It's hard to imagine Seinfeld, perhaps the greatest sitcom ever made, without the eccentric stylings of Jerry Stiller's Frank Costanza. But the actor, who died Monday at age 92, was not Larry David's first choice to play George's father.
Instead, an actor named John Randolph was cast as Frank, but his run lasted only one episode. Stiller took over, and eventually re shot the pilot scenes for syndication. Stiller explained how the Frank Costanza we came to know—and roll on the floor laughing at—was born in an interview with Esquire's Cal Fussman for our May 2005 issue:
I was not the first father on Seinfeld. There was another father, whom I replaced. I was out of work at the time. My manager had retired. I was close to seventy years old and I had nowhere to go. I get this chance on Seinfeld. I hadn’t even seen the show. The idea was for Estelle Harris, who was the screamer, to be the boss lady of the Costanza family. And I was supposed to be her Thurberesque husband. The part called for me to wear a bald wig to look like George and to act very meek. But after a couple of days I realized that acting meek was going to get me fired just like the last guy. On the fourth day, I said to Larry David, “This ain’t workin’. Can I do it my way?” The scene started and Estelle began screaming at me, “You’re the one who ruined his life! You’re the one who wasn’t a good role model! You’re a lousy father!” Only this time I shot back, “You’re the one who made him sandwiches in bed! You’re the one who coddled him and treated him like a baby!” All the cameramen broke out laughing. Then Jason [Alexander] came over and said, “Don’t be afraid to hit me.” I said, “But you’re my son. You’re thirty-five years old! I can’t do that.” What the hell. The next time Jason said, “Dad, can I have the keys to the car ?” Bang! I gave him this whack. Everybody screamed. Then Estelle went over to Larry and said, “Can I hit him, too?”
The rest is history, and the TV world was given—at the hand of Stiller's relentless comedic genius—one of the funniest television dads in the history of the medium.
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