show name	Seinfeld
genre	Sitcom
director	Art WolffTom CheronesAndy AckermanDavid Steinberg
runtime	22 minutes
creator	Larry David
starring	Jerry SeinfeldJulia Louis-DreyfusMichael RichardsJason Alexander
executive producer	Larry David (Seasons 1–7)Benjamin Scott (Seasons 3–5)Howard WestGeorge ShapiroAndrew Scheinman(Seasons 2–4)Jerry Seinfeld (Seasons 8–9)Alec Berg (Season 9)Jeff Schaffer (Season 9)
country	United States
language	English
network	NBC
camera	Multi-camera
company	Castle Rock EntertainmentConundrum Entertainment ("The Virgin") Columbia Pictures Television (1989-1998)
distributor	Columbia Pictures Television (1995–1996)Columbia TriStar Television (1996–2002)Sony Pictures Television (2002–present)
first aired
last aired
related	''Curb Your Enthusiasm''
picture format	4:3 SDTV16:9 HDTV (details)Color
num seasons	9
num episodes	180
list episodes	List of Seinfeld episodes
website	http://www.sonypictures.com/tv/shows/seinfeld/ }}

''Seinfeld'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself. Set predominantly in an apartment block on Manhattan's Upper West Side (but shot in Los Angeles), the show features a host of Jerry's friends and acquaintances, in particular best friend George Costanza, former girlfriend Elaine Benes, and neighbor across the hall Cosmo Kramer.

''Seinfeld'' was produced by Castle Rock Entertainment in association with Columbia Pictures Television in syndication the series was distributed by Columbia Pictures Television and Columbia TriStar Television; Sony Pictures Television has distributed the series since 2002. It was largely co-written by David and Seinfeld with input from numerous script writers, including Larry Charles, Peter Mehlman, Gregg Kavet, Andy Robin, Carol Leifer, David Mandel, Jeff Schaffer, Steve Koren, Jennifer Crittenden, Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Charlie Rubin, Marjorie Gross, Alec Berg, Elaine Pope, and Spike Feresten.

A critical favorite, commercial blockbuster and cultural phenomenon, the show led the Nielsen ratings in its sixth and ninth seasons and finished among the top two (along with NBC's ''ER'') every year from 1994 to 1998. In 2002, ''TV Guide'' named ''Seinfeld'' the greatest television program of all time. In 1997, the episodes "The Boyfriend" and "The Parking Garage" were respectively ranked #4 and #33 on ''TV Guide'''s 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. And in 2009, "The Contest" was ranked #1 on the same magazine's list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time". E! named it the "number 1 reason the '90s ruled."

Overview

''Seinfeld'' stood out from the many family and group sitcoms of its time. None of the principal ''Seinfeld'' characters were related by family or work connections but remained distinctively close friends throughout the seasons. Unlike many other sitcoms, ''Seinfeld'' focused less on a plot-driven story than on minutiae, such as waiting in line at the movies, going out for dinner, buying a suit and dealing with the petty injustices of life.

The main characters and many recurring characters were based primarily on Seinfeld's and David's real-life acquaintances. Two of the most prominent recurring characters were based on well-known people: Jacopo Peterman of the J. Peterman catalog (based on John Peterman), and George Steinbrenner, the owner of the New York Yankees. Many other characters were introduced as more writers got involved with ''Seinfeld''. Other characters based on real-life individuals include the Soup Nazi and Jackie Chiles based on Johnnie Cochran.

With nearly every ''Seinfeld'' episode, the main characters' unique storyline is different from the conventions of a normal sitcom. A story thread is presented at the beginning of each episode, which involves the characters in separate and seemingly unrelated situations. Rapid scene-shifts between storylines bring the stories together toward the end of the episode. Despite the separate plot strands, the narratives reveal the creators' "consistent efforts to maintain the intimacy" amongst the small cast of characters.

The show keeps a strong sense of continuity—characters and plots from past episodes are frequently referenced or expanded upon. Occasionally, story arcs span multiple episodes and even entire seasons. For example, Jerry's girlfriend appears in "The Stake Out" and he ends the relationship when things do not work out in "The Stock Tip". Other examples are Kramer getting his jacket back and Elaine heading the "Peterman catalog". Larry David, the show's head writer and executive producer for the first seven seasons, was praised for keeping a close eye on minor details and making sure the main characters' lives remained consistent and believable. ''Curb Your Enthusiasm''—David's later comedy series—further expanded on this idea by following a specific theme for all but one season in the series.

The most important difference between ''Seinfeld'' and other sitcoms prior to this is that the principal characters never learn their moral lessons throughout the seasons. In effect, they are indifferent to the outside world and can be callous towards their guest characters and relatives, indeed sometimes towards each other; a mantra of the show's producers was: "No hugging, no learning." This leads to very few happy endings, except when they come at someone else's expense. More often in every episode, situations resolve with characters getting a justly deserved comeuppance.

Philosophy: absurdism and nihilism

Absurdism. The view presented in ''Seinfeld'' is arguably consistent with the philosophy of absurdism, the idea that life is meaningless: characters may attempt to create meaningfulness, but it always fails and reveals itself to be meaninglessness (George's impromptu proposal to marry Susan which transforms into his pleasure in her odd death, etc.). For these reasons, things like hope, ambition, intimacy, compassion, and love are overtly mocked or detested, except in rare cases where pursuit of them leads to abysmal comical failure.

Nihilism. ''Seinfeld'' also exhibits elements of nihilistic philosophy: things don't have value and there are no values, relationships are futile, stagnation or decession, ideological inversion and/or amorality.

Main characters

Jerry Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld) – Jerry is a "minor celebrity" stand-up comedian who is often portrayed as "the voice of reason" amidst all the insanity generated by the people in his world. His character is a slight germophobe and a neat freak, as well as an avid Superman and breakfast cereal fan. Jerry's apartment is the center of a world visited by his eccentric friends George, Elaine, and Kramer. Plot lines often involve Jerry's romantic relationships. He typically finds small, silly reasons to stop dating women; some of the reasons for the breakups include his dislike for a woman because she eats her peas one at a time, a woman having over-sized "man hands" and a woman having an annoying laugh.

George Costanza (Jason Alexander) – George is Jerry's best friend. He is cheap, dishonest, petty and often envious of others' achievements. He is often portrayed as a loser who is insecure about his capabilities. He frequently complains and lies about his profession, relationships, and almost everything else, which usually creates trouble for him later. He often uses an alias ("Art Vandelay") when lying or concocting a cover story. Despite these shortcomings, George manages to date numerous women and eventually achieves a successful career as Assistant to the Traveling Secretary for the New York Yankees. During the run of the show, he and Jerry work with NBC to produce a pilot episode of a TV show called ''Jerry''. During this time, he meets Susan Ross who works for NBC. George has an on-and-off relationship with her until she dies at the end of Season 7. He often pretends to be an architect and once pretended to be a marine biologist to impress a woman.

Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) – Elaine is Jerry's ex-girlfriend. She is attractive, intelligent and assertive. She sometimes has a tendency to be very honest with people, which often gets her into trouble. She usually gets caught up in her boyfriends' habits, her eccentric employers' unusual demands, and the unkindness of total strangers. She tends to pick the worst men to date and loses her cool easily. She works at Pendant Publishing with Mr. Lippman and later she works with the Peterman catalogue. One of Elaine's trademark moves is her forceful shove while screaming "Get out" when she receives good or shocking news. Another is her memorable "Little Kicks" dance moves. She also has a hatred for ''The English Patient'', which ends up costing her job at Peterman's. Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards) – Kramer is Jerry's "wacky neighbor". His trademarks include his humorous upright pompadour hairstyle, vintage clothing, and energetic sliding bursts through Jerry's apartment door. At times, he appears naive, dense and almost childlike yet he randomly shows astonishing insight into human behavior; likewise, he makes friends with people very easily with his charm and easygoing manner and has almost effortless success with women. He is often the only main character acting with any sort of apparent conscience and is typically the only one to lobby for maintaining social decorum in order to appease acquaintances. Although he never holds a steady job, he often invents wacky schemes which usually work at first but then eventually fail. Among these are coffee table books about coffee tables (for which he appeared on ''Live with Regis and Kathie Lee'') and a brassiere for men called the ''Bro'' (or ''Manssiere'' suggested by Frank Costanza).

Recurring characters

There are many recurring characters that made several appearances, either as a friend or a relative like Newman and Uncle Leo. In addition to its regularly recurring characters, ''Seinfeld'' featured numerous celebrities who appeared as themselves or as girlfriends, boyfriends, bosses and other acquaintances. Many of those who made guest appearances became household names later in their careers, or were comedians and actors already well known for previous work.

Characteristics

Theme

''Seinfeld'' broke several conventions of mainstream television. The show, often described as being about "nothing", became the first television series since ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' to be widely described as postmodern. Several elements of ''Seinfeld'' fit in with a postmodern interpretation. The show is typically driven by humor interspersed with superficial conflict and characters with strange dispositions. Many episodes revolved around the characters becoming involved in the lives of others to typically disastrous results. On the set, the notion that the characters should not develop or improve throughout the series was expressed as the "no hugging, no learning" rule. Unlike most sitcoms, there are no moments of pathos; the audience is never made to feel sorry for any of the characters. Even Susan's death in the series elicits no genuine emotions from anyone in the show.

The characters were "thirty-something singles with no roots, vague identities, and conscious indifference to morals." Usual conventions, such as isolating the characters from the actors playing them and separating the characters' world from that of the actors and audience, were broken. One such example is the story arc in which the characters promote a television sitcom series named ''Jerry''. The show within the show, ''Jerry'', was much like ''Seinfeld'' in that it was "about nothing" and Seinfeld played himself. The fictional ''Jerry'' was launched in the Season 4 finale, but unlike the real ''Seinfeld'', it was not picked up as a series.

Plotlines

Many Seinfeld episodes are based on its writers' real-life experiences. For example, "The Revenge" is based on Larry David's experience at ''Saturday Night Live''. "The Contest" and "The Phone Message" are also based on David's experiences. "The Smelly Car" is based on Peter Mehlman's lawyer friend, who could not get a bad smell out of his car. "The Strike" is based on Dan O'Keefe's dad, who made up his own holiday—Festivus. Other stories take on a variety of different turns. "The Chinese Restaurant" consists of the main characters (excluding Kramer) simply waiting for a table throughout the entire episode. "The Boyfriend", revolving around Keith Hernandez, extends through two episodes. "The Betrayal" is famous for using reverse chronology, and was inspired by a similar plot device in a Harold Pinter play. Some stories were inspired by headlines and rumors, which are explained in the DVD features "Notes About Nothing", "Inside Look", and "Audio Commentary." In "The Maestro", Kramer's lawsuit is roughly similar to the McDonald's coffee case. "The Outing" is based mainly on rumors that Larry Charles heard about Jerry Seinfeld's sexuality.

Catchphrases

Many terms coined, popularized, or repopularized during the series' run have become part of popular culture. Notable catchphrases include "Yada, yada, yada", "No soup for you", "These pretzels are making me thirsty" and "Not that there's anything wrong with that".

Other popular terms that also made the transition into slang were created by, directed at or about secondary characters, including: "Festivus", "spongeworthy" and "re-gifter".

As a body, the lexicon of Seinfeldian code words and recurring phrases that evolved around particular episodes is referred to as Seinlanguage, the title of Jerry Seinfeld's best-selling book on humor.

Progression

Seasons 1–3

The show premiered as ''The Seinfeld Chronicles'' on July 5, 1989. After it aired, a pickup by NBC did not seem likely and the show was actually offered to Fox, which declined to pick it up. Rick Ludwin, head of late night and special events for NBC, however, diverted money from his budget, and the next four episodes were filmed. These episodes were highly rated as they followed ''Cheers'' on Thursdays at 9:30 p.m., and the series was finally picked up. At one point NBC considered airing these episodes on Saturdays at 10:30 p.m., but instead gave that slot to a short-lived sitcom called ''FM''. The series was renamed ''Seinfeld'' after the failure of short-lived 1990 ABC series ''The Marshall Chronicles''. After airing in the summer of 1990, the series' second season was bumped off its scheduled premiere of January 16, 1991, due to the start of the Persian Gulf war. It settled in a regular time slot on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. and eventually flipped with veteran series ''Night Court'' to 9:00.

''Seinfeld'' was championed by television critics in its early seasons, even as it was yet to cultivate a substantial audience. For the first three seasons, Jerry's stand-up comedy act would bookend an episode, for a while even functioning as cut scenes during the show. A few episodes set a benchmark for later seasons. "The Deal" shows the only time Jerry and Elaine tried to become a couple by setting rules about sleeping together. "The Parking Garage" is really the first episode shot without an audience for the entire run. In connection between Season 3 and 4, "The Keys" makes a breakthrough between NBC and CBS showing ''Murphy Brown'' as rival networks working together and opening up that the main cast is not going to be tied to Jerry's apartment all the time. The episode, "The Busboy" really introduces George, Kramer and Elaine as having their own storylines for the first time. Although Glenn Padnick thought Jerry Seinfeld was being too generous, it became a unique trademark that showcased his co-stars comedic talent throughout the series.

An episode in Season 2, titled "The Bet" written by Larry Charles, showed Elaine buying a gun from Kramer's friend. This episode was, however, not filmed because the content was deemed unacceptable and was hastily replaced by the episode "The Phone Message". An episode "The Stranded" which was aired in Season 3 was originally intended to air in Season 2. In the beginning of this episode, Jerry clears up the continuity error over George's real estate job.

Seasons 4–5

Season 4 marked the sitcom's entry into the Nielsen ratings Top 30, coinciding with several popular episodes, such as "The Bubble Boy", in which George and the bubble boy are arguing over ''Trivial Pursuit'', and "The Junior Mint" in which Kramer and Jerry accidentally fumble over the mint in the operating room. This was the first season to use a story arc, in which Jerry and George try to create their own sitcom, ''Jerry''. Also at this time, Jerry's stand-up act slowly declined, and the stand-up segment in the middle of ''Seinfeld'' episodes was cut.

