The Role Jerry Stiller Almost Didn’t Take

Jerry Stiller, the beloved comedian and character actor who died Sunday at the age of 92, enjoyed a decades-long career, beginning in the 1960s as half of the married comedy duo Stiller & Meara, and ending in a successful run as a sitcom father in nine seasons of The King of Queens. But the single role that most people associate with Jerry Stiller is one that he almost didn’t take.

Frank Costanza, George’s volatile, loud-mouthed father on Seinfeld, was one of Stiller’s most iconic, scene-stealing TV turns. But when he was first approached by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David to play the part, Stiller wasn’t interested.

“They said they want you to play the father of George Costanza on Seinfeld, and I said, ‘Who’s Seinfeld?'” Stiller recalled in a recently resurfaced interview from the early 2000s. “They said it is a very funny show and it is on the air right now. And I said, ‘Well, I am in a Broadway show. I am about to rehearse. I pass. [They said] ‘What?!’ I pass. I don’t want to do it.” 

Seinfeld moved on without him. George’s father made his first appearance in the show’s fourth season as played by the late John Randolph. While Randolph’s interpretation of the character was acceptable, Larry David still yearned to see Stiller’s take on the role.

Six months later, when Stiller’s Broadway engagement ended, David proposed the role again, and this time, Stiller agreed. But David’s vision was of a soft-spoken Frank Costanza, who would serve as a timid foil to the perpetually-shrieking Estelle Costanza, played memorably by Estelle Harris. Stiller wouldn’t have it.

“We started rehearsing the first show, and she’s screaming at me all the time and I am taking it. And I said to myself, ‘I am going to get fired the same way as the other guy because nothing is happening on stage,'” Stiller recounted in the same interview.

Just before the dress rehearsal, while running lines with Harris, who was delivering them at her signature top-volume, Stiller realized he wouldn’t be able to play off her without yelling as well. Out of instinct, he shouted right back at her. David realized that was the missing ingredient.

“Everybody starts laughing,” Stiller recalled, “and David said, ‘Jerry, keep it that way.’ And that was the beginning of Frank Costanza. We established the character.”

Stiller would go on to play Frank in 30 episodes of the long-running series, even garnering an Emmy nomination for his performance. His version of Frank became so well-known that, just as Seinfeld entered syndication, they re-shot the single episode from the fourth season where John Randolph had played Frank, this time with Stiller playing the part.

The actor’s son, film star, producer and director Ben Stiller, announced his father’s death via Twitter on Monday. But he leaves behind him a legacy that will keep TV fans laughing for years to come.