Why is Elaine’s dad only featured on Seinfeld once

In the Seinfeld episode “Jacket” (February 6, 1991), Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) and George (Jason Alexander) make dinner arrangements with Alton Benes (Laurence Tierney), their father Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Due to the drama involving the towed cars, Elaine is late for dinner, and Jerry and George have a long, painful conversation with Alton, a gruff, grumpy character. Alton is a famous writer, and Jerry assumes he’ll be talkative and outgoing, but he’s quite the opposite; he is irritated by the whiny behavior and subtle sensuality of his companions, and he constantly scowls in disdain. 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 Seinfeld episodes, everyone feels uncomfortable at the end.

Lawrence Tierney gave a great performance and the cast were thrilled to work with him. Tierney had been a professional actor since the 1940s, and had been a notorious mobster and drinker for almost as long; the headlines of the time already recorded his hooliganism. Quentin Tarantino cast Tierney as crime boss Joe Cabot in Water Dogs, and the director reported that Tierney was already disorderedshooting his nephew while drunk. Many people who worked with Tierney have stories about his brash, strange, sometimes hilarious, but sometimes bully behavior. Tierney struggled with alcoholism throughout his life. A full list of Lawrence Tierney’s wild, sloppy behavior would take up more space than here.

The Seinfeld cast seems to have their own stories too. It looks like Tierney was trying to steal a prop knife from Jerry’s kitchen set on the set of The Jacket. DVD interview included with “The Jacket” 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 it weren’t for this incident, it’s likely that Tierney would have become a semi-regular on the series.

“Seinfeld” co-creator Larry David admitted that the character of Alton Benes was inspired by the real-life author Richard Yates. David had dated Yates’ daughter Monica years before, and he agreed to meet Richard at the Algonquin for a drink and a chat … wearing a suede jacket. And, just like in The Jacket, David ends up ruining his suede jacket when Yates insists they go for a walk in the snow.

It seems that Tierney was perfect for the role, as Louis-Dreyfus described him as “completely crazy. (…) It’s a shame he was such a cuckoo, because I’m sure he would have come back otherwise.” Alexander agreed. , saying that Tierney played the role incredibly well, and there’s every reason to believe he’ll return to the role of Alton Benes in future episodes. But he was too crazy. “We’ve been following Lawrence,” said Michael Richards (Kramer). “Because Lawrence stole one of Jerry’s knives from the set.”

Louis-Dreyfus, Alexander and “Jacket” director Tom Cherones recalled seeing Tierney pull a large butcher’s knife from Jerry’s knife block and tuck it into his coat. Louis-Dreyfus recalls how Seinfeld actually confronted Tierney about a theft that she thought was potentially dangerous. Alexander said Tierney, when confronted, tried to play it off by saying he had stolen the knife for comedic reasons. Indeed, he pulled out a knife and lunged at Seinfeld, saying it would be funny to be attacked like in the movie Psycho. Tierney even sang The famous score of “Psycho” by Bernard Herrmann as he mock-stabbed Seinfeld. The humorist, it seems, stood his ground. “Then we realized that we are in the country of the sick,” said Alexander.

Everyone was scared. Cherones defended Tierney, saying he was otherwise completely professional and treated everyone well (unless the knives were involved). “But Larry David threatened to take it back if I wasn’t good.” Tierney never returned to “Seinfeld.”