Background and Age

Gerald Isaac Stiller also is known as Jerry Stiller was born on June 8, 1927, in Brooklyn, New York. In the wake of finishing high school, Stiller served in the military during the last long periods of World War II. When Stiller got back, he enrolled at Syracuse University, where he got a four-year degree in speech and drama in 1950.

On May 23, 2015, when Anne Meara passed away at 85 years old, Stiller retired from acting. He came back one more time in 2016 to star in Zoolander 2.

Marriage, Wife, and Kids

Jerry Stiller married Anne Meara in 1954. Stiller and Meara had two children who emulated his path towards an acting career. His daughter, Amy became an actress and his son, Ben became a popular comedian and actor. Ben married an actress named Christine Taylor.

Stiller met Anne while playing a part in the improvisational group ‘The Compass Players’. The organization later developed into the well-known Second City troupe. He said he fell in love with her at first sight and they really hit it off.

Career and Net Worth

Jerry Stiller set out to make a career as an actor, taking work where he could get it. In 1951, Jerry Stiller made his acting debut in front of a live audience with Burgess Meredith in "The Silver Whistle". In 1953, he appeared in a Broadway production of William Shakespeare's Coriolanus, assuming a little comic role along with a youthful Jack Klugman and future movie director Gene Saks.

He also played the hypertensive male partner of the husband and wife comic drama group "Stiller & Meara". Jerry Stiller and his wife Anne Meara were on top of the comedy scene in the 60s. In his 2001 diary “Married to Laughter: a Love Story Featuring Anne Meara”, he discusses their drama work as a couple. Together, they created a drama structure, which was altogether of a different style, and which incredibly influenced both the silver screen and TV.

Jerry Stiller's career was rejuvenated in the part of the gasket-blowing, rambunctious Frank Costanza on the popular sitcom called Seinfeld (1989). Playing the irritable father of George Costanza, the role launched the second half of his career, after a particularly important episode where Frank offered the details of a holiday he created, Festivus. The Festivus episode turned out to be popular to such an extent that Stiller even wrote the prologue to a book about the imaginary holiday. Stiller became busier after his Seinfeld stint and scored big roles including a supporting role in the movie Zoolander, which featured and was directed by his son, Ben Stiller.

After Seinfeld went off the air in 1998, Stiller thought about retirement, however, he accepted a proposal to play Arthur Spooner, another bad-tempered old man, on another comedy series, The King of Queens. The show wound up running nine seasons, with Stiller appearing in 195 episodes.