Rodney Allen Rippy Sits Down with Sharifah Hardie

Sharifah Hardie sits down with one of Long Beach’s own Mr. Rodney Allen Rippy. Rippy is an American child actor, television personality, marketing director, producer, and politician. He appeared in TV commercials for the fast-food chain Jack in the Box in the early 1970s, as well as in numerous roles in television and movies.

Rippy subsequently had guest roles in many popular television shows, including The Six Million Dollar Man, Marcus Welby, M.D., Police Story, and The Odd Couple (Rodney played himself and was the owner of the building where Oscar and Felix lived). He also appeared frequently on talk shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Dinah’s Place with Dinah Shore. Rippy also had a co-starring role on the CBS Saturday morning children’s show The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine.

Rodney made his big screen debut (uncredited) in the Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles in 1974 portraying a young Sheriff Bart. In a Peanuts newspaper comic strip dated July 3, 1974, Snoopy awakens from a dream in which he “had been invited out to dinner by Rodney Allen Rippy!

Rippy graduated from Cerritos College in 1990 and California State University, Dominguez Hills in 1995 where he majored in marketing. In 2000 he opened his own marketing firm which he named Ripped Marketing Group. He worked on campaigns such as promoting leisure wear and country music, among other projects. He has taken on a few acting roles since his childhood stardom, filming a few episodes of Parker Lewis Can’t Lose in the early 1990s, appearing in the 1997 independent film, Former Child Star and the 2003 David Spade comedy Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star.

Rippy is a partner in the film production company Bow Tie Productions, and spokesman for Hurricane Housing Relief. He worked at KABC-TV in Los Angeles, California. A resident of Carson, California, he has served as master of ceremonies for the Carson Relay For Life (Rippy’s mother died of cancer in 1986). He was at one time a national director of marketing with Metro Networks (Westwood One).

Political candidacy

In 2015 Rippy was a candidate for mayor of Compton, California.

To learn more about Rodney Allen Rippy visit: https://www.RippyRoundation.org

To be a guest visit: https://www.AskSharifah.com