Charles Rocket


Actor

About

Also Known As
Charles Claverie, Charlie Rocket
Birth Place
Exeter, Maine, USA
Born
August 24, 1949
Died
October 07, 2005
Cause of Death
Suicide

Biography

Handsome, lanky comic character player who first gained notoriety for saying the f-word on the air while employed by "Saturday Night Live." Rocket was subsequently fired from the long-running sketch series, and went on to appear in a number of features, TV-movies, specials and several series--he was especially effective as Richard Addison, the brother of Bruce Willis's p.i. on the series...

Biography

Handsome, lanky comic character player who first gained notoriety for saying the f-word on the air while employed by "Saturday Night Live." Rocket was subsequently fired from the long-running sketch series, and went on to appear in a number of features, TV-movies, specials and several series--he was especially effective as Richard Addison, the brother of Bruce Willis's p.i. on the series "Moonlighting," in a recurring roles on the inventive series "Max Headroom," the inspirational "Touched By an Angel" and as a regular on the legal drama "The Home Court" (1995-1996) and the John Goodman sitcom "Normal, Ohio" (2000). Usually cast as slimy white-collar criminals or bumbling ne'er-do-wells, Rocket has appeared in the features "Earth Girls Are Easy" (1989), as a sleazy doctor who wants to perform tests on friendly aliens, "Dances With Wolves" (1990), as a kindly Calvary officer, "Short Cuts" (1993), as another boyfriend of Frances McDormand, and the comedy blockbuster "Dumb and Dumber" (1994), as the idiotic villain. After a lengthy career that included film, television, cartoons and even video games, Rocket was found dead of an apparent suicide at age 56 near his Canterbury, Connecticut home on Oct. 7, 2005.

Life Events

1980

TV series debut, joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live"

1981

Fired from "SNL" by NBC executive Dick Ebersol, for uttering the word "fuck" on the air

1984

Feature acting debut, "Miracles"

1984

Appeared in the short-lived HBO series, "The Investigators"

1984

TV-movie debut, "The Outlaws"

1987

Appeared in the sci-fi series, "Max Headroom"

1992

Cast as a series regular on the cop show, "Tequila and Bonetti"

1993

Appeared in a recurring role on the sitcom, "Flying Blind" (Fox)

1994

Had recurring role on the drama series, "Touched By an Angel" (CBS)

2000

Returned to series TV as co-star of Fox's fall sitcom "Normal, Ohio", starring John Goodman

2004

Cast in the action thriller "Shade," set in the L.A. scene of poker hustlers

Bibliography