Why did Elaine’s father only appear once on Seinfeld?

In the Seinfeld episode “The Jacket” (February 6, 1991), Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) and George (Jason Alexander) arrange to have dinner with Alton Benes (Lawrence Tierney), the father of… Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Due to a towed car drama, Elaine is late for a dinner date, and Jerry and George spend a long and painful time trying to talk to Alton, a gruff and grumpy character. Alton is a famous author, and Jerry assumes he will be talkative and sociable, but he is quite the opposite; He is annoyed by his companions’ whiny behavior and delicate sensibilities and wears a permanent disapproving frown. When Jerry refuses to go for a walk in the snow – to save his new suede jacket from water damage – Alton insists. As with many episodes of “Seinfeld,” everyone feels uncomfortable at the end.

Lawrence Tierney gave an excellent performance, and the cast was a pleasure to work with. Tierney has been acting professionally since the 1940s, and has been a notorious fighter and drinker for almost all that time; The headlines at the time were already recording his disorderly behaviour. Quentin Tarantino cast Tierney as crime boss Joe Cabot in Reservoir Dogs The outlet reported that Tierney had been disorganized even thenAfter he shot his nephew while drunk. Many people who worked with Tierney have stories of his reckless, eccentric and sometimes amusing, but sometimes bullying, behaviour. Tierney struggled with alcoholism throughout his life. A full list of Lawrence Tierney’s unruly and impolite behavior would take up more space than we have here.

It seems the “Seinfeld” cast has their own stories, too. Apparently, during the filming of “The Jacket,” Tierney attempted to steal a knife from Jerry’s kitchen set. DVD interview included with “The Jacket” It includes Seinfeld’s very strange encounter with Tierney over the knife, which directly led to the decision not to bring him back to the show.

If not for this incident, Tierney would likely have become a semi-regular on the series.

“Seinfeld” co-creator Larry David has admitted that the character of Alton Benes was inspired by real-life author Richard Yates. David had been dating Yeats’ daughter Monica many years before, and agreed to meet Richard at the Algonquin for drinks and conversation…while wearing a suede jacket. And yes, just like in “The Jacket,” David ends up ruining his suede jacket when Yates insists on going for a walk in the snow.

Tierney seemed to have been perfect for the role, as Louis-Dreyfus described him as “absolutely crazy. (…) It’s a shame he was so cuckoo because I’m sure he would have been back, otherwise.” Alexander agreed, saying Tierney played his part very well, and There is every reason to believe that he will return to play Alton Benes in future episodes. But he was so crazy. “We kept our eyes on Lawrence,” Michael Richards (Kramer) said. “Because Lawrence stole one of Jerry’s knives from the collection.”

Louis-Dreyfus, Alexander, and “The Jacket” director Tom Cheronis both recall seeing Tierney slip a large butcher knife from a Jerry knife block and insert it into his coat. Louis-Dreyfus recalls that Seinfeld actually confronted Tierney about the robbery, which she felt could be serious. When confronted, Tierney tried to play it off, saying he had stolen the knife for comedic reasons, Alexander said. Indeed, he pulled out the knife and lunged at Seinfeld, saying it would be funny if he were attacked like in the movie “Psycho.” Tierney even sang Score for the famous “Psycho” by Bernard Herrmann Seinfeld was also stabbed. It looks like the comedian has stood his ground. “That’s when we knew we were in the land of the sick,” Alexander said.

Everyone was afraid. Cherones defended Tierney, saying he was otherwise completely professional, and treated everyone with kindness (when knives weren’t involved). “But Larry David threatened to take him back if I wasn’t any good.” Tierney never returned to “Seinfeld.”