In 2014, he was honored by fellow comedians in a show at the Apollo Theater, which was taped and released on Spike TV titled Don Rickles: One Night Only.

[5] His mother Etta Rickles (née Feldman; 1898–1984) was born in New York City to Austrian immigrant parents.

[3] After graduating from Newtown High School in 1944,[8] Rickles enlisted in the United States Navy and served during World War II on the motor torpedo boat tender USS Cyrene as a seaman first class.

Frustrated by a lack of acting work, Rickles began to perform comedy in clubs in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles.

[13] During an interview on Larry King Live, Rickles credited Milton Berle's comedy style for inspiring him to enter show business.

[14] While working in the "Murray Franklin's" nightclub in Miami Beach, Florida, early during his career, Rickles spotted Frank Sinatra and remarked to him, "I just saw your movie The Pride and the Passion and I wanna tell you, the cannon's acting was great."

Rickles took a dramatic turn in the low-budget Roger Corman science-fiction/horror film X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes as a carnival barker out to exploit the title character (portrayed by Ray Milland).

An early Carson–Rickles Tonight highlight occurred in 1968 when, while two Japanese women treated Carson to a bath and foot massage, Rickles walked onto the set.

In 1970, Rickles had a notable role as Crapgame in Kelly's Heroes, sharing the marquee poster with co-stars Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, and Carroll O'Connor.

In his memoirs, Rickles acknowledged a scripted sitcom was not well-suited to his ad lib style of performing,[27] as he had earlier said that he never wrote down his jokes.

[27] The series is remembered for the cigarette box incident when Johnny Carson made an impromptu visit during a Tonight Show taping to the adjacent TV studio during an episode's taping, feigning "incensed" ire that Rickles, an ex-smoker,[29][30] broke Johnny Carson's wooden box, from 1967, on the previous night, while a guest on The Tonight Show, on which Bob Newhart was the guest host.

In his memoir, Rickles wrote that he recalled Landis was a "production assistant" to Brian G. Hutton during the filming of Kelly's Heroes.

During the filming of Innocent Blood, Rickles would kid Landis by ordering him to get coffee or to run other errands befitting his one-time "gofer" status.

[39] Rickles starred as George Wilson in 1998's Dennis the Menace Strikes Again; that same year, he portrayed a film theater manager in Dirty Work and voiced Cornwall, one of the heads of a two-headed dragon, in Quest for Camelot.

Rickles made a cameo appearance as himself in a recurring dream sequence in "Sub Conscious", an episode of The Unit, which aired in February 2007.

Rickles won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, besting a number of notable comics, including David Letterman, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert.

In 2011, Rickles reunited with his Casino (1995) co-star Joe Pesci in a Snickers advertisement highlighting actors known for their "short fuses".

[42] Rickles also portrayed the supposedly late husband of Elka (Betty White) on Hot in Cleveland— a "surprise" because his character was believed dead.

Recorded live at New York City's Apollo Theater, Jerry Seinfeld was the master of ceremonies for the two-hour special, with live monologues by Johnny Depp, Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Jon Stewart, David Letterman, Tracy Morgan, Brian Williams, Regis Philbin, Amy Poehler, and Tina Fey.

Recorded segments included bits from Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby, Jimmy Kimmel, and Eddie Murphy.

Seinfeld described Rickles as a part of the "Mount Rushmore of Stand-up Comedy" with George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Bill Cosby.

[44][45][46] "The camaraderie and the comedy made the show a cross between a traditional roast and a dignified lifetime achievement award, spanning emotions ranging from admiration and gratitude to, well, degradation.

"[49] Up until his death in 2017, despite being impeded by multiple surgeries following a bout with necrotizing fasciitis in 2013, he continued touring across the United States.

With permission from his wife Barbara Rickles, Josh Cooley used unused archival audio from the previous three Toy Story films to honor him and dedicate to his memory.

He admitted to having a difficult time romantically in his 20s and 30s, meeting Sklar through his agent when he was 38 years old and falling for her when she failed to get his sense of humor.

The friendship was memorialized in Bob & Don: A Love Story, a 2023 short documentary film by Judd Apatow featuring interviews with and home movies of both families.

[63] Barbra Streisand, Billy Crystal, Mel Brooks, Toy Story (1995) filmmaker John Lasseter, Ron Howard, Chris Rock, Patton Oswalt, Jim Carrey, Ricky Gervais and even his Toy Story (1995) co-stars Tom Hanks (the voice of Woody), Tim Allen (the voice of Buzz Lightyear) and Whoopi Goldberg (the voice of Stretch in Toy Story 3) paid their respects on Twitter.

[64] Bob Newhart said in a statement: "He was called 'The Merchant of Venom', but in truth, he was one of the kindest, caring, and most sensitive human beings we have ever known.

"[65] Martin Scorsese, who directed him in Casino in 1995, stated: "Don Rickles was a giant, a legend ... and I can hear his voice now, skewering me for being so lofty.

[67] The film Toy Story 4 was dedicated to his memory, as well as that of animator Adam Burke; while he would die before recording any dialogue, with the permission of Rickles's family he would still reprise his role as Mr.