Comedian Jerry Stiller, who propelled his career opposite wife Anne Meara during the 1950s and reappeared four decades later as the hysterically high-strung Frank Costanza on the crush TV show “Seinfeld,” died at the age of 92, his son Ben Stiller reported Monday.
His death was declared on Monday on Twitter by the actor Ben Stiller, who called him “a great dad and grandfather, and the most dedicated husband”.
Facts about Jerry Stiller
- Jerry Stiller was maybe most popular for playing Frank Costanza on the NBC comedy series Seinfeld and Arthur Spooner on the CBS comedy series The King of Queens. He spent numerous years in the comedy team Stiller and Meara with his wife, Anne Meara.
- They were the parents of actor Ben Stiller, with whom Stiller co-starred in the movies Zoolander, Heavyweights, Hot Pursuit, and The Heartbreak Kid.
- His fatherly grandparents moved from Galicia, and his mom was born in Poland.
- In the 1953 Phoenix Theater production of Coriolanus formed “the best trio of Shakespearian clowns that I have ever seen on any stage”.
- The comedy team Stiller and Meara, composed of Jerry Stiller and wife, Anne Meara, was successful during the 1960s and 1970s, with various appearances on TV variety programs, chiefly on The Ed Sullivan Show. Their career declined as variety series bit by bit vanished, yet they subsequently produced a career in radio commercials, eminently the campaign for Blue Nun wine.
- Made his Broadway debut in Terence McNally’s The Ritz in 1975.
- Produced and performed hilarious radio commercials with Meara, including advertisements for the wine Blue Nun, one of which won a Clio Award in 1975.
- They featured in their own coordinated five-minute sketch comedy show, Take Five with Stiller and Meara.
- From 1979 to 1982, Stiller and Meara hosted HBO Sneak Previews, a half-hour show produced monthly on which they portrayed the films and programs to be highlighted in the coming month. They likewise did some comedy sketches between show talks.
- Hosted, alongside Meara, a 1993 video on the business of acting, titled So You Want to Be an Actor?
- Jerry Stiller played the irascible Frank Costanza, the dad of George Costanza in the sitcom Seinfeld from 1993 to 1998.
- Simmered by the New York Friars Club in 1999.
- Furthermore, Jerry Stiller was selected for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 1997 and won the American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Guest Appearance in a TV Series for his description of Frank Costanza.
- James, who played the main role of Doug Heffernan, had revealed to Stiller that he required him to have a successful show. Stiller obliged, and played the role of Arthur Spooner, the dad of Carrie Heffernan, in the sitcom from 1998 until 2007.
- Jerry Stiller said this role tested his acting talent more than any others have and that, before being a part of King of Queens, he just considered himself to be a “decent actor”.
- In the late 1990s, Jerry Stiller showed up in a series of Nike TV commercials as the ghost of deceased Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi.
- Win an Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2000.
- In 2000, Jerry Stiller released the autobiography Married to Laughter: A Love Story Featuring Anne Meara and got a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Album for the audio version of the book.
- Gotten a star with Meara on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007.
- In 2010, propelled the Yahoo Web series Stiller & Meara, in which the pair talk about recent events from their living room. Their son, Ben, produced the portions.
