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RIP Jerry Stiller.

Stiller and his wife, Anne Meara, were a stand-up comedy duo in the late '50s through the '60s, and were featured on Ed Sullivan a lot. Sort of like Nichols and May, except Stiller and Meara were married (and continued to be so until she passed way in 2015). A classic example of a mixed marriage; he was Jewish and she was Catholic.

On his Wiki page he is quoted as saying that playing Arthur on King of Queens challenged him and made him into a better actor. I've watched that show only a little. Were Arthur and Mr. Costanza very different in attitudes and delivery? That's not to say Stiller wasn't great; talent in an actor is not dependent on whether he plays a different character in each film, a la Alec Guinness.

My other comment is that with him and his son Ben, the family resemblance is very strong. Ben is one of those celebrities that, when you see him, you immediately know whose kid he has to be -- like Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland.
 
Sun night I re watched the heartbreak kid where he worked with his son Ben.
It must have been a lot of fun for them, great comedy.
He was great in "The King Of Queens" series as well.
 
I heard this news on my commute in today. I can’t think of a Jerry Stiller moment as Frank Costanza the doesn’t just make me belly laugh. It wasn’t just the lines, it was the full visual and delivery.
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So sad. Both Frank and Arthur were great characters, just would't have been the same with anyone else.
 
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