Comedian Don Rickles at Book Soup in West Hollywood, Calif., May 31, 2007.(Photo by Mark Mainz\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Rickles died Thursday morning at his home in Los Angeles from kidney failure, according to his publicist. He would have turned 91 on May 8.<\/p>\n
Bald and squat, Rickles would pace the stages of nightclubs and late night talk shows seeking out \u201cvictims\u201d in the audience, riffing on their weight, ethnicity and dress, calling them \u201chockey puck,\u201d but usually pulling back from the edge of causing any real offense by offering a wide smile and an intentionally unctuous declaration of universal fraternity. His targets included fellow comedian Jerry Lewis (\u201cYou annoy me\u201d), Frank Sinatra (\u201cMake yourself comfortable, Frank \u2014 hit somebody\u201d) and an Asian man sitting in the front row of one of his shows (\u201cThere are 40 million Jews here in Los Angeles; how did you get such a good seat?\u201d\u009d).<\/p>\n
But Rickles also was a serious actor who trained at the famed American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and he had supporting roles in a number of memorable films including \u201cKelly\u2019s Heroes,\u201d\u009d with Clint Eastwood; \u201cRun Silent, Run Deep,\u201d\u009d with Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster, and \u201cCasino,\u201d directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert DeNiro.<\/p>\n
Younger audiences would recognize his voice as that of Mr. Potato Head in the Pixar film \u201cToy Story\u201d and its sequels. He appeared in countless television shows.<\/p>\n
An auxiliary member of the \u201cRat Pack,\u201d a loose fraternity of entertainers led by Sinatra, Rickles kept on performing nearly to the end of his life and outlived most of the entertainers of his era.<\/p>\n
Rickles was born and raised in Queens, New York. His father, Max, immigrated to the United States as a child from Kaunas, Lithuania. His mother, born in New York, also was the daughter of Jewish immigrants.<\/p>\n
Rickles served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and after his service honed his act at small and often seedy nightclubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a tough time \u2013 I had no other jobs \u2013 so I reached out to comedy,\u201d\u009d he said in an interview with the Jewish Standard of New Jersey in 2013. Sinatra spotted Rickles at a Miami club, and the famed singer helped make him a headliner in Las Vegas. Rickles first appeared on \u201cThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson\u201d in 1965, and would return as a guest at least 100 times.<\/p>\n
In 2012, Jon Stewart presented Rickles with the \u201cJohnny Carson Award For Comedic Excellence\u201d at the Comedy Awards run by the Comedy Central cable network.<\/p>\n
In his 2007 memoir, \u201cRickles\u2019 Book,\u201d he recalled a visit to his father\u2019s grave on Long Island along with the cantor who would perform his wedding to Barbara Sklar.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cantor put on his white robe and prayer shawl,\u201d\u009d Rickles recalled. \u201cIn the still of the morning, standing over my dear father\u2019s grave, he sang the Hebrew prayer for the dead. He wailed; he sang with such tender feeling and heartfelt anguish that I felt the presence of God Almighty in every fiber of my being. Afterward, we recited the Kaddish, the Jewish mourners\u2019 prayer, our words melting the morning fog to tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore we left, the cantor sang a prayer in Hebrew, inviting Dad to my wedding. Then he finished by saying, \u2018May your soul be with us forever.\u2019\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Barbara Rickles survives her husband, as does their daughter, Mindy. Their son, Larry, an Emmy Award-winning producer, died at 41 in 2011 of respiratory failure.<\/p>\n
Rickles often tried to distinguish between the \u201ccharacter\u201d he played on stage and his real-life persona.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care if the average guy on the street really knows what I\u2019m like, as long as he knows I\u2019m not really a mean, vicious guy,\u201d he said. \u201cMy friends and family know what I\u2019m really like. That\u2019s what\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n
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