Seinfeld witnessed some of its funniest moments when the parents of our iconic leads graced selected episodes. The NBC show often featured the parents as supporting characters. Surprisingly, Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ character Elaine Benes’ parents could never be a prominent part of the show.
Although Elaine Benes’ mother was never shown in the NBC sitcom, her father Alton Benes was set to be a recurring character after his introduction in Season 2 Episode 3. It was a controversial on-set incident by the late actor Lawrence Tierney that forced Alton Benes to never get another appearance.
Seinfeld, often hailed as one of the greatest sitcoms ever, provided immense laughs to the audiences. But hardly anyone expected Tierney to create a scary environment on set.
Lawrence Tierney’s problematic humor made the Seinfeld cast uncomfortable
Seinfeld often used the leads’ parents as supporting characters to generate memorable events. Sadly, Julia Louis Dreyfus‘ Elaine Benes’ parents never got that chance. Her father Alton Benes only appeared in one episode and the late actor Lawrence Tierney also gave a memorable performance but could not stick around the show for reportedly sneaking a knife into his jacket.
Lawrence Tierney appeared as Alton Benes in the Seinfeld Season 2 episode titled The Jacket. In the show, Papa Benes is shown to be an author and a stern-faced man who gives a hard time to George (Jason Alexander) and Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld).
According to Collider, things went haywire during the filming of The Jacket when Lawrence Tierney stole a knife from the set and hid it in his jacket. When Jerry Seinfeld approached the late Dillinger actor, he confessed that he wanted to pull off a Psycho-esque prank by pretending to stab someone.
As expected, Tierney’s twisted humor made everyone uncomfortable and created an unpleasant environment on set. It was eventually decided that he would not reprise his role in the further episodes.
In the late actor’s memoir Lawrence Tierney: Hollywood’s Real-Life Tough Guy by Burt Kearns, Julia Louis-Dreyfus also wrote about Tierney “He was a total nutjob.” However, Dreyfus also praised his performance and regretted that his actions stopped him from being an exciting supporting character.
Lawrence Tierney also had a significant feud with Quentin Tarantino
Lawrence Tierney was undoubtedly a commendable performer on-screen but his off-screen antics have always led him to trouble. The late actor’s career was marred with arrests for being drunk, disorderly conduct, and even assault. Besides that, Tierney also generated major headlines after fighting with Quentin Tarantino during the filming of Reservoir Dogs.
Reservoir Dogs, with its iconic star cast and splendid performances, is considered a timeless classic in Quentin Tarantino’s filmmaking career. In an interview with The Guardian, the director shared that directing Tierney as Joe Cabot was one of the toughest jobs for him.
Tierney was a complete lunatic by that time – he just needed to be sedated. We had decided to shoot his scenes first, so my first week of directing was talking with this fu*king lunatic. He was personally challenging to every aspect of film-making. By the end of the week everybody on set hated Tierney – it wasn’t just me.
By the end of the first week’s filming, Tarantino even had a fistfight with Tierney. Following that, the late actor was fired by the director and he became such a troubling sport that the entire crew was happy to see him go- “I fired him, and the whole crew burst into applause.“
The connoisseur of violence added that he was scared of getting fired by the studio for the move as well. Fortunately, Harvey Keitel intervened and saved Quentin Tarantino’s job.
Seinfeld can be streamed on Netflix while Reservoir Dogs can be rented on Apple TV+.
