Charles Rocket

Charles Adams Claverie (August 28, 1949 – October 7, 2005), known by stage names Charlie Hamburger, Charlie Kennedy, and Charles Rocket, was an American actor. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live,'' played the villain Nicholas Andre in the film '' Dumb and Dumber'', and played Dave Dennison in Disney's '' Hocus Pocus''.

Early life

Rocket was born in Bangor, Maine, the son of Mary Aurelia (née Fogler) and Sumner Abbott "Ham" Claverie. His grandfather was Raymond H. Fogler, who had served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He attended Winnacunnet High School and the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in the late 1960s and was part of the Rhode Island underground culture scene in the 1970s that also included Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and film director Gus Van Sant.

Career

Rocket made several short films and fronted his band, the Fabulous Motels, on accordion (which he later used in an ''SNL'' sketch about a crazed criminal who uses an accordion to kill his dates and is killed himself by a bagpipe band).

He was then a news anchor at WPRI-TV in Providence, Rhode Island, and KOAA-TV in Pueblo, Colorado, under his own name, and WTVF Nashville under the name Charles Kennedy.

''Saturday Night Live''

Rocket was cast for the 1980–1981 season, which followed the departure of the remaining members of the show's original cast and executive producer Lorne Michaels. Singled out by new executive producer Jean Doumanian, he was promoted as a cross between Bill Murray and Chevy Chase. Rocket was tapped to anchor '' Weekend Update'', and was featured in more sketches than any other male cast member that season.

Rocket portrayed recurring character Phil Lively, a game show host who took his larger-than-life persona home and treated life as if it were a game show. His celebrity impersonations on ''SNL'' included Ronald Reagan, David Rockefeller, Prince Charles, and Marlin Perkins. He also hosted "The Rocket Report", a series of filmed segments where he posed as a roving reporter around New York; in later years, reviewers considered them one of the few consistently strong parts of Doumanian's shows.

Dismissal

The ''Saturday Night Live'' episode of February 21, 1981, hosted by ''Dallas'' star Charlene Tilton, featured a parody of the famed " Who shot J.R.?" story arc from the popular nighttime soap. During the show a plot line had Rocket and Tilton flirting while other cast members expressed jealousy, leading to Rocket being shot in the chest by a sniper in the middle of a sketch. In the show's closing moments, as cast members gathered with the host to say good night, Tilton asked Rocket how he felt about being shot. In character, Rocket replied "Oh man, it's the first time I've ever been shot in my life. I'd like to know who fuckin' did it."

Due partially to the violation of broadcast standards (though FCC rules weren't violated as it was uttered past safe harbor), along with negative press regarding the new cast and declining ratings for both the series and the network in general, NBC replaced Doumanian with Dick Ebersol after one further episode. Ebersol, who placed the show on hiatus for a month to retool, dismissed Rocket, along with several of the writers and fellow cast members Gilbert Gottfried and Ann Risley, before the next episode. A writers' strike led to the suspension of the rest of the season, and when the show returned in October 1981, Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy were the only cast members who were held over from Doumanian's era. ''Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live'' revealed that Rocket was particularly hostile toward Murphy and Piscopo, as he believed the two isolated themselves from the rest of the cast.

Post-''SNL'' career

After SNL, Rocket worked steadily in film, with roles in such films as '' Hocus Pocus'', '' Earth Girls Are Easy'', '' It's Pat'', '' Steal Big Steal Little'', '' How I Got into College'', '' Dances with Wolves'' and '' Dumb and Dumber'', often playing comic foils.

On television, in addition to guest spots on several 1980s sitcoms, he played antagonist network president Ned Grossberg on the cyberpunk series '' Max Headroom'', Richard Addison (brother to Bruce Willis's David Addison) on the comedy-drama '' Moonlighting'', and Adam, an angel of death, on '' Touched by an Angel''. He later guest starred in other series including '' Wings'' as Danny, a long time friend to Brian Hackett ( Steven Weber), '' 3rd Rock from the Sun'' as Grant, a physics professor, and ''The King of Queens'' as Steve Moscow, a Russian contractor who is hired to remove mold from Doug and Carrie Heffernan's house.

In addition to his acting work, Rocket played accordion on the David Byrne-produced B-52's album ''Mesopotamia ''on the track "Loveland", and the album ''Amarcord Nino Rota'' on the track "La Dolce Vita Suite", produced by ''Saturday Night Live'' music coordinator Hal Willner.

He also provided the voice of Leo Lionheart Jr. in the "MGM Sing-Alongs" videos in 1996.

Personal life

Rocket married his college girlfriend, Beth Crellin, on board the battleship USS ''Massachusetts'' anchored in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1972. Their son, Zane, was born in 1976.

Death

Rocket was found dead in a field on his Connecticut property on October 7, 2005, with his throat slit. He was 56 years old. Ten days later, the state medical examiner ruled the death as suicide. The police investigation determined that there was no criminal aspect to the case.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Music videos

* 1989 " Yer So Bad" by Tom Petty
* 1991 "King of the Hill" by Roger McGuinn with Tom Petty
* 1997 "Good Year" by The Refreshments

Notes

Bibliography

*Hill, Doug and Weingrad, Jeff (1986). ''Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live''. New York, Beech Tree Books/William Morrow. .

External links

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*
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Obituary for Charles Rocket
''Variety''. October 10, 2005.
* Phillipe and Jorge, ''Providence Phoenix''. October 14, 2005.
* Jim Emerson, RogerEbert.com. October 17, 2005.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rocket, Charles
1949 births
2005 deaths
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American sketch comedians
American male journalists
American male film actors
American male television actors
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
American television journalists
Male actors from Maine
People from Bangor, Maine
Rhode Island School of Design alumni
Suicides by sharp instrument in the United States
Suicides in Connecticut
Deaths from bleeding
20th-century American comedians
21st-century American comedians
2005 suicides
Winnacunnet High School alumni
Comedians from Maine
American male comedians