushes Domino's comforting presence button for me.

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