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This morning at 4:15 AM, the Ben Stiller posted on Twitter that his father, the comedian and actor Jerry Stiller had passed away from natural cases. The Brooklyn-born star had played Frank Costanza, the father of George Constanza on the hit comedy series Seinfeld as well as as Arthur Spooner on The King of Queens. He had also appeared in many of Ben Stiller’s films, including Zoolander.
Jerry Stiller was born on June 8, 1927 at Unity Hospital located at 1545 St. John’s Place in eastern Crown Heights, a few blocks from the Weeksville Heritage Center. The hospital has since been converted into apartments. He grew up in East New York and in Williamsburg, and finally on the Lower East Side where he attended Seward Park High School. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and then majored in Speech and Drama at Syracuse University. He met his wife, Anne Meara, with whom he would form the comedy duo Stiller and Meara, in a casting office in 1953 and they were together until her death in 2015.
If you’re looking to pay tribute to Stiller’s role on Seinfeld and searching for the house of Frank Constanza, don’t go to the address listed in the show: 1344 Queens Boulevard. You’ll end up at a gas station. In actuality, the house shown in the series is at 22-37 37th Street in Astoria, Queens.
Next, check out A List About Nothing: 10 Film Locations for Seinfeld.
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