Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kevin James, and more remember Jerry Stiller
Jerry Stiller’s career contained multitudes, from his comedy duo with wife and collaborator Anne Meara to his dramatic stage work, which found him playing roles both on and off Broadway in plays by Shakespeare, Chekhov, and David Rabe. That said, he’ll be remembered by most for his work on Seinfeld and The King Of Queens, both of which saw him leavening his combustible irascibility with an oddball tenderness. They were memorable performances not just for fans, but also for each show’s cast and crew.
Today, in the wake of his death at the age of 92, alums of Seinfeld and The King Of Queens are flooding social media with tributes to the actor. Among them are three of the four leads on Seinfeld, as well as Kevin James and Leah Remini of The King Of Queens.
Seinfeld, for example, took to Twitter with a photo of him holding a vinyl copy of Ed Sullivan Presents the Last Two People in the World, a comedy album released by Stiller and Meara in 1963. He followed it up with another post: “Jerry Stiller’s comedy will live forever.”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, meanwhile, shared a clip that a lot of people are revisiting today. In it, she and co-star Jason Alexander can’t keep a straight face as Stiller’s Frank Costanza puffs his chest: “You’re saying…you want a piece of me?”
“The truth is that this happened all the time with Jerry Stiller,” she wrote. “He was so funny and such a dear human being. We loved him.”
Alexander also took a moment to remember Stiller. “Such sad news that my beloved friend, Jerry Stiller, has passed,” he wrote. “He was perhaps the kindest man I ever had the honor to work beside. He made me laugh when I was a child and every day I was with him. A great actor, a great man, a lovely friend.”
He followed it up with a photo of the two, and also retweeted a link to the N.Y. Friars Club Roast of Stiller from 1999.
“I was lucky enough to work with Jerry Stiller, playing his daughter for 9 years on The King Of Queens, but even luckier to know him, the man, the husband, the father, the grandfather,” Remini wrote in an Instagram post. “I am only comforted knowing that Anne & Jerry, the great comedy duo of Stiller & Meara are back together. I will be forever grateful for the memories, the fatherly talks off screen and for the many years of laughter, the kindness he had shown to me and my family…You will be so very missed Jerry.”
James also posted a tribute on Instagram. “One of the most kind, loving, and funny people to ever grace this earth,” he wrote. “Thank you for so many incredible memories. I love you and miss you.”
A number of former Seinfeld writers and producers, including Barry’s Alec Berg and Veep’s David Mandel, also shared some kind words. Check them out below.
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