- Born
- Died
- Birth nameDavid Benjamin Rakoff
- David Rakoff was born on November 27, 1964 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was an actor and writer, known for Capote (2005), The Watermelon Woman (1996) and Strangers with Candy (2005). He died on August 9, 2012 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.
- Held dual American-Canadian citizenship.
- Rakoff worked in book publishing after studying at Columbia University, and made his name crafting incisive essays for The New York Times Magazine and other acclaimed publications.
- Rakoff's popular works include his essay collection 'Fraud' and 'Half Empty', a defense of pessimism for which he earned the Thurber Prize for American Humor.
- In addition to his work in the theater and occasional roles on television, Rakoff appeared in and adapted the screenplay for The New Tenants (2009), a film that won the Academy Award for best live action short in 2010.
- Rakoff adapted the screenplay for the Academy Award-winning short film The New Tenants (2009) originally written by Anders Thomas Jensen.
- Let's look at the name 'Father Christmas. It's obviously an Oedipal fantasy. Santa Claus is supposed to come down a chimney, a simulacrum for a vagina. Then he leaves presents, and children are always anxious about what kind. So it's really all about parents engaged in sex, an act that necessarily excludes the kids.
- There is nothing so cleansing or reassuring as a vicarious sadness.
- [on oncoming death, from his novel 'Love, Honor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish'] 'A new fierce attachment to all of this world now pierced him. It stabbed like a deity-hurled lightning bolt, lancing him, sent from above, left him giddy and tearful. It felt like young love'.
- Not being funny doesn't make you a bad person. Not having a sense of humor does.
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