Charles Rocket
Born	Charles Adams Claverie (1949-08-28)August 28, 1949 Bangor, Maine, U.S.
Died	October 7, 2005(2005-10-07) (aged 56) Canterbury, Connecticut, U.S.
Other names	Charlie Hamburger Charlie Kennedy
Alma mater	Rhode Island School of Design
Occupations	Actor comedian musician reporter
Years active	1980–2005
Spouse	Beth Crellin ​ (m. 1972)​
Children	1

Charles Adams Claverie (August 28, 1949 – October 7, 2005), known by stage namesCharlie Hamburger,Charlie Kennedy, andCharles Rocket, was an American actor. He was a cast member onSaturday Night Live, played the villain Nicholas Andre in the filmDumb and Dumber, and played Dave Dennison in Disney'sHocus Pocus.

Rocket was born inBangor, Maine, the son of Mary Aurelia (née Fogler) and Sumner Abbott "Ham" Claverie. His grandfather wasRaymond H. Fogler, who had served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy.^[1][2] He attendedWinnacunnet High School^[3] and theRhode Island School of Design (RISD) in the late 1960s and was part of theRhode Islandunderground culture scene in the 1970s that also includedTalking Heads frontmanDavid Byrne and film directorGus Van Sant.^[4]

Rocket made several short films and fronted his band, the Fabulous Motels, on accordion (which he later used in anSNL 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 atWPRI-TV in Providence, Rhode Island, andKOAA-TV in Pueblo, Colorado, under his own name, andWTVF Nashville under the name Charles Kennedy.

Rocket was cast for the1980–1981 season, which followed the departure of the remaining members of the show's original cast and executive producerLorne Michaels.^[5] Singled out by new executive producerJean Doumanian, he was promoted as a cross betweenBill Murray andChevy Chase.^[6] Rocket was tapped to anchorWeekend 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 onSNL includedRonald Reagan,David Rockefeller,Prince Charles, andMarlin 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.^[7]

TheSaturday Night Live episode of February 21, 1981, hosted byDallas starCharlene 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."^[8]

Due partially to the violation of broadcast standards (though FCC rules weren't violated as it was uttered pastsafe harbor), along with negative press regarding the new cast and declining ratings for both the series andthe network in general, NBC replaced Doumanian withDick 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 membersGilbert Gottfried andAnn 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 andEddie 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.^[9]

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

On television, in addition to guest spots on several 1980s sitcoms, he played antagonist network presidentNed Grossberg on thecyberpunk seriesMax Headroom, Richard Addison (brother toBruce Willis's David Addison) on the comedy-dramaMoonlighting, and Adam, an angel of death, onTouched by an Angel.^[10] He later guest starred in other series includingWings as Danny, a long time friend to Brian Hackett (Steven Weber),3rd Rock from the Sun as Grant, a physics professor, andThe 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-producedB-52's albumMesopotamiaon the track "Loveland",^[11] and the albumAmarcord Nino Rota on the track "La Dolce Vita Suite", produced bySaturday Night Live music coordinatorHal Willner.^[12]

He also provided the voice of Leo Lionheart Jr. in the "MGM Sing-Alongs" videos in 1996.^[13]

Rocket married his college girlfriend, Beth Crellin, on board the battleshipUSSMassachusetts anchored in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1972.^[14] Their son, Zane, was born in 1976.^[15][16]

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.^[17]

• 1989 "Yer So Bad" byTom Petty
• 1991 "King of the Hill" byRoger McGuinn with Tom Petty
• 1997 "Good Year" byThe Refreshments

• Hill, Doug and Weingrad, Jeff (1986).Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live. New York, Beech Tree Books/William Morrow.ISBN 0-688-05099-9.

• Charles Rocket atIMDb 
• Charles Rocket atMemory Alpha
• Charles Rocket in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Obituary for Charles RocketVariety. October 10, 2005.
• "Remembering a giant of the Providence underground." at theWayback Machine (archived October 25, 2005) Phillipe and Jorge,Providence Phoenix. October 14, 2005.
• "Charles Rocket, R.I.P." at theWayback Machine (archived October 9, 2012) Jim Emerson,RogerEbert.com. October 17, 2005.

• 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
• Actors and actresses who died by suicide
• Deaths from bleeding
• 20th-century American comedians
• 21st-century American comedians
• 2005 suicides
• Winnacunnet High School alumni
• Comedians from Maine
• American male comedians

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