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John Deszo Ratzenberger (born April 6, 1947 in Bridgeport, Connecticut) is an American actor. Ratzenberger is perhaps best known for his role as "Clifford C. 'Cliff' Clavin, Jr." in the Cheers (1982) TV Series.
Life and career
Ratzenberger was born to Deszo Alexander Ratzenberger, a German-American, and Bertha Grohowski, a Polish-American, raised as a Roman Catholic, and attended St. Ann's School.
His acting credits include 47 productions and an additional 22 notable television appearances. His first role was a Patron in The Ritz (1976), before appearing in minor roles in movies including Firefox; A Bridge Too Far; Superman: The Movie as a missile controller; Superman II as the NASA control man; Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) as "Major Bren Derlin"; Gandhi (1982) as an American Lieutenant; and House II: The Second Story (1987) as Bill Towner.
Cheers
Ratzenberger is best known for playing mail carrier Clifford Clavin on Cheers. Ratzenberger had read for the part of Norm Peterson, but was rejected. Sensing an opportunity, he asked if they had written a bar know-it-all, which the producers decided was a great idea. Cliff became known for his outlandish stories of plausible half-truths, irrelevant trivia, and ignorant misinformation, and Cliff and Norm, the primary customer characters, became iconic bar buddies. Though Ratzenberger enjoyed his time on Cheers, he was critical of the series' spin-off, Frasier, which he described as a "snob" show that lacked the working-class appeal of Cheers. While several Cheers cast members made guest appearances on Frasier, Ratzenberger did not appear until a special Cheers reunion episode of Frasier.
When Paramount Television licensed the look of the Cheers bar to another company for use in airports, the group also created animatronic barflies. They were called called "Hank" and "Bob," but bore an obvious resemblance to Cliff and Norm. Ratzenberger and George Wendt sued Paramount and the bar owners for using their likenesses without permission, and the case languished in court for eight years before all sides settled in 2001. Pixar
All of Pixar Animation's feature films include Ratzenberger, who has become something of a "good luck charm" to the studio (and, according to Andrew Stanton, Pixar actually has a rule stating that Ratzenberger must be in all Pixar films). John has appeared in the following Pixar films:
* Hamm The Piggy Bank in the Toy Story series (1995 and 1999)
* P.T. Flea the Circus Ring Leader in A Bug's Life (1998)
* The Abominable Snowman in Monsters Inc. (2001)
* The School of Moonfish in Finding Nemo (2003)
* The Underminer in The Incredibles (2004)
* Mack in Cars (2006)
* undisclosed voice in Ratatouille (2007)
* Hamm The Piggy Bank in Toy Story 3 (2010)
He also voiced the bathhouse's assistant manager in the English dub of Spirited Away, overseen by Pixar's John Lasseter. He has become such a stable part of the company that he plays on its softball team. It seemed that luck had come to him when he worked on Irvin Kershner's The Empire Strikes Back as Bren Derlin which George Lucas supervised. Coincidentally, George Lucas would later help start Pixar four years after the release of Episode V. Ratzenberger is also set to voice-in for Ratatouille in 2007.
Ratzenberger had the chance to make fun of his tenure at Pixar during the end credits of Cars, where his character, Mack, watching car-themed versions of Pixar movies ("Toy Car Story", "Monster Trucks, Inc.", and "A Bug's Life" (as in VW Bugs)), notes that all the characters Ratzenberger has played were excellent, until he realizes that they're the same actor, at which point he asks "what kind of a cheap cut-rate production is this?"
Recently, John Ratzenberger indicated he would not reprise the role of Hamm for the proposed movie Toy Story 3 on the grounds that Pixar would not have been involved. However, in February 2006 Pixar took over production following its purchase by Disney, which held exclusive rights to make additional Toy Story sequels. It is unknown if this will affect his decision. It is presumable that he will indeed be cast, as Tom Hanks and Tim Allen had previously adopted this stance, but have since been confirmed as part of the cast since Pixar took over production.
Other TV and voice work
Ratzenberger hosts the Travel Channel TV series about things made in the USA called John Ratzenberger's Made in America (2003-present).
Ratzenberger also hosts the Wildcard section in Atari's PC game based on the popular board game, Trivial Pursuit.
Additionally, Ratzenberger appeared on television commercials promoting the Pitney Bowes personal post office. His sign off tag line is "Hey, I look good in red!"
In the first season of fellow sitcom veteran John Ritter's sitcom 8 Simple Rules, Ratzenberger guest-starred in three episodes. He played Fred Doyle, Ritter's character's pesky and annoying neighbor. For the "Doyle Wedding" ex-Cheers co-star Shelley Long played Fred's wife Mary Ellen. For his other two appearances Laverne and Shirley's Cindy Williams played Mary Ellen. Ratzenberger's last appearance on 8 Simple Rules was on the first segment of the Goodbye episode following Ritter's death from an aortic dissection in 2003.
On the short-lived Nickelodeon show Yakkity Yak, he played Keo the Pineapple's father.
John also appeared on That 70's Show as Glen, a sad man stuck in an awful marriage with his high school sweetheart whose negative example gives Eric second thoughts about marrying Donna.
Ratzenberger has co-authored a book, We've Got it Made in America: A Common Man's Salute to an Uncommon Country (ISBN 1-931722-84-6). Ratzenberger co-founded the Nuts, Bolts and Thingamajigs Foundation, dedicated to raising awareness of skilled trades and engineering disciplines among young people.
Dancing with the Stars
On March 2, 2007, the ABC television network announced that Ratzenberger would be a participant in its Spring 2007 Dancing with the Stars reality show. He will be partnered to professional ballroom dancer Edyta Sliwinska.
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