who played elaine's father on seinfeld who played elaine's father on seinfeld

Elaine says to Frank, "I could drop you like a bag of dirt." Her most memorable episode might be the one where George accuses her of stealing a $20 bill he still had in his own wallet. Harris has a distinct high-pitched voice that has gotten her far in her acting career. Played by Elmarie Wendel, Helena is a send-up of Hollywood queen Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, stealing the show as she descends the stairs with her sometimes inappropriate commentary. Kramer makes a contact for Cuban cigars. Previously the female role was supposed to be Claire, the waitress at Pete's Luncheonette played by Lee Garlington, but Monk's Cafe replaced the luncheonette and Garlington was dropped from the role. (The answers: Don't be ridiculous, it's complicated, and no, no soup for you). Howie shows up just once in "Seinfeld," but it's in both halves of the two-part 1998 series finale, and the way Jerry and the gang react to his extreme misfortune sets the concluding events of the show into motion. In the episode she describes herself as a "walking candy apple" after a bird runs into her "giant, freak head.". They buy a "lesser" cinnamon babka and must deal with the busy, harried counterwoman (Kates) to return it. Unfortunately, Scrubs actor Sam Lloyd was only 55when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and lung cancer. After "Seinfeld," she often played a version of Estelle Costanza as a voice actor, most notably as Mrs. Frank replies, "You want a piece of me? Both Jerry's dad, Morty, and George's dad, Frank, were recast in Seinfeld with Barney Martin and Jerry Stiller, respectively. For four seasons in the '70s and '80s, he played radio station manager Arthur Carlson in "WKRP in Cincinnati," Maggie Seaver's father in "Growing Pains," and Mr. Horton, the predatory bike shop owner in a serious two-part "Diff'rent Strokes." Before Ben Stiller's dad added . Phil is a sexual harasser, so let's get him out of the way. Lloyd Braun suggests this idea to the mayor, who likes it so much that he adds it to his campaign, subsequently leading to his loss in the mayoral elections. He portrayed Carrie Mathison's father in "Homeland," and Special Agent Reese Hughes in "White Collar," and played many authority figures and legal professionals during short or recurring runs in "Law and Order," "Third Watch," "Blue Bloods," "The Practice," and "Boston Legal." Lawrence Tierney's performance as Alton Benes was praised by the cast and crew. Bookstore owners won't miss shoplifting Uncle Leo, but Seinfeld fans sure do. To impress a girl he is an entire season 5. Sheridan's representative told Deadline that the actor died in her sleep in April 2022. Elaine is delayed and Jerry and George are stuck with Alton waiting for her at the hotel. He's none too pleased when Ricky stalks Elaine to the Costanza house having made a bizarre bouquet out of Frank's TV Guide. He is Jerry Seinfeld's father. In "The Wait Out", Elaine tells David Lukner her father left the family when she was 9 years old. The character didn't reappear until season 5's episode "The Puffy Shirt," and this time, it was Jerry Stiller filling the role. Larry David recalls that he couldn't remember if Randolph was busy at the time of "The Puffy Shirt," or if they just wanted a fresh start with Frank. Filson's Mackinaw Cruiser Will Last a Lifetime. Elaine dates baseball player (and Kramer and Newman's nemesis) Keith Hernandez in "The Boyfriend". A box of letters from John Cheever is all that remains after Susan's father's cabin burns down. On their way out, they notice it is snowing. Kruger's first major story involves a trip to the beach with his family and a resulting photograph that George mucks up completely. In the last few years of Seinfeld, she was earning $600,000 per episode. The material was later included on the Seinfeld Volume 1 DVD set. The parents of Jerry and George are frequently the center of "Seinfeld" plot arcs, but Elaine's father, Alton Benes, makes just one appearance in the Season 2 episode, "The Jacket." So, theSeinfeld crew felt it was for the best to just write Alton out of the show completely. "Seinfeld" finished up its extremely popular nine-season run with a two-part, massively viewed, polarizing series finale in which Jerry, Elaine, George, and Cosmo come to be collectively known as "The New York Four" when they're prosecuted in Massachusetts under a "Good Samaritan" law for not helping out (and actively teasing) a carjacking victim. Cookies help us deliver our Services. Elaine meets J. Peterman on the street ("The Understudy") and becomes an editor at his J. Peterman Catalog, where she remains employed for the rest of the series. It's, like, a cabin. He