Comedy great Jerry Stiller – an actor of both the stage and screen – has passed away from natural causes at the age of 92. Our Frank DiLella has a look back at his life and career.
Jerry Stiller was born and raised in Brooklyn, and was best known in his early professional years as half of a comedy partnership with his wife, the late Anne Meara. In the 90s and early aughts it was “Seinfeld” and “King of Queens” that kept him on the comedy “map” and made him television royalty.
A true student of the theater, Stiller got his start performing as a teen at The Henry Street Playhouse on the Lower East Side. He made his Broadway debut in the musical “The Golden Apple” in 1954; the first of 15 credits on The Great White Way. Other notable Broadway roles include “Artie” in David Rabe’s “Hurlyburly” and Carmine Vespucci in Terrence McNally’s farce “The Ritz”. He later reprised his role of Carmine on the big screen in 1976.
In the 1950s he teamed up with Anne Meara to form the Stiller and Meara comedy act, first appearing in clubs and later on television. It was an unlikely pairing. Stiller was short, stocky and Jewish, and Meara towered over him and was Irish Catholic. This was at a time when it was considered taboo for men and women of different faiths to date. They notably appeared more than 30 times on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
Stiller made his debut on “Seinfeld” five seasons into the show’s run as Frank Constanza, the father of Jason Alexander’s character “George”. He was nominated for an Emmy for that role in 1997.
In 1998 he took on another patriarch role as Arthur Spooner on the sitcom “The King of Queens.”
On the big screen he created the role of Wilbur Turnblad opposite Divine in John Waters’ cult favorite “Hairspray” and appeared in “Zoolander” 1 and 2, written, directed and starring his son Ben Stiller.
Ben announced his father’s death on Twitter on Monday saying “…He was a great dad and grandfather, and the most dedicated husband to Anne for about 62 years. He will be greatly missed.”