FEATURED JOBS
Comments (0)
You’ve got to admit, the man could steal a scene. Those eyes, that voice, the body language, that certain ... je ne sais quois.
Throughout his long career—in 40 feature films and 400 TV episodes—the great Len Lesser played a variety of roles. But he’ll always be best remembered for his brilliant, from-the-gut portrayal of Uncle Leo, the ingratiating, paranoid, schnorrer, nudnik uncle of Jerry Seinfeld’s alter ego, Jerry Seinfeld, on TV’s “Seinfeld.”
Mr. Lesser died this week from cancer-related pneumonia at a care facility in Burbank, Calif. A divorced dad of two, he was 88.
“Heaven got a great comedian and actor today,” said his daughter, Michele.
In a 2001 interview with the BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES (while he was appearing in a show at the Gordon Center for Performing Arts), the Bronx-born Mr. Lesser recalled someone yelling “Hey, Uncle Leo!” at him even when he was davening at Judaism’s holiest site, the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
“The Wailing Wall – that one really brought me up short,” the avuncular Mr. Lesser said with a chuckle. “The Wailing Wall?”
Of being forever associated with and typecast as Jerry’s fictional uncle – a Jewish everyman of his generation, if you will—Mr. Lesser said, “With this punim [face], who the hell is going to cast you as a lover, ya know? But I didn’t mind – it was work. I was glad to have it.”
Of the real-life Mr. Seinfeld, he gushed, “He’s a lovely, lovely man. I always liked him. He’s very honest, very straight, very generous – a good guy, a really good guy. He’s a mentsch.”
The same could be said as well for Len Lesser. May his memory always be a blessing, and may his appearances in eternal TV reruns always give us a good laugh.