Much publicity followed the controversial episode, "The Contest", an Emmy Award-winning episode written by co-creator Larry David, whose subject matter was considered inappropriate for primetime network television. To circumvent this taboo, the word "masturbation" was never used in the script itself, instead substituted by a variety of oblique references. Midway through that season, ''Seinfeld'' was moved from its original 9:00 p.m. time slot on Wednesdays to 9:30 p.m. on Thursdays, following ''Cheers'' again, which gave the show even more popularity. The move was also sparked by ratings, as Tim Allen's sitcom ''Home Improvement'' on ABC had aired at the same time and ''Improvement'' kept beating ''Seinfeld'' in the ratings. NBC moved the series after Ted Danson had announced the end of ''Cheers'' and ''Seinfeld'' quickly surpassed the ratings of the 9:00 p.m. ''Cheers'' reruns that spring. The show won an Emmy Award for ''Outstanding Comedy Series'' in 1993, beating out its family-oriented and time-slot competitor ''Home Improvement'', which was only in its second season on fellow network ABC.

Season 5 was an even bigger ratings-hit, as it consisted of many popular episodes such as "The Puffy Shirt" in which Jerry feels embarrassed wearing the "pirate" shirt on ''The Today Show'', "The Non-Fat Yogurt" featuring Rudy Guilani who was the Republican mayor of New York at the time. and "The Opposite" in which George begins his career with the "New York Yankees" and Elaine quits "Pendant Publishing". Another story arc has George returning to live with his parents. In the midst of the story arc, Kramer creates and promotes his coffee table book. The show was again nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, but lost to the ''Cheers'' spin-off ''Frasier'', which was only in its first season. ''Seinfeld'' was nominated for the same award every year for the rest of its run but always lost to ''Frasier'', which went on to win a record 39 Emmy Awards.

Seasons 6–7

With Season 6, Andy Ackerman replaced Tom Cherones as the director of the show. The series remained well-regarded and produced some of its most famous episodes, such as "The Race" in which the ''Superman'' music theme is used as Jerry raced, "The Switch", when Kramer's mother revealed that his first name is Cosmo and "The Understudy" in which Elaine meets Peterman for the first time. Story arcs used in this season were Elaine working as a personal assistant to her eccentric boss Justin Pitt as well as George's parents' temporary separation. This was also the first season in which ''Seinfeld'' reached Number 1 in the Nielsen Ratings. Jerry's stand-up act further declined with the end stand-up segment no longer in use as the storylines for all four characters got more dense.

In Season 7, a story arc involved George getting engaged to his former girlfriend, Susan Ross, after the unsuccessful pilot ''Jerry''. He spends most of the season regretting the engagement and trying to get out of it. Along with the regular half hour episodes, two notable one-hour episodes include "The Cadillac" in which George plans to date an award winning actress Marisa Tomei and "The Bottle Deposit" with Elaine and Sue Ellen participating in a bidding war to buy JFK's golf clubs in an auction.

Following the anthrax scare of 2001, the episode, "The Invitations" was temporarily not shown in syndication due to the concern that it might seem objectionable and insensitive to portray Susan's death due to licking toxic envelopes.

Seasons 8–9

The show's ratings were still going very strong in its final two seasons (8 and 9). Larry David left at the end of Season 7 (although he would continue to voice Steinbrenner), so Seinfeld assumed David's duties as showrunner, and, under the direction of a new writing staff, ''Seinfeld'' became a more fast-paced show. The show no longer contained extracts of Jerry performing stand-up comedy, and storylines occasionally delved into fantasy, absurd humor. An example being "The Bizarro Jerry", when Elaine is torn between exact opposites of her friends or when Jerry dates a woman who has the now-famed "man hands". Some notable episodes from season 8 include "The Little Kicks" showing Elaine's horrible dancing, and "The Chicken Roaster" which depicts the ''Kenny Rogers Roasters'' chicken restaurant which opened during that time. A story arc in this season involves Peterman going to Burma in "The Foundation" until he recovered from a nervous breakdown in "The Money", followed by Elaine writing Peterman's biography in "The Van Buren Boys" which leads to Kramer's parody of Kenny Kramer's Reality Tour seen in "The Muffin Tops".

Season 9 included episodes such as "The Merv Griffin Show" in which Kramer converts his apartment into a talk-show studio and play the character of talk-show host, "The Betrayal" that follows in reverse chronology order what happened to Sue Ellen's wedding in India and "The Frogger" where George pushes a ''Frogger'' machine across the street. The last season included a story arc in which Elaine has an on/off relationship with David Puddy. Despite the enormous popularity and willingness from the rest of the cast to return for a tenth season, Seinfeld decided he should end the show after its ninth season in an effort to maintain quality and "go out on top". NBC offered him $110 million but he declined the offer.

A major controversy caused in this final season was the accidental burning of a Puerto Rican flag by Kramer in "The Puerto Rican Day". This scene caused a furor amongst Puerto Ricans, and as a result, NBC showed this episode only once.

Series finale

After nine years on the air, NBC and Jerry Seinfeld announced on December 25, 1997, that the series would end production the following spring in 1998. The announcement made the front page of all the major New York newspapers, including the ''New York Times''. Jerry Seinfeld was even featured on the cover of ''Time'' magazine's first issue of 1998. The series ended with a 75-minute episode (cut down to 60 minutes in syndication, in two parts) written by co-creator and former executive producer Larry David, which aired on May 14, 1998. Before the finale, a 45-minute retrospective clip show, "The Chronicle", was aired. The retrospective was expanded to sixty minutes after its original airing and aired once more on NBC as an hour-long episode, which has since aired in syndication.

It was also the first episode since the finale of Season 7, "The Invitations", to feature opening and closing stand-up comedy acts by Jerry Seinfeld. The finale was filmed in front of an audience of NBC executives and additional friends of the show. The press and the public were shut out of the shoot for the sake of keeping its plot secret, and all those who attended the shoot of the final episode signed written "vows of silence." The secrecy only seemed to increase speculation on how the series would end. The producers of the show tweaked the media about the hype, spreading a false rumor about Newman ending up in the hospital and Jerry and Elaine sitting in a chapel, presumably to marry.

The episode enjoyed a huge audience, estimated at 76 million viewers (58 percent of all viewers that night) making it the third most watched finale in television history, behind ''M*A*S*H'' and ''Cheers''. However, the finale received mixed reviews from both critics and fans of the show. The actual finale poked fun at the many rumors that were circulating, seeming to move into several supposed plots before settling on its true storyline—a lengthy trial in which Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer are prosecuted for violating a "Good Samaritan law" and are sentenced to jail.

According to ''Forbes'' magazine, Jerry Seinfeld's annual earning from the show in 1998 was US$267 million. He was reportedly offered $5 million per episode to continue the show into a tenth season but he refused. As of July 2007, he is still the second highest earner in the television industry, earning $60 million a year. The show itself became the first television series to command more than $1 million a minute for advertising–a mark previously attained only by the Super Bowl. According to Barry Meyer, chairman of Warner Bros. Entertainment, ''Seinfeld'' has made $2.7 billion through June 2010.

