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Jerry Stiller. Actor: The Heartbreak Kid. As the short, straight-man counterpart of the stellar husband-and-wife comedy team "Stiller & Meara", Jerry Stiller and wife Anne Meara were on top of the comedy game in the 1960s, a steady and hilarious presence on television variety, notably The Ed Sullivan Show (1948), on which they appeared 36 times.
- Actor, Producer, Writer
- June 8, 1927
- 2 min
- May 11, 2020
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Add a Plot. Director: Amanda Isdale | Stars: Teala Dunn, Danica Lee, Anne Meara, Jerry Stiller. 5. Odd Job Jack (2003–2007) Episode: A Candidacy of Dunces. TV-14 | Animation, Comedy. Jack works as a Pollster for an elderly mayoral candidate and tries to "hipify" his look/outlook for the younger voters.
May 11, 2020 · Gerald Isaac Stiller (June 8, 1927 – May 11, 2020) was an American actor and comedian. He spent many years as part of the comedy duo Stiller and Meara with his wife, Anne Meara, to whom he was married for over 60 years until her death in 2015. Stiller saw a late-career resurgence starting in 1993, playing George Costanza's father Frank on the sitcom Seinfeld, a part which earned him an Emmy ...
- Overview
- Early life, marriage, and Stiller and Meara
- Stage, film, and television career
- Honours
Jerry Stiller (born June 8, 1927, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.—died May 11, 2020, New York City) American actor and comedian best known for his role as Frank Costanza on the popular television sitcom Seinfeld. He and his wife, Anne Meara, were a successful comedy duo in the 1960s. In later years, he also acted in projects produced and directed by their...
Stiller was the eldest of four children born to working-class Jewish parents in Brooklyn. His father, William Stiller, was a bus driver and the son of Galician immigrants, and his mother, Bella Stiller (née Citron), was an immigrant from Poland. While still in high school, Stiller began acting at a playhouse on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. He was inspired to act after seeing his idols, the comedians Eddie Cantor and Jimmy Durante, perform in person. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Stiller studied theatre at Syracuse University under the G.I. Bill. He began working in summer stock and made his professional stage debut in 1951 in The Silver Whistle with Burgess Meredith.
In 1953 Stiller met Anne Meara, another struggling young actor, at a casting call in New York City. Meara was a tall, redheaded, Irish Roman Catholic from a middle-class family with aspirations of becoming a dramatic actress. Despite their different backgrounds, they quickly became a couple and were married that year.
After a decade of performing together, Stiller and Meara decided to pursue separate careers. Stiller worked regularly on the stage and in film and television. In 1971 he originated the role of Launce in Two Gentlemen of Verona, playwright John Guare’s musical adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play. Stiller appeared on Broadway in the debuts of Terrence McNally’s The Ritz (1975) and David Rabe’s Hurlyburly (1984). Among his other notable stage roles were Nathan Detroit in a 1983 production of Guys and Dolls at Minneapolis’s Guthrie Theater and Dogberry in a star-studded Off-Broadway production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing in 1988.
On television, Stiller appeared in Love, American Style, The Paul Lynde Show, The Love Boat, and L.A. Law, and his films included The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), Airport 1975 (1974), and the original version of Hairspray (1988), directed by John Waters. Stiller found a new generation of fans in 1993, when he first appeared as Frank Costanza, the short-tempered, often irrational father to Jason Alexander’s perpetual loser George in Seinfeld. Although Stiller did not appear in the show until its fifth season, he soon became one of its funniest recurring characters. Among Frank’s most memorable moments were his inventions of the manssiere, a Velcro bra for men, and Festivus, an alternate winter holiday “for the rest of us.” In 1997 Stiller was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding guest actor in a comedy series for his work in Seinfeld.
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Stiller’s many honours include being roasted by the New York Friars Club in 1999 and receiving the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2000. His autobiography, Married to Laughter: A Love Story Featuring Anne Meara, was published in 2000. He and Meara received their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007, the fourth married couple to receive a joint...
Jerry Stiller. Gerald Isaac Stiller (June 8, 1927 – May 11, 2020) was an American comedian and actor. He spent many years as part of the comedy duo Stiller and Meara with his wife, Anne Meara, to whom he was married for over 60 years until her death in 2015.
Jerry Stiller. Actor: The Heartbreak Kid. As the short, straight-man counterpart of the stellar husband-and-wife comedy team "Stiller & Meara", Jerry Stiller and wife Anne Meara were on top of the comedy game in the 1960s, a steady and hilarious presence on television variety, notably The Ed Sullivan Show (1948), on which they appeared 36 times. Decades later, Jerry's career was revitalized in ...
