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Charles Rocket, born Charles Adams Claverie (August 24, 1949 – October 7, 2005), was an American film and television actor, most notable for being a cast member on Saturday Night Live as well as for his appearance as the villain Nicholas Andre in Dumb & Dumber.

Biography

Early life

Rocket attended the Rhode Island School of Design in the late 1960s and was part of the Rhode Island underground scene in the 1970s. He made several short films and fronted his band, the Fabulous Motels. He later anchored the local news at Channel 12 WPRI. He made his network debut on the popular program Saturday Night Live.

The Fabulous Motels were fabulous. They performed in the Outside Inn at Rhode Island College a few times when I was manager there. He played the accordion, and there were two drum sets, one a real drum set, the other a toy set. the lead guitar was told to play like a surfer band soloist. Ruddy Cheeks, a lead vocalist, wore a tool belt and the group of three female vocalists were the Tantalizing Tampoons. Frank Zappa liked the demo tapes enough to tell Charles to refine the music more and he would produce them. Of course, the music was comic, but fortunately sophisticated.

Saturday Night Live

Rocket was cast for the 1980–81 season, which followed the departure of the remaining members of the show's popular original cast and original executive producer Lorne Michaels. Singled out by new executive producer Jean Doumanian as the star of her new ensemble, Rocket was promoted as "kind of a cross between Bill Murray and Chevy Chase." Rocket was given the role of anchor for the show's Weekend Update news parody, and was featured in many sketches. His opening line before beginning Weekend Update was, "Good evening, I'm Charles Rocket. Here now the news." His closing line was, "I'm Charles Rocket. Good night and watch out."

The new cast (except for Joe Piscopo, writer Brian-Doyle Murray, and Eddie Murphy) was not at all popular with audiences, a reflection, perhaps, of the overall substandard writing quality. Though not very successful (or memorable) as the Update anchor, Rocket was somewhat of a standout due to his infamous "Rocket Reports" segments. (Viewers have noted, however, that his style on Weekend Update was evidently later adopted by Dennis Miller.)

Rocket would eventually doom both his and Doumanian's tenures on the show with one word. The February 21, 1981 episode hosted by Dallas star Charlene Tilton featured a parody of the famed Who Shot J.R.? episode of Dallas. In the sketch, Rocket was shot in the chest by a sniper. At the end of the show when cast members traditionally gather around the host to say good night, Tilton asked Rocket how he felt about being shot. A wheelchair-bound Rocket audibly mumbled that he'd like to know "who the fuck did it", followed by the cast and audience reacting with shock and a small amount of embarrassed laughter. The incident seemed to encapsulate all that was wrong with Saturday Night Live at the time, and both Rocket and Doumanian were soon fired (along with most of the writers and fellow cast members Gilbert Gottfried and Ann Risley). Piscopo and Murphy were the only cast members to survive the axe, and new producer Dick Ebersol replaced the other remaining cast members, Denny Dillon and Gail Matthius, after only producing one episode.

Though the episodes in which Charles appeared have been rarely seen since their original airdates (mostly being rerun on Canada's Comedy Network), it is expected that they will eventually be released in a "Complete Sixth Season" boxed set, as NBC recently announced that SNL season sets will indeed be released starting in 2006.

Post-SNL career

Rocket recovered from this early career setback and acted in many films, including Earth Girls Are Easy, It's Pat, Dances with Wolves, and Dumb & Dumber, often portraying the antagonist. On the small screen, he managed to secure a series of guest spots on several 1980s sitcoms, co-starred in the failed 1992 comedy-drama series Tequila & Bonetti, and played rival network president Ned Grossberg on the 1980s cyberpunk series Max Headroom. Rocket became well known for his role as Richard Addison (brother to Bruce Willis' David Addison) on the popular comedy-drama Moonlighting.

As the 1990s wore on, beneficial roles were few and far between, as Rocket struck out in such box office duds as Titan A.E. and Fathers' Day and in the short-lived 2000 John Goodman series Normal, Ohio on the Fox network. Nevertheless, he found limited success in guest spots on many popular television programs in the late 1990s and early-to-mid 2000s, including The King of Queens, Touched By An Angel, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, the last of which marked his final appearance on network television. He also lent his voice to popular video game titles Star Wars: Starfighter, Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter (as the character "Nym" in both games), Descent 3, and Age of Mythology.

His final film role came in the 2003 movie Shade, starring Sylvester Stallone and Melanie Griffith.

Death

On October 7, 2005, Rocket's body was discovered by police in his yard in Canterbury, Connecticut; his throat had been cut. The Connecticut state medical examiner later ruled his death a suicide. No foul play is suspected. He was 56 (making him the oldest SNL castmember to die, beating out Michael O'Donoghue, who died at 54), and is survived by his wife Beth Rocket (Crellin), son Zane, and grandson Ruben.

Some fans were disappointed over the "tribute" on the October 22, 2005, episode of SNL (hosted by Catherine Zeta-Jones). Declining to show even a short clip, the program simply displayed a brief title card on the way to a commercial. (In fact, NBC cut this brief tribute out of the May 27, 2006, rerun of the episode.) A lot of his fans took this as offensive. A more extensive tribute to Rocket came from radio personality and friend Brandon Vogt on WXCM-FM 97X. Vogt said, "Charles Rocket was a man who will be remembered for his great sense of humor and always someone of style and personality. He will be missed."

Recurring Characters on SNL

• Phil Lively, a game show host who took his larger-than-life persona home and treated life as if it were a game show.

Celebrity Impersonations on SNL

• Ronald Reagan
• David Rockefeller
• Prince Charles
• Marlin Perkins

Filmography

1. Shade (2003)
2. Bleach (2002)
3. New Suit (2002)
4. Normal, Ohio (2000) TV
5. Titan A.E. (2000)
6. Tex, the Passive-Aggressive Gunslinger (2000)
7. Carlo's Wake (1999)
8. Kôtetsu tenshi Kurumi (1999) TV
9. Dry Martini (1998)
10. Fathers' Day (1997)
11. Murder at 1600 (1997)
12. The Killing Grounds (1997)
13. Tom and Huck (1995)
14. The Home Court (1995) TV
15. Steal Big Steal Little (1995)
16. Dumb & Dumber (1994)
17. It's Pat (1994)
18. Wagons East (1994)
19. Charlie's Ghost Story (1994)
20. Flying Blind (1992) TV
21. Brain Smasher — A Love Story (1993)
22. Short Cuts (1993)
23. Hocus Pocus (1993)
24. Wild Palms (1993) TV
25. Tequila and Bonetti (1992) TV
26. Delirious (1991)
27. Dances with Wolves (1990)
28. Honeymoon Academy (1990)
29. How I Got Into College (1989)
30. Murphy's Law (1988) TV
31. Earth Girls Are Easy (1988)
32. Max Headroom (1987) TV
33. Down Twisted (1987)
34. Miracles (1986)
35. California Girls (1985) TV
36. Fraternity Vacation (1985)
37. The Outlaws (1984) TV
38. Saturday Night Live (1980-1981)

External links

• Report of Death
• Remembering a giant of the Providence underground
• Video of the infamous Saturday Night Live video clip
• Friend Julia Sweeney's blog entry about Rocket's death
• Photos

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