Jerry Stiller, a long-time stage and television actor known for works like Seinfeld, passed away Monday morning, according to Variety. He was 92. Jerry Stiller’s son, Ben Stiller, announced his father’s passing in tweet early Monday morning. The death was reported as natural causes by CNN.
Jerry Stiller met his wife Anne Meara during his time working with The Compass Players, an improv comedy group, which would later become known as Second City. They were married in 1954. Their marriage sparked the beginning of their illustrious husband-and-wife comedy sketch duo called ‘Stiller and Meara,’ which led to 36 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show throughout the 1960s, Variety said. Moving from a comedy team to more solo characters, he found sitcom success on Seinfeld as his role of Frank Costanza for eight seasons from 1993-98. He received an Emmy nomination for the role and went on to become a recipient of the American Comedy Award in 1998. After that, he went on to play Arthur Spooner, the father of Leah Remini (Saved by the Bell) in The King of Queens and became a season regular from years 1998-2007.
Stiller also found success on Broadway through productions like Hurlyburly, The Ritz, and was cast as Dogberry in Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare.
To complete the acting three-peat, Jerry worked alongside son Ben on such films as Heavyweights (1995) and Zoolander (2001). Beyond that, Stiller had a role in the 1987 version of the movie Hairspray as Wilbur Turnblad, the main character’s father. In the 2007 version, he played Mr. Pinky, the owner of a plus-size clothing store called ‘The Hefty Hideaway.’ Jerry Stiller’s is survived by both his acting children, Ben Stiller (Meet the Parents) and Amy Stiller (Inside Amy Schumer). His beloved wife died in 2015, who inspired his 2001 spoken word album ‘Married to Laughter: A Love Story Featuring Anne Meara.’