Awards and nominations

''Seinfeld'' has received awards and nominations in various categories throughout the mid-1990s. TV Guide has named it the greatest show of all time. It was awarded the Emmy for "Outstanding Comedy Series" in 1993, Golden Globe Award for "Best TV-Series (Comedy)" in 1994 and Screen Actors Guild Award for "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series" in 1995, 1997 and 1998. Apart from these, the show was also nominated for an Emmy award from 1992 to 1998 for "Outstanding Comedy series", Golden Globe award from 1994 to 1998 for "Best TV-Series (Comedy)", and Screen Actors Guild Award for "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series" from 1995 to 1998.

Broadcast history

Season !! Time Slot
1 (1990)	Thursday at 9:30 pm
2 (1991)	Wednesday at 9:30 pm (January 23, 1991 - February 13, 1991, June 26, 1991)Thursday at 9:30 pm (April 5, 1991 - May 23, 1991)
3 (1991–1992)	Wednesday at 9:30 pm (September 18, 1991 - December 4, 1991, January 29, 1992)Wednesday at 9:00 pm (December 11, 1991 - January 15, 1992, February 5, 1992 - May 6, 1992)
4 (1992–1993)	Wednesday at 9:00 pm (August 12, 1992 - January 27, 1993)Thursday at 9:30 pm (February 4, 1993 - May 13, 1993)Thursday at 8:00 pm (May 20, 1993)
5 (1993–1994)	Thursday at 9:00 pm
6 (1994–1995)
7 (1995–1996)
8 (1996–1997)
9 (1997–1998)	Thursday at 9:00 pm (September 25, 1997 - May 7, 1998)Thursday at 8:00 pm (May 14, 1998)

Ratings

! Season	! Season premiere	! Season finale	! TV season	! Seasonrank	! Rating	! Households(in millions)
! 1	July 5, 1989	June 21, 1990	style="text-align:center;"
! 2	January 23, 1991	June 26, 1991	style="text-align:center;"
! 3	September 18, 1991	May 6, 1992	style="text-align:center;"
! 4	August 12, 1992	May 20, 1993	style="text-align:center;"
! 5	September 16, 1993	May 19, 1994	style="text-align:center;"
! 6	September 22, 1994	May 18, 1995	style="text-align:center;"
! 7	September 21, 1995	May 16, 1996	style="text-align:center;"
! 8	September 19, 1996	May 15, 1997	style="text-align:center;"
! 9	September 25, 1997	May 14, 1998	style="text-align:center;"

After ''Seinfeld''

The ''Seinfeld'' curse

Louis-Dreyfus, Alexander and Richards have each attempted to launch new sitcoms as title-role characters. Despite decent acclaim and even some respectable ratings, almost every show was canceled quickly, usually within the first season. This gave rise to the term ''Seinfeld curse'': the failure of a sitcom starring one of the three, despite the conventional wisdom that each person's ''Seinfeld'' popularity should almost guarantee a strong, built-in audience for the actor's new show. Shows specifically cited regarding the ''Seinfeld curse'' are Julia Louis-Dreyfus' ''Watching Ellie'', Jason Alexander's ''Bob Patterson'' and ''Listen Up!'', and Michael Richards' ''The Michael Richards Show''. Larry David once said of the curse, "It's so completely idiotic. It's very hard to have a successful sitcom."

This phenomenon was mentioned throughout the second season of Larry David's HBO program ''Curb Your Enthusiasm''. However, the Emmy award-winning success of Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the CBS sitcom ''The New Adventures of Old Christine'' led many to believe that she had broken the curse. In her acceptance speech, Louis-Dreyfus held up her award and exclaimed, "I'm not somebody who really believes in curses, but curse this, baby!" The show was on the air for five seasons starting March 13, 2006 before its cancellation on May 18, 2010. The ''Saturday Night Live'' episode guest-hosted by Louis-Dreyfus made several references to the curse.

Dreyfus will star in a new HBO comedy in 2012, titled ''Veep''.

Another scene

On the November 1, 2007, episode of ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'', Jerry Seinfeld mentioned the possibility of shooting one last scene, after they leave prison. He mentioned he is far too busy to do it now, but did not announce what the scene would entail as it is still a possibility they will do it. In commentary from the final season DVD, Jerry Seinfeld outlines that he and Jason Alexander spoke about this scene being in Monk's Cafe, with George saying "That was brutal" in reference to the four's stint in jail.

''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' 2009 reunion

Early in March 2009, it was announced that the ''Seinfeld'' cast would reunite for the seventh season of ''Curb Your Enthusiasm''. The entire cast first appeared in the third episode of the season, all playing themselves. The season-long story is that Larry David tries to initiate a ''Seinfeld'' reunion show as a ploy to get his ex-wife, Cheryl, back. Along with the four main characters, some of ''Seinfeld'''s supporting actors such as Wayne Knight, Estelle Harris and Steve Hytner also appeared in the ninth episode at a table read for the reunion show. Though much of the dialogue in ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is improvised, the plot was scripted, and the ''Seinfeld'' special that aired within the show was scripted and directed by ''Seinfeld'' regular Andy Ackerman, making this the first time since ''Seinfeld'' went off the air that the central cast appeared together in a scripted show.

Consumer products

A recurring feature of ''Seinfeld'' was its use of specific products, especially candy, as plot points. These might be a central feature of a plot (e.g. Junior Mints, Twix, Jujyfruits, bite size Three Musketeers, Snickers, Nestlé Chunky, Oh Henry! and Pez), or an association of a candy with a guest character (e.g. Oh Henry! bars), or simply a conversational aside (e.g. Chuckles, Clark Bar, Twinkies).

Non-candy products featured in ''Seinfeld'' include Rold Gold pretzels (whose advertisements at the time featured Jason Alexander), Kenny Rogers Roasters (a chicken restaurant chain), Oreo Cookies, Triscuits, Ben & Jerry's, H&H; Bagels, Baskin-Robbins, Dockers, Drake's Coffee Cakes, Ring Dings, Pepsi, Mello Yello, Snapple, Clearly Canadian, Bosco Chocolate Syrup, Cadillac, Saab, Ford Escort, Tyler Chicken (a parody of Tyson Chicken), Specialized Bicycles, Nike, BMW, Volvo, Toyota, Tupperware, Calvin Klein, Klein Bicycles, Ovaltine, Yoo-hoo, Arby's, ''TV Guide'', Trump Tower, Glide Floss, Gore-Tex, Entenmann's, J. Peterman clothing catalog, and the board games Risk, Boggle, Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble, and Battleship.

The computers shown in Jerry's apartment are Apple Macintosh and several different models were shown, although Jerry is only seen using his computer once during the entire show. Also seen throughout the show's run were many different brands of cereal, e.g. Cheerios. Notable exceptions to this pattern are a fictional scotch brand called "Hennigan's" (a portmanteau of "Hennessy" and "Brannigans") and a canned meat product called "Beef-a-reeno" (a parody of "Beef-a-roni"). Product placement, for Snapple, was inserted as a parody of product placement; when offered some by Elaine in the middle of a conversation, the character Babu Bhatt's (owner of a Pakistani restaurant named "Dream Cafe") brother declines, calling the drink "too fruity". A second time this product was mentioned is when Marla "the Virgin" is offered a Snapple by Elaine.

