Easy enough for the guy who played Elaine Benes' on-and-off boyfriend on "Seinfeld" for 10 episodes of the cult classic sitcom but is still one of the most quoted and memorable characters from the long-running show. Like many of her Seinfeld co-stars, Wallace was a well-known character actress who appeared in shows like Mad About You as well as films like Albert Brooks' Mother. Kramer enters the apartment and asks them to guard his illegally parked car for two minutes as he carries down some doves that he is looking after for a magician friend. The actor was 88 years old. In many ways, Mr. Wilhelm feels like one of the show's few examples of a conscience (until he was kidnapped by a cult), all thanks to Richard Herd's empathetic portrayal. Kramer is the most inscrutable and mysterious of all the major "Seinfeld" characters, and even the most vital parts of his backstory and identity are doled out slowly over the show's run, and even then, just barely. In "The Yada Yada", Elaine refers to Alton when discussing alcohol as a religion with Jerry. Besides his episode of Seinfeld, Tierney was an accomplished actor known for a number of film roles, mostly as a member of the mob. The Seinfeld crew intended to have another recurring parent on the show: Alton Benes, father of Elaine. Marty Rackham. He ultimately decides to buy it. [2], The episode was first read by the cast on November 28, 1990 at 10:30 AM. She was 73. In 2009, Gideon's breast cancer was declared in remission, only for the disease to aggressively return in February 2014. In spite of itself, Seinfeld did promote coping skills. In "The Fire", Elaine reveals her hate for her overly energetic, always-happy colleague Toby. Why Elaine Benes' Father Was Only On One Seinfeld Episode, How Old Elaine Is At the Beginning and End of Seinfeld, he First Seinfeld Episode Elaine Wasn't In (& Why), Young Sheldon Has No Excuse For Failing Missy After Paige's Return, It's True, Matt Smith's Post-Doctor Who Success Breaks A 60-Year Trend, Picard Season 3 Easter Egg Raises A Big Sisko DS9 Question. as she was usually referred to. However, they refuse to help because he often underestimates how long things take to do. He's hired by the very welcoming Mr. Thomassoulo, who appears again in the episode, "The Voice" to fire George, the source of disdain and hatred among all the other employees. He played LAPD Deputy Chief Robinson, who hindered more than helped John McClane in "Die Hard," the resentful Vice Principal Vernon in "The Breakfast Club," and nasty operative Clarence Beeks in "Trading Places." Next: The First Seinfeld Episode Elaine Wasn't In (& Why). Lawrence Tierney's performance as Alton Benes was praised by the cast and crew. Frank first shows up in the Season 4 episode, "The Handicap Spot." 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. The parents and family members of several of the main characters are a frequent part of the show, including the late great Jerry Stiller who played Georges father Frank Costanza. Shows don't often recast recurring roles, due to flack from many. 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. In "The Pez Dispenser," from Season 3, Jerry makes Elaine laugh by placing a Pez dispenserspecifically a Tweety Bird Pez dispenseron her leg at George's girlfriend Noel's piano recital. A courtroom circus develops, and it's all presided over by Mr. Hoyt, the crusading local District Attorney who swears to do whatever it takes to get Jerry and his friends prosecuted, which mainly involves bringing in character witnesses numerous people done wrong by the four defendants across the run of "Seinfeld.". The Cheever Letters: Directed by Tom Cherones. It's, like, a cabin. George Costanza: I wonder how Susan's father's going to react to this. By Patrick Phillips / Feb. 24 . Chris Agar is a senior movie/TV news editor for Screen Rant and one of Screen Rant's Rotten Tomatoes approved critics. "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. It's hard to imagineSeinfeld without them. He portrayed the wonderfully and aptly named Lt. Joe Bookman, the stern and relentless "library cop" who tracks down Jerry in the 1991 installment "The Library" over a 20-years-overdue copy of Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer.". George's attempt at persuasion ends with Kruger joining him for Festivus "celebrations" at the Costanza home. Elaine's father, a gruff novelist named Alton Benes (Lawrence Tierney), was featured in "The Jacket". 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." Seinfeld character Elaine Benes . Hellllloooooooo! Elaine has a cousin, Holly, who appears in "The Wink", where reference is made to Elaine's grandmother Mema, from whom Holly inherited a set of cloth napkins. 29. Reply DrunkOnRedCordial . Jerry Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld), Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), George Costanza (Jason Alexander), and Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards) make up one of the well-know comedy casts of all-time for their work on the sitcom Seinfeld. 