Jerry Stiller, veteran comic and Ben's father, has died at 92

[IceWizard]

Jerry Stiller, veteran comic and 

Ben's father, has died at 92

MAY 11, 2020 / 8:28 AM / AP

Comedy veteran Jerry Stiller, who launched his career opposite
wife Anne Meara in the 1950s and reemerged four decades later
as the hysterically high-strung Frank Costanza on the smash
television show "Seinfeld," has died.

He was 92.

His son, Ben Stiller, announced the death on Twitter on Monday:

I’m sad to say that my father, Jerry Stiller, passed
away from natural causes. He was a great dad and
grandfather,  and the most dedicated husband to
Anne for about 62 years. He will be greatly missed.
Love you Dad.

Most recently, Jerry Stiller played Arthur on the hit sitcom
"King of Queens." The Arthur character was also high-strung.

Jerry Stiller was a multi-talented performer who appeared in
an assortment of movies, playing Walter Matthau's police sidekick
in the thriller "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" and Divine's
husband, Wilbur Turnblad in John Waters' twisted comedy "Hairspray."

He also wrote an autobiography, "Married to Laughter," about his
50-plus year marriage to soul mate and comedic cohort Meara,
who died in 2015. And his myriad television spots included
everything from "Murder She Wrote" to "Law and Order" - along
with 36 appearances alongside Meara on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

Stiller, although a supporting player on "Seinfeld," created some
of the Emmy-winning show's most enduring moments: co-creator
and model for the "bro," a brassiere for men; a Korean War cook
who inflicted food poisoning on his entire unit; and an ever-simmering
salesman controlling his explosive temper with the shouted mantra,
"Serenity now!"

Stiller earned an 1997 Emmy nomination for his indelible "Seinfeld"
performance. In a 2005 Esquire interview, Stiller recalled that he
was out of work and not the first choice for the role of Frank Costanza,
father to Jason Alexander's neurotic George.

"My manager had retired," he said. "I was close to 70 years old,
and had nowhere to go."

He was initially told to play the role as a milquetoast husband with
an overbearing wife, Estelle, played by Estelle Harris. But the
character wasn't working - until Stiller suggested his reincarnation
as an over-the-top crank who matched his wife scream for scream.

It jump-started the septuagenarian's career, landing him a spot
playing Vince Lombardi in a Nike commercial and the role of another
over-the-top dad on the long-running "King of Queens."

While he was known as a nut-job father on the small screen, Stiller
and wife Meara raised two children in their longtime home on
Manhattan's Upper West Side: daughter Amy, who became an actress,
and son Ben, who became a writer, director and actor in such films
as "Dodgeball," "There's Something About Mary" and "Meet the Parents."

He and Ben performed together in "Shoeshine," which was nominated
for a 1988 Academy Award in the short subject category.

Stiller was considerably quieter and reflective in person than in
character - although just as funny. The son of a bus driver and a
housewife, Stiller grew up in Depression-era Brooklyn.

His inspiration to enter show business came at age 8, when his
father took him to see the Marx Brothers in the comedy classic
"A Night at the Opera."

Years later, Stiller met Groucho Marx and thanked him.

Stiller earned a drama degree at Syracuse University after serving
in World War II, then headed to New York City to launch his career.
There was a brief involvement in Shakespearean theater, including
a $55 a week job with Jack Klugman in "Coriolanus."

But his life and career took off after he met Meara in spring 1953.
They were married that fall.

The seemingly mismatched pair - he a short, stocky Jewish guy from
Brooklyn, she a tall, Irish Catholic from the Long Island
suburbs - shared an immediate onstage chemistry, too.
They were soon appearing on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and
working nightclubs nationwide.

The pair also wrote and performed radio commercials, most
memorably a series of bits for a little-known wine called
Blue Nun. The duo's ads boosted sales by 500%. Ben Stiller
recalled trips with his sister to California when his parents
would head west to do television appearances.

The couple went on to appear as a team in dozens of film,
stage and television productions. One was "After-Play," a
1995 off-Broadway show written by Meara.

Stiller joined "Seinfeld" in 1993 and moved on to "King of Queens"
when the other Jerry & co. went off the air in 1998.

The following year, he appeared in Ben Stiller's spoof on
modeling, "Zoolander." 












Festivus will always be in our culture's history...
R.I.P. Mr Stiller
Thanks for all the laughs

[Tigertail58]

Growing up in not far from New York City I heard Jerry Stiller and his wife Anne Mera do commercials for just about any product and my father telling me they were married. They were a real hoot. Very funny and good at getting you to remember their sponsor. I loved him as George Costanza's father in Seinfeld.
He wass an artist who will be missed.