The show's creators claim that they were not engaging in a product placement strategy for commercial gain. One of the motivations for the use of real-world products, quite unrelated to commercial considerations, is the comedy value of funny-sounding phrases and words. "I knew I wanted Kramer to think of watching the operation like going to see a movie", explained ''Seinfeld'' writer/producer Andy Robin in an interview published in the ''Hollywood Reporter''. "At first, I thought maybe a piece of popcorn falls into the patient. I ran that by my brother, and he said, 'No, Junior Mints are just funnier.'"

Many advertisers capitalized on the popularity of ''Seinfeld''. American Express created a webisode in which Jerry Seinfeld and an animated Superman (voiced by Patrick Warburton, who played the role of David Puddy) starred in its commercial. The makers of the Today Sponge created the "Spongeworthy" game, on their website, inspired by the episode "The Sponge". Another advertisement featured Jason Alexander in a Chrysler commercial. In this, Alexander behaves much like his character George, and his relationship with Lee Iacocca plays on his George's relationship with Steinbrenner. Similarly, Michael Richards was the focus of a series of advertisements for Vodafone which ran in Australia where he dressed and behaved exactly like Kramer, including the trademark bumbling pratfalls.

''Seinfeld'' in HD

There are two high-definition versions of ''Seinfeld''. The first is that of the network television (unsyndicated) versions in the original aspect ratio of 4:3 that were downscaled for the DVD releases. Syndicated broadcast stations and the cable network TBS have begun airing the syndicated version of ''Seinfeld'' in HD. Unlike the version used for the DVD, Sony Pictures cropped out the top and bottom parts of the frame, while restoring previously cropped images on the sides, from the 35 mm film source, to use the entire 16:9 frame. The TBS airings were edited to reduce running time (presumably for more advertising space); cutting out certain lines, even rearranging the stand-up scenes position in the episodes; as well as showing the credits earlier during the last scenes. Amazon.com lists season one of ''Seinfeld'' in Blu-ray, though no release date has been announced.

Media

DVD releases

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released all 9 seasons of ''Seinfeld'' on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4 between 2004 and 2007. On November 6, 2007, ''Seinfeld: The Complete Series'' was released on DVD. The final season and the complete series set included a 2007 reunion of the four main cast members and Larry David.

Music

A signature of ''Seinfeld'' is its theme music. Composed by Jonathan Wolff, it consists of distinct solo sampled bass synthesizer riffs which open the show and connect the scenes, often accompanied by a "percussion track" composed of mouth noises, such as pops and clicks. The bass synthesizer music eventually replaced the original standard sitcom music by Jep Epstein when it was played again after the first broadcast "The Seinfeld Chronicles".

''Seinfeld'' lacked a traditional title track and the riffs were played over the first moments of dialogue or action. They vary throughout each episode and are played in an improvised funk style with bass synthesizer. An additional musical theme with an ensemble, led by a synthesized mid-range brass instrument, ends each episode.

In "The Note", the first episode of Season Three, the bumper music featured a scatting female jazz vocalist who sang a phrase that sounded like "easy to beat." Jerry Seinfeld and executive producer Larry David both liked Wolff's additions, and three episodes were produced with the new style music. However, they had neglected to inform NBC and Castle Rock of the change, and when the season premiere aired, they were surprised and unimpressed, and requested that they return to the original style. The subsequent two episodes were redone, leaving this episode as the only one with the additional music elements. In the commentary of "The Note", Julia Louis-Dreyfus facetiously suggests it was removed because the perceived lyric related too closely to the low ratings at the time.

In the final three seasons (7, 8, and 9), the bits were tweaked slightly to give them more frenetic rhythms and the occasional hint of guitar. Throughout the show, the main theme could be re-styled in different ways depending on the episode. For instance, in "The Betrayal", in which part of the episode takes place in India, the theme is heard played on a sitar.

See also

Must See TV

References

General references

Mirzoeff, Nicholas. "Seinfeld." British Film Institute, TV Classics. 2007. ISBN 1-84457-201-3.

Fretts, Bruce. ''The Entertainment Weekly Seinfeld Companion''. New York: Warner Books. 1993. ISBN 0-446-67036-7.

Dawson, Ryan (2006). ''"Seinfeld: a show about something"'' Cambridge University.

William Irwin (Ed.). ''Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing''. Peru, Illinois: Open Court Publishing Company. 1999. ISBN 0-8126-9409-0.

Gantz, Katherine. ''"Not That There's Anything Wrong with That": Reading the Queer in Seinfeld''. In Calvin Thomas (Ed.). ''Straight with a Twist: Queer Theory and the Subject of Heterosexuality''. Champaign. Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-06813-0.

Gattuso, Greg. ''The Seinfeld Universe: The Entire Domain''. New York: Citadel Press. 1996. ISBN 0-8065-2001-9.

Murphy, Noah. ' 'Seinfeld: A Beginner's Guide''. Brisbane: Penguin Books. 2011.

Seinfeld, Jerry. ''Sein Language''. Bantam. 1993. ISBN 0-553-09606-0.

Weaver, D.T. & Oliver, M.B. (2000) Summary of the paper,"Television Programs and Advertising: Measuring the Effectiveness of Product Placement Within Seinfeld."

External links

Seinfeld Wikia

Category:1989 American television series debuts Category:1980s American comedy television series Category:1990s American comedy television series Category:1998 television series endings Category:American television sitcoms Category:Best Musical or Comedy Series Golden Globe winners Category:Culture of New York City Category:English-language television series Category:Jewish comedy and humor Category:NBC network shows Category:Nielsen ratings winners Category:Peabody Award winning television programs Category:Showbiz TV shows Category:Television series by Sony Pictures Television Category:Television shows set in New York City Category:Jewish-related television programs Category:Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series winners

ar:ساينفلد bg:Зайнфелд da:Seinfeld de:Seinfeld es:Seinfeld fa:ساینفلد fr:Seinfeld ga:Seinfeld gl:Seinfeld hr:Seinfeld id:Seinfeld is:Seinfeld it:Seinfeld he:סיינפלד hu:Seinfeld nl:Seinfeld ja:となりのサインフェルド no:Seinfeld pl:Kroniki Seinfelda pt:Seinfeld ro:Seinfeld ru:Сайнфелд (телесериал) simple:Seinfeld sk:Seinfeld sh:Seinfeld fi:Seinfeld sv:Seinfeld tr:Seinfeld uk:Сайнфелд yi:סיינפעלד (סעריע) zh:宋飞传

name	Jerry Seinfeld
birth name	Jerome Allen Seinfeld
birth date	April 29, 1954
birth place	Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
medium	Television, Stand up
nationality	American
active	1976–present
genre	Observational comedy, Political satire, Black comedy
subject	Avant-garde, American culture, Human behavior, American Politics, Gender differences, Everyday life
influences	Bill Cosby, George Carlin, Robert Klein, Abbott and Costello, Jean Shepherd, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, Don Rickles, Ricardo Montalban
influenced	Carol Leifer, Greg Davies, Mitch Hedberg
spouse	Jessica Seinfeld(1999–present),3 children
notable work	Jerry Seinfeld on ''Seinfeld
signature	Seinfeldsignature.svg

}} Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld (born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, best known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the sitcom ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons, co-executive-produced.