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. Veteran comic performer and actor Jerry Stiller is best known for his recurring role as the perpetually apoplectic Frank Costanza, father of George, in "Seinfeld," but he wasn't the first person to play the part. #DoYouWantAPieceOfMe?! 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." Cookies help us deliver our Services. [1] In the episode, Jerry Seinfeld buys an expensive suede jacket and has dinner with the father of his ex-girlfriend Elaine Benes. Then, in "The Little Kicks", she and Frank come to blows after George is arrested along with Elaine's coworker Anna. Chris' favorite directors include Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, and Quentin Tarantino (among several others). Both George and Jerry are anxious about meeting Alton because they are in awe of his writings. However, they were taken aback by his eccentric behavior. For example, in the early seasons of the series, Kramer occasionally mentions his mother, and that she has a problem with alcohol. If there's one thing we know for certain about Jerry Seinfeld, it's that he's selfish and opportunistic. 1. When did this happen? Here's why Morty Seinfeld and Frank Costanza were both played by different actors in the series. It gained a Nielsen rating of 10.4 and an audience share of 16, this means that 10.4% of American households watched the episode, and that 16% of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into it. 2. Tierneys actions caused the cast and crew to be so frightened that Tierney was never asked back onto the show. A reddit all about Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer. Leifer, who wrote or cowrote a number of episodes for the show, has said only some elements of the backstory of the character that she and Seinfeld had dated and have remained good friends since the relationship ended relate to her. Elaine's abortion argument with restaurateur Poppie gets him so angry that he loses control of his bladder in "The Couch" and again in "The Doorman". Seinfeld could have recast Alton. From his obsession with TV Guideto his creation of an alternative December holiday called Festivus that violently combats the cheer of Christmas and Hanukkah, Frank Costanza is almost in a class of his own amid the routine madness ofSeinfeld. Sadly, since Seinfeld has been off the air for decades now, we've lost a number of Jerry and company's old friends and nemeses in real life. While the original Frank, John Randolph, was only present for one episode, Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld decided they wanted to make FrankConstanzaa betterfit for theSeinfelduniverse. She was 93. Alton fought in the Korean War, and once mentioned a friend of his he knew back in Korea who was a tail gunner that "got his brains blown out all over the Pacific". 3 min read. It is not revealed if Mema is her maternal or paternal grandmother. Wretched though Elaine Benes might be in her personal life, she demonstrates professionalism at work at least compared to George. 1". This dynamic was perfectly encapsulated as early as "The Pen," proving David made the right choice for Seinfeldby moving on from Bruns. Elaine's best friend in the sitcom is her ex-boyfriend Jerry Seinfeld, and she is also good friends with George Costanza and Cosmo Kramer. One of the more prominent names to guest star on both shows. 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. Actor Paul Gleason made a niche out of playing smug, retreating, and guarded authority figures, particularly in '80s movies. Ultimately, Frank is arrested for illegal parking when he's at an event honoring his achievements in community service. The next day Kramer notices Jerry's jacket hanging in the bathroom, badly damaged by the snow, and asks if he can have it. Outside of Screen Rant, Chris enjoys watching his favorite sports teams (Giants, Yankees, and Knicks) and playing video games. In "The Finale", when they think their airplane is about to crash, Elaine says "I've always loved y", but the pilot is able to steady the airplane. Thisbrilliant comedic reversal makes Elaine one of the more fully rounded of these all-around awful characters. In Elaine's extensive catalog of men who become obsessed with her, Ricky is one of the creepiest. Making several appearances acrossSeinfeld's nine-season run, the parentsbrought a hilarious dynamic to the show, most notably by providing amusing commentary on Florida's senior citizen communities, and Frank's famous Festivus holiday. Realizing that he had been caught, Tierney tried to make the strange incident into a joke as he began to pretend to stab at Seinfeld as if in the movie Psycho. [4] However, they were frightened of him; during filming it was discovered that Tierney had stolen a butcher knife from the knife block in Jerry's apartment set. Elizabeth Sheridan, who played Jerry's mother on Seinfeld, dated James Dean. Harris died