Actor and director Ben Stiller announced May 11 that his father, actor and comedian Jerry Stiller, had passed away from natural causes. The 92-year-old Broadway and TV legend began his career in entertainment with wife Anne Meara, becoming staples on late night TV during the 1960s and frequenting
The Ed Sullivan Show. Those who might not remember the '60s, likely know Stiller better from his role as Frank Costanza on
Seinfeld. On Tuesday night, Ben appeared on
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (weeknights at 11:35ET on CTV2) to honour his late father by sharing personal and touching stories about him.Speaking from his home in New York, Stiller told Fallon that he plans on holding a memorial once it’s safe to do so, but for now he's content celebrating his dad by reminiscing publicly and privately. "A lot of people have reached out, which has been really nice." he said. "Just to feel how much he touched people, how much enjoyment he gave people. I know he would have felt good about all this."
Thinking back to the time Stiller appeared on Fallon's show to play
charades with his famous parents (back when Jimmy was still at
Late Night), the actor said it was one of the first things to come to his mind when he agreed to appear on Tuesday night. “It’s one of the most ridiculous things ever,” remembered Stiller, whose mother Anne Meara passed away in 2015.Stiller was raised by his parents in New York and on Tuesday night he took the opportunity to share the softer side of the man who was known for his larger-than-life delivery on stage. “He was a very supportive dad,” said Ben, remembering his father coming to the same play repeatedly early in his career even though the young actor only had a small role.When Stiller was 11, he said his bike was stolen at a park and his father heroically chased the young thief for three blocks to catch him. “The kid went into the lower level of a walk up on 86
th street and my dad said, ‘Wait here, I’m gonna go in.’ Ten minutes go by and he comes out and he doesn’t have the bike. I said, ‘What’s going on?’ He said, ‘We’re gonna let him keep the bike. He needs it. I’ll go get you another one.’ He literally let the kid keep the bike because he felt bad.”[video_embed id='1936640']RELATED: Jimmy Fallon's daughter adorably crashes an interview because she lost a tooth [/video_embed]Stiller’s close relationship to both his parents created a safe space throughout his childhood and into his teen years. His dad was even his first call when he had a bad trip the first time he tried LSD. “My first instinct was, I’m going to call my parents, because every kid calls their parents while on LSD,” Stiller joked. “I could hear the silence on the other end of the phone and I think he felt he failed as a parent. The next thing he said was, ‘It’s going to be okay.’ Then he tried to talk me down even though he knew nothing about drugs. He said, ‘I know what you’re feeling. When I was 10 years old, I smoked a Pall Mall cigarette and I was sick for two days.’”Ben also said he feels lucky to have been part of
his father’s final days, especially at a time many others can't be with their sick loved ones. “I also have to say, I feel really fortunate at this time because there are so many people dealing with so much in terms of what’s going on with COVID and losing people and not being able to be together with them and my heart goes out to all those people,” said Stiller. “I feel very fortunate that I was able to be with my dad and it’s not like that for so many people right now.”Watch
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon weeknights at 11:35ET on CTV2.[video_embed id='-1']BEFORE YOU GO: This husky might be the laziest babysitter ever [/video_embed]