In his first major foray back into the media since the finale of ''Seinfeld'', he co-wrote and co-produced the film ''Bee Movie'', also taking on the lead role of Barry B. Benson. In February 2010, Seinfeld premiered a reality TV series called ''The Marriage Ref'' on NBC. Seinfeld directed Colin Quinn in the Broadway show ''Long Story Short'' at the Helen Hayes Theater in New York which ran until January 8, 2011.

Seinfeld is known for specializing in observational humor, often focusing on personal relationships and uncomfortable social obligations. Comedy Central ranked Jerry Seinfeld as one of the twelve greatest stand-up comedians of all time in its four-part special ''The 100 Greatest Standups Of All Time''.

Early life

Seinfeld was born in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. His father, Kalman Seinfeld (d. 1985), was of Hungarian Jewish background and was a sign maker; his mother, Betty (1915- ), is of Syrian Jewish descent. Her family identified their nationality as Turkish when they emigrated to the United States in 1917.

Seinfeld grew up in Massapequa, New York. In September 1959, his mother enrolled him at Birch Lane Elementary School, Massapequa High School. At the age of 16, he spent a short period of time volunteering in Kibbutz Sa'ar in Israel. He went to SUNY Oswego, and after his sophomore year he transferred to Queens College, City University of New York, graduating with a degree in communications and theater.

Seinfeld developed an interest in stand-up comedy after brief stints in college productions. In 1976 after graduation from Queens College, he tried out at an open-mic night at New York City's Catch a Rising Star, which led to an appearance in a Rodney Dangerfield HBO special. In 1979 he had a small recurring role on the ''Benson'' sitcom as "Frankie", a mail delivery boy who had comedy routines that no one wanted to hear, but he was abruptly fired from the show due to creative differences. Seinfeld has said that he was not actually told he had been fired until he turned up for the read-through session for an episode, and found that there was no script for him. In May 1981 Seinfeld made a highly successful appearance on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'', impressing Carson and the audience and leading to regular appearances on that show and others, including ''Late Night with David Letterman''.

''Seinfeld''

Seinfeld created ''The Seinfeld Chronicles'' with Larry David in 1989 for NBC. The show was later renamed ''Seinfeld'' to avoid confusion with the short-lived teen sitcom ''The Marshall Chronicles'' and, by its fourth season, had become the most popular and successful sitcom on American television. The final episode aired in 1998, and the show has been a popular syndicated re-run. The show also starred ''Saturday Night Live'' veteran Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as well as experienced actors Michael Richards and Jason Alexander. On the show, Seinfeld played a caricature of himself. He has said that his show was influenced by the 1950s sitcom ''The Abbott and Costello Show''. Citing Jean Shepherd as an influence in his commentary for "The Gymnast" episode on "Seinfeld, Season 6," he said, "He really formed my entire comedic sensibility--I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd." Seinfeld also holds the distinction of being the only actor to appear in every episode of the show. From 2004–2007, the former ''Seinfeld'' cast and crew recorded audio commentaries for episodes of the DVD releases of the show. Seinfeld himself provided commentary for numerous episodes.

Post-''Seinfeld''

1998–2006

After his sitcom ended, Seinfeld returned to stand-up comedy instead of pursuing a film career. In 1998, Seinfeld went on tour and recorded a comedy special titled ''I'm Telling You for the Last Time''. The process of developing and performing new material at clubs around the world was chronicled in a 2002 documentary, ''Comedian'', which focused also on fellow comic Orny Adams, directed by Christian Charles. He has written several books, mostly archives of past routines.

In the late 1990s, Apple Computer came up with an advertising slogan called "Think different" and produced a 60-second commercial to promote the slogan which showed people who were able to "think differently", like Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and many others. This commercial was later cut short to thirty seconds and ended up paying tribute to Jerry Seinfeld. This commercial aired only once, during the series finale of ''Seinfeld''.

In 2004, Seinfeld also appeared in two commercial webisodes promoting American Express, titled ''The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman'', in which he appeared together with an animated rendering of Superman, who was referenced in numerous episodes of ''Seinfeld'' as Seinfeld's hero, voiced by Patrick Warburton, who had portrayed David Puddy on ''Seinfeld''. The webisodes were aired in 2004 and directed by Barry Levinson. Seinfeld and "Superman" were also interviewed by Matt Lauer in a specially-recorded interview for the ''Today'' show.

On November 18, 2004, Seinfeld appeared at the National Museum of American History to donate the "Puffy Shirt" he wore in the famous ''Seinfeld'' episode of the same name. He also gave a speech when presenting the "Puffy Shirt", claiming humorously that "This is the most embarrassing moment of my life."

Seinfeld had a special appearance on May 13, 2006, ''Saturday Night Live'' episode as Julia Louis-Dreyfus' assassin. Louis-Dreyfus was the host of that episode and in her opening monologue she mentioned the "Seinfeld Curse". While talking about how ridiculous the "curse" was, a stage light suddenly fell next to her. The camera moved to a catwalk above the stage that Seinfeld was standing on, holding a large pair of bolt cutters. He angrily muttered, "Dammit!", angry that it didn't hit her. Louis-Dreyfus then continued to say that she is indeed not cursed.

2007

On February 25, 2007, Seinfeld appeared at the 79th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Documentary". Before announcing the nominations he did a bit of a stand-up comedy routine about the unspoken agreement between movie theater owners and movie patrons. One of the winners of the award was Larry David's now ex-wife, Laurie.

On October 4, 2007, Seinfeld made a brief return to NBC, guest-starring in the episode "SeinfeldVision" of ''30 Rock'' as himself.

2008

On February 24, 2008, Seinfeld appeared as the voice of his ''Bee Movie'' animated character Barry, at the 80th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Animated Short". Before announcing the nominees, he showed a montage of film clips featuring bees, claiming that they were some of his early work (as Barry).

Amidst his spring 2008 tour Seinfeld made a stop in his hometown of New York City for a one-night-only performance on June 2, 2008 at the Hammerstein Ballroom to benefit ''Stand Up for a Cure'', a charity aiding lung cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

In August 2008 the Associated Press reported that Jerry Seinfeld would be the pitchman for Windows Vista, as part of a $300 million advertising campaign by Microsoft. The ads, which were intended to create buzz for Windows in support of the subsequent "I'm a PC" advertisements, began airing in mid-September 2008 and were cut from television after just 3 installments, Microsoft opting instead to continue with the "I'm a PC" advertisements, and instead continued running the Seinfeld ads on the Microsoft website as a series of longer advertisements.

2009

In March 2009, it was announced that Seinfeld and the entire cast of ''Seinfeld'' would be appearing for a reunion in Larry David's HBO series ''Curb Your Enthusiasm''. The fictional reunion took place in the seventh season's finale.

Seinfeld appeared on an episode of the Starz original series ''Head Case''. Like many of his previous guest appearances on sitcoms he played himself.