takes it out. Julia, who played Elaine Benes on the show (Seinfeld's ex in the comedy), has also gone on to enjoy a highly successful on-screen . The date takes a disastrous turn when Jerry sees that Poppie doesn't wash his hands after using the toilet, causing Jerry to refuse to eat the hand-tossed pizza Poppie made especially for them and insulting both father and daughter in the process. Elaine later becomes a personal assistant to the eccentric, demanding Justin Pitt, starting in "The Chaperone", but later is fired when Mr. Pitt thinks she and Jerry are conspiring to kill him in "The Diplomat's Club". At the end of the third season, Kramer gets annoyed after Jerry takes his keys back and decides he wants to go to Los Angeles to be an actor. Don't forget Actress Ruth Cohen made a career of extra work on shows like The Golden Girls and Murder, She Wrote, with her main success as Seinfeld's most prolific background star. Seinfeld stars Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jerry Seinfeld have paid tribute to Jerry Stiller who died yesterday aged 92. The actor was 88 years old. After that episode, one of the show's creators, Larry David decided that the character as played by Bruns was too laid back, and felt Jerry should have a more crotchety dad. For the bulk of the 1990s, there was arguably no single sitcom (save for perhaps "Friends") more prominent in the pop culture zeitgeist than "Seinfeld." Peterman is the eccentric but fun owner of the J. Peterman Catalog sales company and is also Elaine Benes' boss during her employment there. In "The Stock Tip", Elaine mentions she has an Uncle Pete. TIL the character who played Elaine's father on Seinfeld, Alton Benis, was meant to have a recurring role, but the staff became scared of the actor after he stole a butcher's knife from the set. 26. He also doesn't seem to respect Elaine's work, as he forgets that she is working at Pendant Publishing despite her telling him multiple times. And though his time working on the show was apparently a littlecomplicated, his performance as ElaineBenes' curmudgeonly papa stands as one of the finest from the series' vaunted supporting player vaults. You'd think after so many years on air and in reruns, Seinfeldwould bring us a little bit closer to understanding how Jerry's brain works, but as we see with the Nana subplot, his behavior remains a mystery. He now has a wide range of cinematic tastes, enjoying the latest Hollywood blockbusters, Oscar contenders, and everything in between. In just four episodes, Poppie manages to cause quite a lot of damage, including with a medical condition that causes him to unknowingly urinate on Jerry's new couch. His most memorable appearance arguably comes when George tries to convince him that his fictional charity, The Human Fund, is real. So you burn a house down. By the time she made it to "Seinfeld" as Kramer's mother, episodic television was familiar territory for actor Sheree North. She tries to find a song that they can share and comes up with "Witchy Woman", but it does not work. After it was discovered that Jerry Seinfeld once dated writer and comedian Carol Leifer, speculation grew that Elaine was based on Leifer, though that was later largely denied. Since Lloyd works for the mayor, she tells him that the city would be a better place if everybody wore name tags. By using our Services, you agree to our use of cookies. The titular old man in the Season 4 "Seinfeld" episode, "The Old Man" is played by Bill Erwin. Randolph appeared in nearly 200 movies and TV shows and was best known for his late-career work, as Roseanne's father in "Roseanne," Tom Hanks' character's grandfather in "You've Got Mail," and Clark Griswold Sr. in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation." That career was nonetheless quite impressive, with the actor becoming one of Hollywood's go-to tough-guy criminal sorts. Next: Why Seinfeld Killed Off Susan In Season 7. It's dark out, so Mabel doesn't recognize her assailant until another inopportune moment: when Morty Seinfeld is being impeached. A box of letters from John Cheever is all that remains after Susan's father's cabin burns down.Jerry offends Elaine's assistant. In spite of itself, Seinfeld did promote coping skills. Izzy is a resident of Del Boca Vista, and all three men work at their family's restaurant, The Magic Pan. It's hard to picture Morty's rivalry with Jack Klompus being as effective with Bruns in the role. In the clip, Stiller, in character as George Costanza's bellicose father, stands over his TV son, played by Jason Alexander, and faces off against Julia Louis-Dreyfus in character as Elaine . In "The Package", it is revealed that Elaine's medical charts characterize her as a "difficult" patient to such a degree that she