Frank Costanza
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| Frank Costanza | |
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| First appearance | The Handicap Spot |
| Last appearance | The Finale, Part II |
| Created by | Jerry Seinfeld |
| Portrayed by | John Randolph (original version of The Handicap Spot Jerry Stiller (all other appearances) |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 60s |
| Occupation | retired |
| Family | sister (called Aunt Baby) |
| Spouse(s) | Estelle Costanza |
| Children | George Costanza and an unnamed son |
Frank Costanza (played by Jerry Stiller) is a fictional character on the US television sitcom Seinfeld (1989-1998). He was born in Tuscany, Italy, and moved at the age of four with his entire family (except his cousin Carlo) to the United States. He is the father of George Costanza and is married to Estelle Costanza. He is characteristically loud, neurotic, abrasive and eccentric. He speaks in a highly idiosyncratic, halting manner.
In Frank Costanza's first appearance in the episode "The Handicap Spot" of season 4, the character was played by John Randolph. At the urging of series creator Larry David, once Stiller had been cast for Frank Costanza, the scenes with Randolph were reshot with Stiller for syndication.
Though currently retired, we learn in "The Understudy" that Frank once worked as a salesman selling religious artifacts, and that he is fluent in Korean. He also claims to have spoken to Sun Myung Moon. Frank is an exceptionally good cook (he spent time as an army cook in Korea), as long as he can overcome his fears of accidentally poisoning people with his cooking (which showed the rebuttal in "The Fatigues", in which he destroyed his food after seeing Elaine's co-worker, Eddie, choking).
His hobbies include listening to Latin music on vinyl records and collecting issues of TV Guide. He invented an alternative-holiday known as Festivus and was co-creator of the "Bro" (also known as the "manssiere" according to him) with Cosmo Kramer in "The Doorman." Perhaps before the character had been entirely established, Frank Costanza was in his first episode, "The Handicap Spot", a leading member of United Volunteers.
Frank's several flaws include a paralyzing fear of mice, rats and other forms of household infestation. Even the mention of mice in his household horrifies Frank, as seen in "The Raincoats, Part 2" He also has a 'phobia' which disables him from spending his silver dollars, which he has collected since 18 years of age. Frank seems to have a predilection for squirrels. In The Conversion where George is considering converting to Latvian Orthodox religion he's asking if this is the group that goes around mutilating squirrels and asks specifically that George stays away from squirrels. He reacts violently if someone asks him to take off his shoes (because he believes that his feet have bad odour).
Estelle, while never referred that way on the show, was said by both Larry David and Jason Alexander to be Jewish, and in numerous interviews they said that George was "half-Jewish," implying that Frank was not. In the episode "The Fatigues", it is implied that Frank is a member of the Knights of Columbus, an all Catholic fraternal organization. However, a member must be actively Catholic, and Frank does not seem to fit that requirement.
In the episode "The Caddy", when George Steinbrenner came over to tell Frank and his wife about their son's (apparent) death, Frank, out of nowhere, screamed,"What the hell did you trade Jay Buhner for? He had 30 home runs and over 100 RBIs last year. He has a rocket for an arm, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL YOU'RE DOING!."
[edit] Appearances
- Season Four:
- The Handicap Spot (syndication)
- Season Five:
- Season Six:
- Season Seven:
- Season Eight:
- Season Nine:
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