Charles Rocket

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 films, TV-movies, specials and several series. Rocket was born as Charles Adams Claverie in Bangor, Maine, the son of Mary Aurelia (Fogler) and Sumner Abbott "Ham" Claverie. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design 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. Rocket made several short films and fronted his band, the Fabulous Motels, on accordion (which he 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 at KOAA-TV in Pueblo, Colorado under his own name, and WTVF Nashville under the name Charles Kennedy. He made his network debut on Saturday Night Live in 1980, using the name Charles Rocket. Singled out by new executive producer Jean Doumanian, he was promoted as a cross between Bill Murray and Chevy Chase. Due partially to the violation of broadcast standards (for Rocket's use of the "F" word), 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. The show was placed on hiatus for a month to retool, Ebersol dismissed Rocket, along with several of the writers and fellow cast members. Rocket recovered from this early-career setback and worked steadily in film, with roles in such movies as Miracles (1986) with Teri Garr, the cult classic Earth Girls Are Easy (1988) with Geena Davis, How I Got Into College (1989) with Anthony Edwards, the Oscar winning Dances with Wolves (1990) with Kevin Costner, the soap opera spoof Delirious (1991) with John Candy, the Halloween cult classic Hocus Pocus (1993) with Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy, Robert Altman's Short Cuts (1993), It's Pat (1994) with Julia Sweeney, Wagons East (1994) John Candy's last film, the villain in Dumb and Dumber (1994) with Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, Steal Big Steal Little (1995) with Andy Garcia, Tom and Huck (1995) with Brad Renfro, Murder at 1600 (1997) with Wesley Snipes, Fathers' Day (1997) with Robin Williams, the animated Titan A.E. (2000) and his final film as the narrator in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light (2004). On television, Rocket 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 was also a guest star on Remington Steele, Miami Vice, thirtysomething, Wild Palms, Murder, She Wrote, Wings, Quantum Leap, Parker Lewis Can't Lose, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Picket Fences, Grace Under Fire, Cybill, Tracey Takes On... , Star Trek: Voyager, The X-Files, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Greg the Bunny and The King of Queens. He was also a regular on the short lived John Goodman sitcom Normal, Ohio (2000). His last role was in a 2004 episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. 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. 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. 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 a suicide. The police investigation determined that there was no criminal aspect to the case.