in April 2022 at the age of 93. Early Seinfeld episodes didnt age well. Abercrombie passed away from kidney failure complications in January 2012 at 77 years old. They started dating in 1986 (as revealed in "The Truth") and dated until 1990. For viewers, Mr. Wilhelm's puzzled and shocked face over his 11 Seinfeld episodes often mirrored our own as we watched George's newest antics, amazed that the man somehow never got fired. In one shot when Jerry, George, Alton, and Elaine are leaving the lobby, George goes from wearing to not wearing his glasses. She is able to recover her job by agreeing to live temporarily in a remote cave in the desert of Tunisia. "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. With Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards, Jason Alexander. In "The Non-Fat Yogurt", Elaine suggests to Lloyd Braun, an advisor to Mayor David Dinkins, that everybody in the city should wear name tags. He was married and has two daughters,Gail and Elaine. Kathryn Kates had a recurring role on "Seinfeld," portraying an unnamed but plot-pivotal character in two episodes that aired two years apart. Recasting isn't new for sitcoms when it comes to side characters. 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. His career as an author may have been . The actor Lawrence Tierney, who played the father of Elaine's father, Alton Benes, was originally going to have a permanent role in the show. Kramer gets involved, injures one of Mr. Thomassoulo's employees, and a lawsuit forces the man's company to go bankrupt. NBC. In the 2000s, Gideon moved to Asheville, North Carolina, to pursue writing and a career in real estate, according to the Citizen Times. A box of letters from John Cheever is all that remains after Susan's father's cabin burns down. The implication is Bruns was too laid back for what the co-creators envisioned, so they took things in a different direction. Pinette was 50 years old. Out of Seinfeld's 172 episodes, . "Seinfeld: The Actresses Who Almost Played Elaine Benes", "Rosie O'Donnell was almost cast as Elaine on Seinfeld but was told to get out", Sweeney, Alexis. In the episode, Jerry is thrilled when he gets the #1 speed-dial slot on the phone of his new girlfriend, Valerie. In "The Gum", it's revealed that Lloyd Braun also loses his job and later has a nervous breakdown. As happy as this tiny thing makes Jerry, it deeply upsets Valerie's stepmother, identified only as Mrs. Hamilton, so much so that he confronts Jerry in his car and tells him to back off of Valerie, or at least her phone. Martin joined the cast inSeinfeld season 2, debuting in "The Pony Remark." 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. Kramer and Newman manage to destroy Sid's teeth with a garbage disposal, and after a trip to the dentist, he runs away and later resurfaces hanging out at Monk's Caf. She meets him in "The Understudy", the last episode of Season 6. She views saying "God bless you" as a "silly superstition" in "The Good Samaritan". 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. Seinfeld's first episode aired back on the July 5, 1989, and went on to run for a hugely impressive nine seasons - with 180 episodes to its name - before its final episode which aired May 14, 1998. . He's prone to wild mood swings and maybe once faced malpractice allegations for botching another bris. It is likely that Elaine was raised Catholic, as her last name is Czech in origin (see Edvard Benes) and the Czech people are, for the most part, historically Catholic. Elaine says to Frank, "I could drop you like a bag of dirt." " The Jacket " is the third episode of the second season of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld and the show's eighth episode overall. He takes it out. Elaine screams 'Stella!' in 'Seinfeld' (Season 3, Episode 3) One of Elain's iconic moments in Seinfeld was turned into a popular meme. In "The Stock Tip", Elaine mentions she has an Uncle Pete. He takes. Chris has attended several events for Screen Rant, including San Diego Comic-Con and Star Wars Celebration. While visiting Izzy's sickbed, Jerry runs into Izzy Jr., who throws his back out trying to goad Jerry into lifting a hospital television that's bolted to a table. And she quits. He's none too pleased when Ricky stalks Elaine to the Costanza house having made a bizarre bouquet out of Frank's TV Guide. It's dark out, so Mabel doesn't recognize her assailant until another inopportune moment: when Morty Seinfeld is being impeached. He mirrors George's lackadaisical manner in so many ways. 