Serenity Now! A Tribute to ‘Seinfeld’ Star Jerry Stiller, A Farewell Festivus For the Rest of Us

All is eerily quiet in Del Boca Vista. Jerry Stiller, the comedic actor beloved for his interpretation of Frank Costanza on Seinfeld, has passed away from natural causes at age 92. The news of his death came early this morning via a tweet from his son and fellow actor Ben Stiller.

The native New Yorker and Jewish comedian was a perfect fit for the cardigan-clad, simmering Frank Costanza, on-screen father to neurotic George Costanza. Frank was also one-half of that elderly couple we all know (and can’t stand), constantly bickering with his wife Estelle. And of course, he couldn’t help but interfere with his son’s life at every opportunity.

Stiller made his debut as everyone’s favorite curmudgeon on “The Puffy Shirt” episode in season five. In season six’s “The Doorman,” he collaborated with Kramer to make a male undergarment called “the Mansierre.” Viewers got a flashback into Frank’s past in season eight’s “The Fatigues,” which featured Frank as a Korean War army cook. In perhaps his most notorious episode, season nine’s “The Serenity Now,” Frank tries to lower his blood pressure with a mantra. And who could forget season nine’s “The Strike,” in which Frank introduces everyone to Festivus, an alternate holiday celebration that involves “the airing of grievances”?

After cracking audiences up on Seinfeld, Stiller continued his comedic rein as Arthur Spooner, the patriarch who lives with his daughter Carrie and her husband Doug, on The King of Queens.

In tribute to this fine actor and these indelible characters, we’ve rounded up the curmudgeon’s best moments from these iconic sitcoms in GIF form. We hope Stiller has found the “serenity now” that he so vehemently sought on Seinfeld.