Jerry Stiller
1927 - 2020
In reading the obituaries for actor and comedian Jerry Stiller, who died this week at age 92, it surprised me that in the early days of his career, he was a serious actor. Like Broadway and Shakespeare in the Park serious actor. Like many people, I first knew of him as one-half of the Stiller & Meara comedy team that he formed with his wife, Anne Meara.
They were a highly successful television and nightclub act through the fifties and sixties when they voluntarily broke up the act in 1970. Some sources say that they disbanded the act in order to not have it affect their marriage. If that was indeed the case, it worked because they remained married for over sixty years up until Anne Meara's death in 2015.
They both went their separate show biz ways, earning nice livings. Just last month, I was reminded of Stiller's versatility as an actor when I rewatched 1974's "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three", wherein he played a NYC Transit Authority cop alongside Walter Matthau.
By any measure, Stiller has a wonderful and varied career - 115 acting credits in IMDB dating back to 1957 - but 1993 he was tapped for a bit role in a TV sitcom for which he will no doubt be forever remembered: volatile and bombastic Frank Costanza, father of Jason Alexander's George on "Seinfeld."
"You want a piece of me?
"YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME?"
"Festivus", "Serenity Now", "You want a piece of me?" and so many other bits from his 30 appearances on the show have become classics and a part of many people's everyday lexicon. What a fabulous character!
Jerry Stiller was one month short of his 93rd birthday when he died earlier this week.
RIP Jerry Stiller.
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