cannot receive treatment for a rash because one doctor after another refuses to treat her. In "The Finale", when Elaine is about to be taken away to prison, she emotionally tells Puddy to "not wait for her". Her boyfriend incorrectly assumed that she was Hispanic in "The Wizard". Abercrombie passed away from kidney failure complications in January 2012 at 77 years old. In "The Fire", Elaine reveals her hate for her overly energetic, always-happy colleague Toby. He also enjoyed a long stint as the comically underworked Maytag Repairman in a number of TV commercials, per the New York Times. Via IDB. In "The Mango", Jerry is shocked to discover that Elaine had feigned her orgasms while they were together. But they couldn't name his father the same way because they already had a Jerry (though George's dad was originally played by John Randolph before being recast with Jerry Stiller). In March 1999,Wallace passed away from respiratory failure and emphysema at the age of 73. His wife, Jerry's mother, is Helen Seinfeld. Played by Twin Peaks alumniWarren Frost and Grace Zabriskie, Mr. and Mrs. Ross never liked George and made no secret that they thought he was terrible for their daughter. She goes to extreme lengths to get the smell out but nothing works, and he continues to be grossed out. In the early '60s, she appeared in episodes of everything from "Gunsmoke" to "Burke's Law" to "The Untouchables," and spent the '70s similarly landing guest arcs in detective dramas including "Kojak" and "Barnaby Jones." Elaine's Dad Only Appeared Once Because The Actor Was Scary Miramax. Related: How Old Elaine Is At the Beginning and End of Seinfeld. Tragically, von Bargen passed away in March 2015 at the young age of 64 after a long battle with diabetes complications, mental illness, and a tragic suicide attempt. In "The Checks", her boyfriend Brett is so obsessed with the song "Desperado" that she feels ignored whenever it comes on. Mabel Choate also testifies against Jerry at the trial in the series finale, noting that he never expressed remorse for stealing from her, a little old lady. 1. Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza | Dan Zaitz/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images . [1] In the episode, Jerry Seinfeld buys an expensive suede jacket and has dinner with the father of his ex-girlfriend Elaine Benes. While the majority of Seinfeld takes place inside Jerry's Manhattan apartment, many of the show's comedies of errors take place in the retirement community in Florida where Jerry's parents live. Countless career ups and downs ensued, though Tierney booked an impressive run of work in the 1980s via roles in JohnCassavetes' "Gloria," and the Stephen King adaptation"Silver Bullet." [6] David had just bought a suede jacket, and met Richard Yates at the Algonquin Hotel. [2] Cast and crew members were very impressed with his performance. Lawrence Tierney was the veteran tough-guy actor who played the role of Elaine's dad, Alton Benes, on Seinfeld. Chris has attended several events for Screen Rant, including San Diego Comic-Con and Star Wars Celebration. When confronted, he pretended to stab seinfeld with the knife and was not asked to return. At the wedding, George reveals that Elaine had once dated the groom, leading Sue Ellen to rip out Elaine's nose-ring. In "The Doodle" it is stated by George that Elaine takes a drawing class at The New School with his girlfriend Paula. [2][pageneeded], It has been reported that other actresses were in line to play the character, including Rosie O'Donnell, Megan Mullally, Jessica Lundy, Patricia Heaton, Mariska Hargitay, and Amy Yasbeck.[3][4][5]. ", During her interview on Inside the Actors Studio, Julia Louis-Dreyfus said she believed Jerry and Elaine were soul mates but would never end up together because they were both too "insane and messed up.". However, they refuse to help because he often underestimates how long things take to do. There's one guy who played different characters in the same episode! she often rhetorically asked the world of her boy, whom she visits often at his home in New York City when he can't make it down to Florida to visit her and her husband Morty in their retirement community. Alton is also a successful author, and wrote the book titled Fair Game. In "The Maestro", Elaine starts dating Bob Cobb, a conductor who insists on being called "Maestro". They both felt they were in the right and wouldn't back down from each other. Veteran actor Philip Baker Hall appeared onscreen nearly 200 times in a 50 year career that stretched from the early 1970s to the 2020s. '"[12] DVD reviewer Jonathan Boudreaux considered "The Jacket" one of season two's best episodes, along with "The Chinese Restaurant". Frank was such a huge presence in Seinfeld, it's