JERRY'S FATHER

Why did they change the actor who played Jerry's father? Did the original actor die? Was he replaced for another reason?

Thanks!

Nick

Walrus writes:

There was a one-shot publication when the series finished its run. They had an interview with father #1. I think its a fair paraphrase to say that in his opinion, he was too funny. Jerry didn't want the competition of having funny people around.

One of a very long series of superb casting moves.

I don't know if Uncle Leo is a different uncle than earlier episodes or not. There was another uncle but I don't know the characters name. Uncle Leo was a definite improvement.

"john galt" wrote in message news:djfR6.39030$[email]...

original

had

having

I find that hard to believe. Perhaps he was joking. Barney Martin, as father #2, was much funnier than father #1.

not.

was

May have had another Uncle. But as far as I can remember, Uncle Leo was always played by the same actor.

Brad wrote:

My wallet's gone! My wallet's gone!

-B.

The "original uncle" was called Uncle Max.........don't know who the actor was.....???

Cousin Brucie at the Jersey Shore

"Brian Dickson" wrote in message news:[email]...

They

that in

"Bruce R. Aydelotte" wrote:

Uncle Mac .. played by .... Joe George

original

Galt:

had

having

There was a response which has timed out on my server. In essence it said, maybe he was trying to be funny. My filing system is not the greatest so it took me a while (too long, it turns out) to find the article. but here it is, judge for yourself.

<start quote>

Not everyone has such affection for the show - or its star. Actor Phil Bruns, who played Morty Seinfeld for one episode (1990's "The Stake Out"), was unceremoniously dumped, he says, when producers told him they wanted someone "more ethnic". The real reason, he suggests, was that he was "funnier than the star".

_People's Extra - Seinfeld Special Farewell Issue_, p 78

<end quote>

Doesn't sound like irony or any of its relatives to me. Sounds like a sore loser to me.

(This was the episode where Jerry meets a girl who works at ______, James, Oppenheimer, Fisk and Jerry and George hang around the elevator waiting for her to go to lunch. George reveals for the first time that he had always wanted to pretend that he was an architect.)

john galt wrote:

Simon, Bennett, Robbins, Oppenheim and Taft. Simon, Bennett, Robbins, Oppenheim and Taft. Simon, Bennett, Robbins, Oppenheim and Taft. :)

-B.

Brian Dickson wrote:

Sagman, Bennett, Robbins, Oppenheim and Taff

According to Dave(ratboy)'s official documentation - from a script or something.

    Bruns probably wants to see it that way. But I'd bet Seinfeld and David saw
it differently.
     Having seen both "The Stakeout" (which cast Phil Bruns in the father's
role) and the succession of episodes in which Barney Martin plays Morty
Seinfeld, let me suggest another explanation...they wanted to improve the
casting.  The part was recast because Barney Martin was better and funnier in
that particular role. Bruns is a good actor who played the father well on "Mary
Hartman, Mary Hartman" back in the 70s. But Bruns projects the same low key
Midwestern persona on screen he did back in 1977, and while that worked
perfectly in "Mary Hartman" the character of Morty Seinfeld needed someone
higher in energy level and more convincing as a New Yorker. (This even though
Barney Martin is an Irish American actor who was asked to play a Jewish
character on the show, so I doubt ethnicity had much to do with the
re-casting). .
     This was actually the first of two important secondary characters recast
in the course of the show's run. George's father Frank Costanza was also recast
after his first appearance---the original actor, whose name escapes me, was
apparently a poor enough fit with the part, that parts of the episode were even
reshot with Jerry Stiller after the episode's original airing on NBC.

Bob Smith, afternoons WXXI-AM 1370, Rochester NY