In Australia, Seinfeld appears on a series of advertisements for Greater Building Society, a building society based in New South Wales and south eastern Queensland. His appearance in these ads were highly publicized and considered a coup for the society, being only the third time Seinfeld had appeared in a television commercial. The advertisements were filmed in Cedarhurst, Long Island, with the street designed to emulate Beaumont Street in Hamilton, where the Greater's head offices are located. Seinfeld also wrote the scripts for the fifteen advertisements that were filmed. The ads largely aired in the Northern New South Wales television market, where the society has most of its branches.

Seinfeld was the first guest of Jay Leno's new talk show, ''The Jay Leno Show'', which premiered on September 14, 2009.

2010s

Seinfeld was featured on ''Saturday Night Live's'' Weekend Update sketch to do the "Really!?!" segment with Seth Meyers. Seinfeld was also executive producing and occasionally starring as a panelist in ''The Marriage Ref''. On August 30, 2010, Seinfeld made a notable surprise guest appearance on ''The Howard Stern Show'', repairing the falling out the two had in the early 90s.

Seinfeld toured the U.S. in 2011 and made his first appearance on stage in the U.K. in thirteen years. In July 2011, he was a surprise guest on ''The Daily Show'', helping Jon Stewart to suppress his urge to tell "cheap" "Michele Bachmann's husband acts gay" jokes. He launched a personal archives website at JerrySeinfeld.com. In 2011 he appeared in the HBO special ''Talking Funny'' with fellow comedians Chris Rock, Louis C.K. and Ricky Gervais.

Books

Seinfeld is also a bestselling author, most notably for his book ''Seinlanguage''. Released in 1993, the book went on to become a number one New York Times bestseller. The book, written as his television show was first rising in popularity, is primarily an adaptation of the comedian's standup material. The title comes from an article in ''Entertainment Weekly'' listing the numerous catch-phrases for which the show was responsible.

In 2002, he wrote a children's book titled ''Halloween''. The book was illustrated by James Bennett. There are also several books about both the sitcom and Seinfeld himself, though many of them are not written by Seinfeld.

Seinfeld wrote the forewords to Ted L. Nancy's ''Letters from a Nut'' series of books and Ed Broth's ''Stories from a Moron''. Both authors were rumored to be pseudonyms for Seinfeld or a friend of his. Neither Nancy nor Broth have been seen publicly, although Seinfeld is heavily involved in pitching their books for television.

In promoting Broth's book, Seinfeld hosted a toast in the author's honor. Broth did not attend.

Seinfeld also wrote the foreword to the ''Peanut Butter & Co. Cookbook'', from his favorite sandwich shop in New York City.

Personal life

Seinfeld dated Carol Leifer, a fellow comedian and rumored to be the inspiration for the character of Elaine from his eponymous sitcom ''Seinfeld'', although both parties deny it. When he was in his late thirties, Seinfeld began a romantic relationship with then-seventeen year old high school student Shoshanna Lonstein. A while later, after meeting Jessica Sklar at the Reebok Sports Club, he began dating her. Sklar, a public relations executive for Tommy Hilfiger, had just returned from a three-week honeymoon in Italy with Eric Nederlander, a theatrical producer and scion of a theater-owning family. Sklar divorced Nederlander and married Seinfeld on November 14, 1998. Comedian George Wallace was the best man at the wedding. After the nuptials Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld bought Billy Joel's Amagansett, Long Island house for $32 million in March 2000.

Seinfeld and his wife have one daughter and two sons; daughter Sascha was born in 2000, son Julian Kal was born in 2003, and Shepherd Kellen was born in 2005, all in New York City. His son Julian's middle name, Kal, is the first name of Seinfeld's father and also the first name of Seinfeld's hero Superman, aka Kal-El. Among Seinfeld's best friends are fellow comedians Larry Miller, George Wallace, and Mario Joyner.

In 2000, Jessica Seinfeld launched Baby Buggy, a charity that provides clothing and gear for underprivileged women and children. She is the author of the best-seller ''Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food'', released by HarperCollins in October 2007.

Seinfeld is recorded as having made several political contributions, including George W. Bush and Al Gore's presidential campaigns in 2000, and subsequently to four Democratic Party primary candidates in 2000 and 2004.

Seinfeld says that he has practiced Transcendental Meditation for most of his life, and he appeared at a 2009 benefit for TM. Seinfeld has admitted dabbling in Scientology when he was in his twenties, though he says he was never in the organization. The association came to light in 1992.

A fan of the New York Mets, Seinfeld periodically calls Steve Somers' show on WFAN-AM, a sports talk radio station, as "Jerry from Queens." Seinfeld called four innings of a Mets game on SportsNet New York June 23, 2010, reuniting with analyst Keith Hernandez who appeared in the ''Seinfeld'' two part episode The Boyfriend.

Personal wealth

According to ''Forbes'' magazine, Jerry Seinfeld's annual earning from ''Seinfeld'' in 1998 was $267 million, making him the highest-earning celebrity that year. He reportedly turned down $5 million per episode, for 22 episodes, to continue the show for a tenth season. He earned $100 million from syndication deals and stand-up appearances in 2005 and $60 million in 2006. He also earned $10 million for appearing with Bill Gates in Microsoft's 2008 ads for Windows. Between June 2008 and June 2009, Seinfeld earned $85 million, making him the highest-paid comedian during that 12-month period.

Car collection

Seinfeld, an automobile enthusiast and avid collector, owns a large Porsche collection. He rented a hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, in Santa Monica, California, for an extended period of time during the 1990s for storage of some of the vehicles in the collection. After his return to New York City, he was involved in an extended dispute with several neighbors over the proposed building of a $1.4 million multi-story garage to contain the cars.

One tally has Seinfeld owning 46 Porsches. Reporter Paul Bannister reports that Seinfeld's collection includes Porsche 911s from various years, 10 Porsche Boxsters each painted a different color, and the famous 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, the same model and pearl-grey color that actor James Dean was driving when he crashed and died. The Discovery Channel television show "Chasing Classic Cars" claims that Seinfeld owns the first and last original Porsche 911s produced. The centerpiece is a $700,000 Porsche 959, one of only 337 ever built. To his initial despair, he was not allowed to drive it as US emission and crash tests were never performed because Porsche refused to donate four Porsche 959s for destruction tests, rendering the car "not street-legal". He imported the car "for exhibition purposes", which stipulates the car may never be driven on American roads. The car was made US street legal in 1999 under the ''"Show and Display"'' federal law. In several episodes of ''Seinfeld'', Seinfeld drives a Saab 900 (NG) convertible, but a Porsche-themed painting, depicting a Porsche 904 GTS race car competing in the 1964 Targa Florio race in Italy, is visible on a wall in his apartment, as well as a Porsche racing poster featuring a 550 Spyder depicting the 1958 Targa Florio. In another episode, he is seen hiding behind a red Porsche 911RS parked on the street. In addition, an issue of ''Excellence'', a Porsche-centered publication, is featured prominently on an outdoor magazine rack in one episode and on at least one occasion he is seen reading an issue of ''Road and Track'' magazine from circa 1990 with a cover article on the Porsche 964. He also wrote an article for the February 2004 issue of ''Automobile'', reviewing the Porsche Carrera GT. For the story he was awarded Road Pest — Silver at the 2004 International Automotive Media Awards.

