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 maternal 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.

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 Gary, 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 + Year Title Role