hard to believe he was only in 24 episodes. Co-created by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, this sitcom follows the trials and tribulations of New York City-based stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld (who plays a version of himself) and his . This a reference to, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 14:40. May 12, 2020 - 7:36AM. It was filmed in front of a live audience on December 4, 1990. Whether or not this is true is never expanded on. He was also a prolific cartoonist, and guest-starred on lots of TV shows in the '80s and '90s, capped with his Emmy-nominated turn in "Seinfeld." Shows don't often recast recurring roles, due to flack from many. Dr. Howard Cooperman made a single but memorable appearance in the Season 6 episode, "The Fusilli Jerry." However, this was an instance of art imitating life, as theSeinfeld cast was legitimately scared of Tierney. In "The Deal", Jerry and Elaine create a set of rules whereby they can be sexually intimate but remain only friends. He was the titular gangster John Dillinger in the 1945 Dillinger, and also made an appearance in Quentin Tarantinos classic film Reservoir Dogs. [9] He was known for his bad-guy roles in films during the 1940s and 1950s, such as Dillinger, The Hoodlum and Born to Kill. Seinfeld portrayed a semi-fictionalized version of his life as a stand-up comedian on the sitcom. In later years, he popped up in "Grey's Anatomy" and "Betty White's Off Their Rockers," and before "Seinfeld," he played Big Larry in "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" and Dr. Brainard in "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids." Initially, Estelle Costanza was meant to be the more overbearing character but that wasn't enough to justifywhy George turned out the way he did. Wretched though Elaine Benes might be in her personal life, she demonstrates professionalism at work at least compared to George. Every single character in Seinfeld is a certified drama queen whose unnecessary shenanigans take the story to Bizarro World and back, but the most absurd of them all might be Cosmo Kramer. Cookies help us deliver our Services. Many pop-culture sayings are attributed to the show including Festivus and yada-yada-yada, not that theres anything wrong with that, among others. Kates pops up as the bakery cashier once more in the 1996 episode "The Rye." Jerry and George found themselves in an awkward situation when Elaine was late to their dinner with her . Apart from her villainous turn in "Seinfeld," Louan Gideon is probably best known for her long stint in the daytime soap opera "Search for Tomorrow," and as evil chemical company CEO Danielle Atron on Nickelodeon's "The Secret World of Alex Mack. [2] The episode also contains the first mention to Elaine's job as a manuscript reader for Pendant Publishing; in early drafts of the script, her job was an optician. Susan Gleason, Gleason's wife, told Backstage that her husband had been diagnosed with mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer related to the inhalation of asbestos. Then he lands one of last of the many jobs he takes on over the course of the show, at a playground equipment company called Play Now. In "The Bizarro Jerry", she dates Kevin, the nice, kind antithesis of Jerry whose friends Gene, Feldman and Vargas are polar opposites of George, Kramer and Newman, respectively, each described as coming from the backwards Bizarro World of Superman comics. Played by British actor Ian Abercrombie, Mr. Pitt's idiosyncrasies almost put Kramer's to shame. Morty and Helen's first appearance onSeinfeld was in the season 1 episode "The Stake Out," where they try to give Jerry some relationship advice. In "The Non-Fat Yogurt", Elaine dates Lloyd Braun. He was hired by Screen Rant in 2013 to write box office prediction posts in conjunction with the Screen Rant Underground's Box Office Battle game, and his role at the site grew from there. en.wikipedia.org. George is his incredibly insensitive self, despite what seems like a tragedy. Story highlights. Though her ethnicity is never made clear, the name Bene is a common Czech surname. Eventually, Kramer steps in and forbids Elaine to have any more contact with Noreen. Elaine first appears in "The Stake Out," but in production order she appears in a final scene eating M&Ms in "Male Unbonding." In the series, Elaine's father is a noted author, Alton Benes. She dumps him because of his reluctance to use exclamation points. It's hard to imagineSeinfeld without them. In "The Secret Code", she mentions an uncle who worked in the Texas School Book Depository with Lee Harvey Oswald. Howie is one of the first of many to testify to the malicious nature of the main characters. In "The Sponge", Elaine