His career peaked during the early 1980s, with his appearance in Caddyshack, starring roles in Easy Money and Back To School and the release of his Grammy Award-winning comedy album No Respect (which featured an early MTV hit single, "Rappin' Rodney"). He played an abusive father in Natural Born Killers in a scene where he wrote his own lines. In 1994, he won an American Comedy Award for lifetime creative achievement. He was also recognized by the Smithsonian Institution, which put one of his trademark white shirts and red ties on display. When asked about the honor, he complained that the museum was using his shirt to clean Charles Lindbergh's plane.