Former child actor Justin Cooper has revealed that his mother had just one request for the late comedy great Don Rickles on the set of 1998’s Dennis the Menace Strikes Again: Don’t swear.
Rickles, who was known as the “master of the insult”, died in 2017 at the age of 90.
He played Mr Wilson in the 1998 comedy, opposite Cooper as the titular menace. Cooper, who is also known for his childhood role in the 1997 Jim Carrey film Liar Liar, later left acting and now works in sports broadcasting.
Cooper, now 37, was just 9 years old when he played Dennis. He told the Not So Little Rascals podcast that his mother had been proactive about “shielding” him from both creepy fans and uncomfortable situations on set.
“There’s a lot of acting parents that you hear of back in the day that were just like, ‘Yeah go do whatever they tell you to do,’ ” said Cooper. “My mom was not like that, like, almost to a fault.”
He went on: “I remember a story that just blew my mind. So Don Rickles played Mr. Wilson in Dennis the Menace Strikes Again! And you know, he’s known for being a foul-mouthed comic. And she went up to him and was like, ‘I don’t want you to use any language like that in front of my kid.’ I was like, ‘Mom, whoa!’”
Rickles was so well-known for his quick-fire insults that he was sarcastically nicknamed “Mr. Warmth”. As an actor, he won acclaim for his performance in Martin Scorsese’s Casino and for voicing Mr Potato Head in the Toy Story films.
He first came to America’s attention after insulting Frank Sinatra, telling the singer midway through a performance in a Hollywood club: "Make yourself at home, Frank. Hit somebody”.
Rickles’ reputation for mocking celebrities grew thanks to his appearances on The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts series that ran between the 1970s and 1980s. Targets that appeared on the show included Sinatra, Ronald Reagan, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Kirk Douglas, Sammy Davis Jr. and Mr. T.
Along with celebrities, the most common targets for Rickles were those less intelligent audience members, whom he often called “hockey pucks”.
When initially performing stand-up, Rickles found his impromptu insults won more applause than scripted material, so he decided to work them into the shows.
After Rickles died, Scorsese paid tribute by saying: “Don Rickles was a giant, a legend… and I can hear his voice now, skewering me for being so lofty…”
