Actor Jerry Stiller Dies Aged 92

By Ben Hamill - May 12 2020

Actor Jerry Stiller Dies Aged 92

Celebrated actor Jerry Stiller, perhaps best known for his role playing the hilariously borderline-offensive father of George on the comedic television sitcom Seinfeld, has died.  Actor and son Ben Stiller confirmed the news of his passing on social media on Monday. Jerry Stiller, who had been married to wife and comedy-partner Anne Meara for 62 years up until her passing in 2015, died of natural causes and is described by son Ben as a great father and grandfather and a wonderful and dedicated husband to his (Ben’s) and sister Amy Stiller’s mother.

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Aside from having been a beloved and dedicated family man, Stiller Sr. had a deep and sincere love for comedy. Modern-day viewers will best remember him for having played the roles of comic-groggy old dads on shows like Seinfeld and The King of Queens but Jerry Stiller was in fact a career in the making long before the 1980s when Seinfeld first made it onto our television screens.

Early Career

Born and bred in New York City, Gerald Isaac Stiller (or Jerry) spent the better part of the first half of his lifelong career as an actor as one half of the famously popular and mind-numbingly hilarious comedy duo Stiller and Meara. This was of course opposite wife and lifelong love and partner, the later Anne Meara. The hilarious double-act, having started out performing in coffee houses in Greenwich Village in the 1960s, eventually appeared on literally dozens of “The Ed Sullivan Show” episodes and for a long time ruled the funny-couple television scene. Stiller Sr. in 2001 was nominated for a Grammy award in the Best Spoken World category. This was for his performance playing himself in his spoken-world memoire, Married to Laughter: A Love Story featuring Anne Meara.

His memoire portrayed not only a poignant and deep love for his wife and the woman he regarded his partner in every possible way, but also his keen and absolute passion and love for entertainment and showbusiness. The family never revealed the cause of death of mother and wife Anne Meara, but natural causes were likely at play. Stiller would long after her death tell of how much he missed her and how he had missed especially their having known instinctively what the other was thinking, even if nobody was actually listening.

Devoted Father And Family Man

Jerry Stiller is survived by actor-director Ben Stiller and writer, actress and stand-up comedian Amy Stiller, who became famous for her roles in The Cable Guy, The Daytrippers and Tropic Thunder. Four years older than younger brother Ben, Amy Stiller turned 58 this year.

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