Actor Ben Stiller credits the role of Frank Costanza on Seinfeld as the late-career shot in the arm his father JerryStiller, who died last week, needed
Tuesday, Ben Stiller explained why Frank Costanza was a much-needed second act for his father, and why the character was rather shocking to his children. really changed his life, because he was at a point in his career where the phone wasn’t really ringing," Stiller told Isaac Chotiner. "So for someone who’s thrived on work and thrived on being funny and having an interaction with an audience, it really changed everything for him.
The elder Stiller made Frank Costanza a fan favorite, but the character was fairly shocking to the actor's children, his son told Chotiner. "We had a small service for him, and I was talking to the rabbi about him, because I hadn’t had a chance to meet him. And the rabbi was talking about his character onAnd I said, 'He never once raised his voice to me, ever, as a kid. Ever.' So I watch that and I laugh, because I’m, like, 'Who is that person?' Because that really was not him, but I think he was unleashing something that I think was suppressed in his real life.
"He had the most amazing comedic stuff that he — we didn't know if he was planning it or it just came out that way, or he couldn't remember the line, or we didn't know what it was, but we did not want to disturb it in any way," Seinfeld recently said. "We never gave Jerry Stiller a note. I never adjusted his performance once. Whatever he did, that's it. We're putting that out there.
"I think the only thing that might have bothered him a little bit was that he wanted people to remember his work with [wife] Anne, because he loved my mom so much," he said. "I think that would be the only aspect of it. He would be, like, 'But Anne—Anne is amazing.' And I can understand that, because they did such incredible work together over the years. But I don’t think he was one of those actors who was like, 'I have to be known for something else.
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