The Seinfeld Replacement Actor Who Won Fans Over

NBC

Pulling together a sitcom ensemble may be the greatest challenge of the casting trade. This isn't a one-and-done deal. You've got to think about longevity. After all, you're shooting for six seasons and a movie! Okay, in the streaming age, it's a little different, but you do want your show to hang around for a while. You can tweak a bit down the line, but finding the right chemistry from jump with your main characters is important.

"Seinfeld" hit the bullseye with Jerry, Jason Alexander, Michael Richards, and, after they wised up and boosted her to series regular, Julia Louis-Dreyfus. They were so in sync so quickly, surrounding them with recurring characters should've been easy. They got it right with the mothers! Estelle Harris was histrionic perfection as Estelle Costanza, while Liz Sheridan's Helen Seinfeld was a study in doting. Both of these actors made it hilariously clear how their sons wound up being such socially maladjusted disasters.

The fathers were not so easily cast. Phil Bruns was first up as Morty Seinfeld. He passed the audition, but the producers thought his Morty was a too-nice foil for Jerry, so they replaced him with the much more abrasive Barney Martin.

As for Frank Costanza, they initially went with Tony Award-winning actor John Randolph. Once again, they envisioned a more passive paternal figure, one who could be easily steamrolled by Harris' Estelle. This simply wasn't funny enough, so they turned to comedy legend Jerry Stiller, who could explode at the drop of a hat. And thus a classic sitcom character was born.

NBC

The producers certainly made the right call, but I still feel bad for Randolph. His career came to an abrupt halt in 1948 when he and wife Sarah Cunningham were blacklisted for being suspected members of the Communist Party USA. He didn't begin working again until the 1960s, and while Randolph was excellent as the co-lead of "Seconds," he generally settled into supporting roles in films like "Little Murders," "Serpico," and the 1976 remake of "King Kong." Making TV history as Frank Costanza would've been karmic justice.

As we all know, Stiller immediately turned Frank into a combative force of nature. He was so spot-on, they actually reshot Randolph's scenes with Stiller in the Season 4 episode "The Handicap Spot" for syndication. All due respect to Randolph, I've never heard a single "Seinfeld" fan complain that Stiller was an inferior replacement — though that's largely because there aren't a lot of people who've seen Randolph's sole appearance.

Whether he was inventing Festivus or getting into a brawl with Elaine, Stiller's Frank was a scene-stealer supreme from Season 5 on. It's impossible to imagine anyone else in that role.