is desperate to buy a cache of discontinued contraceptive sponges before existing stock is exhausted. In "The Sniffing Accountant" she dates Jake Jarmel, an up-and-coming writer and star client of Pendant Publishing. He was 90 years old. George parks it in a handicapped-reserved spot, and it imperils a woman in a wheelchair, and an angry mob forms and destroys the car. Martin, and Jack actor Sandy Baron, both had a stubbornness to their portrayals that made their interactions hilarious to watch. A detective turned actor,Barney Martin died at 82 of cancer in Studio City, California, in 2005. [13] Critics Mary Kaye Schilling and Mike Flaherty of Entertainment Weekly graded the episode with a B, stating, "Jerry and George's torturous hotel-lobby meeting with Mr. Benes is a squirm-inducing joy."[14]. With his deadpan expression and comedic timing, von Bargen's Kruger absolutely steals the scenea remarkable feat among so many other talented actors. He was 70. Herd had been a familiar face in both movies and television until his death in May of 2020 from cancer complications at the age of 87. She returns later to accept his proposal, but Jerry has by that time settled to his usual stable emotional state and says "I don't see it happening." Whether the two uncles are the same person is not revealed. Elaine's father Alton, a war veteran and writer, makes Jerry and his friend George Costanza very uncomfortable. George and Frank are clearly related, but the apple has fallen far from the tree with Morty and Jerry; the two have very little in common. [1] Leifer has said some elements of the character of Elaine, especially her assertiveness, intelligence and sense of humor, are drawn from the off-screen personality of Julia Louis-Dreyfus herself. "From Towson to Tinseltown,", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elaine_Benes&oldid=1137708670, This page was last edited on 6 February 2023, at 01:33. In "The Muffin Tops", Elaine convinces her ex-boss Mr. Lippman to start his own business selling just "muffin tops". During Seasons 2 to 5, Elaine works at Pendant Publishing under her boss Mr. Lippman, where she served as a copy editor. This dynamic was perfectly encapsulated as early as "The Pen," proving David made the right choice for Seinfeldby moving on from Bruns. In The Jacket, Jerry and George met Alton, who proceeds to refer to George as "chorus boy" for his singing "Master of the House". Elaine has a particular affection for A Streetcar Named Desire. Jump's family told the Los Angeles Times that the actor had pulmonary fibrosis, a condition characterized by air sac scarring in the lungs, which leads to fatal respiratory or heart failure. Answer (1 of 3): Morty Seinfeld was originally played by Phil Bruns, who appeared in only the second episode. The Season 8 episode, "The Millennium," is like many episodes of "Seinfeld" in that it revolves around an obsession over something deeply unimportant the now-dated and obsolete technology of speed dial as well as exploring the old fairy tale trope of wicked stepmothers. Jerry's relationship with Uncle Leoa man so pushy that he resorts to grabbing people's arms while he's speaking so that they won't walk awaycomes to literally explosive moments, like when one of Jerry's packages accidentally ends up at Leo's and blows up. There was a rather disturbing incident involving Tierney behind-the-scenes, when it was discovered he stole one of the kitchen knives from Jerry's apartment set. Jerry Seinfeld: Well, maybe not us but two men could. In November 2005, CBS News reported that North died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. What makes someone sponge-worthy? In addition to the first episode, Elaine doesn't appear in "The Trip" (Louis-Dreyfus having been in the late stages of pregnancy at the time of filming) and therefore appears in fewer episodes than George and Jerry. "The Jacket" premiered on American television on February 6, 1991, on NBC, it gained a Nielsen rating of 10.4/16 and was praised by critics. Martin brought a cantankerous edge to Morty, a stark contrast from Bruns' interpretation in "The Stake Out." The Rabbi proceeds to tell everybody in Elaine's apartment complex and later on his cable TV show about her insecurity. Played by another comedy and Broadway legend,Sandy Baron, for six episodes, Jack Klompus' general suspicion of the entire Seinfeld family goes to some pretty dark depths, culminating in Klompus accusing Morty of stealing. Like jerry is a role in gymnastics - though the trailer for his. [8], In "The Andrea Doria", Elaine dates Alan, a "bad breaker-upper", who makes her feel insecure about having a big head. In May 2006, Gleason died at a hospital in Burbank, California, at age 67. Morty refuses to let Jerry pay for a meal .