Jerry Stiller

The eldest of four children,[2] Stiller was born at Unity Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, to Bella (née Citron) and William Stiller, a bus driver.[3] His family is Jewish. His paternal grandparents immigrated from Galicia (modern southern Poland and Western Ukraine), and his mother was born in Poland.[4] He lived in the Williamsburg and East New York neighborhoods before his family moved to the Lower East Side,[5] where he attended Seward Park High School.[6]

Upon his return from service in the U.S. Army during World War II,[7][8] Stiller attended Syracuse University, earning a bachelor's degree in Speech and Drama in 1950. In the 1953 Phoenix Theater production of Coriolanus (produced by John Houseman) Stiller, along with Gene Saks and Jack Klugman formed (as told by Houseman in the 1980 memoir Front and Center) "the best trio of Shakespearian clowns that I have ever seen on any stage".[9]

Also in 1953, Stiller met actor-comedian Anne Meara, and they married in 1954. Until Stiller suggested it, Meara had never thought of doing comedy. "Jerry started us being a comedy team," she said. "He always thought I would be a great comedy partner."[10] They joined the Chicago improvisational company The Compass Players (which later became The Second City), and after leaving, began performing together. In 1961, they were performing in nightclubs in New York, and by the following year were considered a "national phenomenon", said the New York Times.[10]

The comedy team Stiller and Meara, composed of Stiller and wife, Anne Meara, was successful in the 1960s and 1970s, with numerous appearances on television variety programs, mainly on The Ed Sullivan Show.[11] Their career declined as variety series gradually disappeared, but they subsequently forged a career in radio commercials, notably the campaign for Blue Nun wine. They starred in their own syndicated five-minute sketch comedy show, Take Five with Stiller and Meara (1977–1978).[12]

From 1979 to 1982, Stiller and Meara hosted HBO Sneak Previews, a half-hour show produced monthly on which they described the movies and programs to be featured in the coming month.[13] They also did some comedy sketches between show discussions. The duo's own 1986 TV sitcom, The Stiller and Meara Show, in which Stiller played the deputy mayor of New York City and Meara portrayed his wife, a TV commercial actress, was not successful.

Stiller in 2005

Stiller wrote the foreword to the book Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us (ISBN 0-446-69674-9) by Allen Salkin, released on October 26, 2005. Stiller's memoir, Married to Laughter: A Love Story Featuring Anne Meara, was published by Simon & Schuster © 2000; ISBN 0-684-86903-9.

Stiller was married to Anne Meara from 1954 until her death on May 23, 2015. The two met in an agent's office. Anne was upset about an interaction with the casting agent, so Jerry took her out for coffee—all he could afford—and they were together ever since. Their son is actor-comedian Ben Stiller (born 1965) and their daughter is actress Amy Stiller (born 1961). He has two grandchildren through Ben.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jerry Stiller.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Jerry Stiller

• Jerry Stiller on IMDb
• The Stiller and Meara Show at Internet Movie Database
• Jerry Stiller at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jerry Stiller at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Festivus: The website for the rest of us – Website for Festivus Book to which Stiller wrote foreword, includes Festivus movies, songs, forum and grievances
• Jerry Stiller – Internet Accuracy Project
• Exclusive Jerry Stiller Interview at TrulyHollywood.com (March 21, 2007)
• Jerry Stiller at the Comedy Hall of Fame
• Stiller and Meara article at talkingcomedy.com
• Jerry Stiller at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television