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 material was later included on the Seinfeld Volume 1 DVD set. 1990. In the previous episode, Kramer burned down the cabin with one of his Cuban cigars, but the father hasn't heard this. In an interview Jason Alexander gave to Howard Stern in 2015, the actor retold the story of how Susan's death came to be written. He simply played Frank too subtly. Well before his short stint in "Seinfeld," Gordon Jump made an impression on viewers with important and visible TV roles. The New York Times reported in March 2002 that Tierney died in New York City following a series of strokes and a pneumonia diagnosis. Hulton Archive/Getty Images. Kramer makes a contact for Cuban cigars. Elaine Benes - Wikipedia That career was nonetheless quite impressive, with the actor becoming one of Hollywood's go-to tough-guy criminal sorts. [2], Lawrence Tierney was cast as Alton Benes. His most memorable appearance arguably comes when George tries to convince him that his fictional charity, The Human Fund, is real. Alton is also a successful author, and wrote the book titled Fair Game. Veteran actor Philip Baker Hall appeared onscreen nearly 200 times in a 50 year career that stretched from the early 1970s to the 2020s. He was 91 years old and made his final appearance in Twin Peaks'third season. After the gang uncharacteristically signs up to volunteer their time with a nonprofit service to assist lonely elderly people, Jerry is assigned Sidney Fields, a cantankerous old jerk who insults his helper and calls him names, and becomes convinced that he's going to murder him (and then teases him when he doesn't actually kill him). She dumps him because of his reluctance to use exclamation points. Kramer persuades Jerry to give him his old leather jacket as he will no longer be needing it. Some of the main topics of the show include romantic relationships, the challenges of finding a fulfilling career, and the numerous strange experiences and encounters of adult life. Who Played Elaine's Dad On Seinfeld? A definitive character actor, he was always noticeable for his uniquely raspy voice and intense stare, which he brought to dozens of shows and movies. Phil is a sexual harasser, so let's get him out of the way. Next: Why Seinfeld Killed Off Susan In Season 7. Puddy answers back with a simple, casual, "Alright.". Frank was such a huge presence in Seinfeld, it's hard to believe he was only in 24 episodes. Then, when Toby loses her pinky toe in an accident (caused by Jerry), an outpouring of office sympathy leads Toby to a major promotion instead of the more qualified Elaine. [2] Cast and crew members were very impressed with his performance. [1] In the episode, Jerry Seinfeld buys an expensive suede jacket and has dinner with the father of his ex-girlfriend Elaine Benes. More than two decades after the series ended, the famed "show about nothing" continues to resonate on a profound level with viewers, who've made it a bonafide hit in both syndication and the streaming realm. In "The Chinese Woman", Jerry describes how Elaine has had a destructive effect on her relationship with her friend Noreen. . In "The Boyfriend", Elaine reveals her disgust for smokers, which leads to a breakup with Keith Hernandez. In "The Serenity Now", Jerry's uninhibited, exaggerated emotional state causes him to ask Elaine to marry him. Elaine's longest relationship, besides that with Jerry, is with Puddy (Patrick Warburton), an auto mechanic turned car salesman. Elaine's father Alton, a war veteran and writer, makes Jerry and his . Chris' favorite directors include Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, and Quentin Tarantino (among several others). Kramer's mother, Babs Kramer, was regularly mentioned and Elaine's father made an appearance. Answer (1 of 3): Morty Seinfeld was originally played by Phil Bruns, who appeared in only the second episode. I Let My Boyfriend Dress Me For an Entire Year. Bay passed away at 92 years old in September 2011 after an accident left her with an amputated leg and a series of unfortunate health complications followed. They both felt they were in the right and wouldn't back down from each other. Patrick Warburton has arguably one . Seinfeld once jokingly stated that this was because the "Fatman" would run in the second half of the show. NBC. Babs Kramer doesn't appear on camera until the middle of Season 6 in the episode, "The Switch," at which point she's two years sober. The cycle goes on forever and ever as Jerry's and Seinfeld's continue on an infinite loop creating an even more . With Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards, Jason Alexander. At the wedding, George reveals that Elaine had once dated the groom, leading Sue Ellen to rip out Elaine's nose-ring. Kramer makes a contact for Cuban cigars. Elaine Marie Benes (/bns/) is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. As Alton drives home, he finds himself singing "Master of the House". In "The Pen", Elaine shows her love for the movie when she becomes unintentionally high on muscle relaxers and repeatedly screams "Stella" at a fancy awards dinner for Morty Seinfeld in Florida. I cashed it.". As it was, Alton Benes made just one appearance on "Seinfeld" during its nine-season run. 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." In her rush to get away from him, Elaine forgets her magazine on the subway seatonly, it's not her magazine, but Frank Costanza's.