“Yeah. I adored this man,” tweeted Jason Alexander, who spent years working alongside Jerry Stiller on Seinfeld, playing his son George. Jason was the first of the cast members of Seinfeld to reveal his sorrow over the passing of Stiller, who died on May 10 of natural causes. While his death was confirmed by his real life son, Ben Stiller, his TV son wasted no time in remembering the man behind Frank Constanza for all the love and laughter he brought into the world.
“He was perhaps the kindest man I ever had the honor to work beside,” Jason added on Twitter. “He made me laugh when I was a child and every day I was with him. A great actor, a great man, a lovely friend. #RIPJerryStiller I Love you.” Elsewhere, Jerry Seinfeld was a man of few words when he took to Instagram to honor his friend and costar. In fact, he merely captioned his post, “Jerry Stiller’s comedy will live forever.” The actor posed with a vinyl record featuring Stiller. The album was titled Ed Sullivan Presents: The Last Two People In The World with Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Anne Meara wasn’t only a talented performer, as well, she was Jerry’s beloved wife from 1954 until her death in 2015 at the age of 85.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus also shared her fond memories of the hilarious actor and comedian. Just a week before his passing, Julia and Jason reflected on their time on set with the comedy titan. Julia recalled a scene where she nearly lost it, when Jerry said the line, “You want a piece of me,” in complete exasperation during an exchange their characters had. “It’s fun to watch the bloopers, I have to say,” Julia confessed during her chat with Jason. “I don’t watch the episodes themselves very much, but watching the bloopers really takes me back to the fun that we had.”
In the early hours of May 11, Ben Stiller broke the news to fans that his father had passed with a beautiful message on Twitter. “I’m sad to say that my father, Jerry Stiller, passed away from natural causes,” Ben wrote. “He was a great dad and grandfather, and the most dedicated husband to Anne for about 62 years. He will be greatly missed. Love you Dad.”