Credits

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
	''The Ratings Game''	Network Rep
	''Pros & Cons''	Prison Man #2
		Himself
rowspan="2"	''A Uniform Used to Mean Something''	Himself
''Hindsight Is 20/20''	Himself
	''Bee Movie''	Barry B. Benson

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980		Frankie
1989–1998	''Seinfeld''		American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1992, 1993)Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1993)Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1995, 1997, 1998)Nominated — American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1996, 1999)Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996)Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998)Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1996)
1993, 1998	''The Larry Sanders Show''	Himself
1997	''NewsRadio''	Himself
2000		Comp-U-Comp
2004	''Curb Your Enthusiasm''	Himself	(cameo)
2007	''30 Rock''	Himself	("SeinfeldVision")
2009	''Curb Your Enthusiasm''	Himself
2010	''The Marriage Ref''	Executive Producer

Writing credits for ''Seinfeld''

The list below only includes episodes mainly written by Seinfeld, as he and Larry David rewrote the drafts for each episode.

Season 1

The Seinfeld Chronicles (with Larry David)

Male Unbonding (with Larry David)

The Stake Out (with Larry David)

The Stock Tip (with Larry David)

Season 2

The Ex-Girlfriend (with Larry David)

The Pony Remark (with Larry David)

* Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (1991 - Episode "The Pony Remark")

The Busboy (with Larry David)

The Jacket (with Larry David)

The Chinese Restaurant (with Larry David)

The Phone Message (with Larry David)

Season 3

The Stranded (with Larry David and Matt Goldman)

Season 4

The Shoes (with Larry David)

Season 5

The Sniffing Accountant (with Larry David)

The Raincoats (with Larry David, Tom Gammill, and Max Pross)

The Opposite (with Larry David and Andy Cowan)

Season 6

The Kiss Hello (with Larry David)

Season 7

The Cadillac part 1 and 2 (with Larry David)

References

External links

Jerry Seinfeld's Personal Archives

in 1987 in 2002 in 2007

Jerry Seinfeld Goes Back to Work on Time.com - 26 SEP 07

How Automobile got Jerry to write the Porsche GT Review

Jerry Seinfeld at Emmys.com

Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:Actors from New York Category:American memoirists Category:American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Category:American people of Syrian-Jewish descent Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (television) winners Category:Car collectors Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish comedians Category:Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from Brooklyn Category:People from East Hampton (town), New York Category:People from Nassau County, New York Category:Queens College, City University of New York alumni Category:Seinfeld Category:State University of New York at Oswego alumni

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name	Larry King
birth name	Lawrence Harvey Zeiger
birth date	November 19, 1933
birth place	Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
religion	Judaism (1933–1966)Agnostic (1966–present)
occupation	Television/Radio personality
years active	1957–present
spouse	| spouse Freda Miller(1952-1953; annulled)Annette Kaye(1961; divorced)Alene Akins(1961-1963; divorced)Mickey Stuphin(1963-1967; divorced)Alene Akins(1967-1972; divorced)Sharon Lepore(1976-1983; divorced)Julie Alexander(1989-1992; divorced)Shawn Southwick(1997–present)}}

Larry King (born November 19, 1933) is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards. He began as a local Florida journalist and radio interviewer in the 1950s and 1960s and became prominent as an all-night national radio broadcaster starting in 1978. From 1985-2010, he hosted the nightly interview TV program ''Larry King Live'' on CNN.

Early life

King was born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger in Brooklyn, New York City, to an Austrian immigrant Edward Zeiger, a restaurant owner and defense plant worker, and his wife Jennie Gitlitz, a garment worker, who emigrated from Belarus. King grew up in a religiously observant Jewish home, but in adulthood became an agnostic.

King's father died at 44 of heart disease, and his mother had to go on welfare to support her two sons. His father's death greatly affected King, and he lost interest in school. After graduating from high school, he worked to help support his mother. From an early age, however, he had wanted to go into radio. King is a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Career

Miami radio and television

A CBS staff announcer, whom King met by chance, told him to go to Florida, a growing media market where openings still existed for inexperienced broadcasters. King rode a train to Miami. After initial setbacks, King persisted and got his first job in radio. The manager of a small station, WAHR (now WMBM) in Miami Beach, hired him to clean up and perform miscellaneous tasks. When one of their announcers quit, they put King on the air. His first broadcast was on May 1, 1957, when he worked as the disc jockey from 9 a.m. to noon. He also did two afternoon newscasts and a sportscast. He was paid $55 a week. He acquired the name Larry King when the general manager Marshall Simmonds said that Zeiger was too ethnic and difficult to remember, so Larry chose the surname ''King'', which he got from an ad in ''The Miami Herald'' for King's Wholesale Liquor, minutes before air. He started interviewing on a midmorning show for WIOD, at Pumpernik's Restaurant in Miami Beach. He would interview anyone who walked in. His first interview was with a waiter at the restaurant. Two days later, singer Bobby Darin, in Miami for a concert later that day, walked into Pumpernik's as a result of coming across King's show on his radio; Darin became King's first celebrity interview guest.

His Miami radio show launched him to local stardom. A few years later, in May 1960, he hosted ''Miami Undercover,'' airing Sunday nights at 11:30 p.m. on WPST-TV Channel 10 (now WPLG). On the show, he moderated debates on important issues of the time. King credits his success on local TV to the assistance of another showbiz legend, comedian Jackie Gleason, whose national TV variety show was being filmed in Miami Beach during this period. "That show really took off because Gleason came to Miami," King said in a 1996 interview he gave when inducted into the Broadcasters' Hall of Fame. "He did that show and stayed all night with me. We stayed till five in the morning. He didn't like the set, so we broke into the general manager's office and changed the set. Gleason changed the set, he changed the lighting, and he became like a mentor of mine." Jackie Gleason was instrumental in getting Larry a hard-to-get on air interview with Frank Sinatra during this time.

During this period, WIOD gave King further exposure as a color commentator for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League, during their 1970 season and most of their 1971 season. However, he was dismissed by both WIOD and television station WTVJ as a late-night radio host and sports commentator as of December 20, 1971, when he was arrested after being accused of grand larceny by a former business partner. Other staffers covered the Dolphins' games into their 24–3 loss to Dallas in Super Bowl VI. King also lost his weekly column at the ''Miami Beach Sun'' newspaper. The charges were dropped on March 10, 1972, and King spent the next several years in reviving his career, including a stint as the color announcer in Louisiana for the Shreveport Steamer of the World Football League in 1974–75 on KWKH. Eventually, King was rehired by WIOD in Miami. For several years during the 1970s in South Florida, he hosted a sports talk-show called "Sports-a-la-King" that featured guests and callers.

National radio

In 1978, he went national, inheriting the nightly talk show slot on the Mutual Broadcasting System, broadcast coast-to-coast, that had been "Long John" Nebel's until his death, and had been pioneered by Herb Jepko. One reason King got the Mutual job is that he had once been an announcer at WGMA-AM in Hollywood, Florida, which was then owned by C. Edward Little. Little went on to become president of Mutual and was the one who hired King when Nebel died. King's Mutual show developed a devoted audience.

It was broadcast live Monday through Friday from midnight to 5:30 a.m. Eastern Time. King would interview a guest for the first 90 minutes, with callers asking questions that continued the interview for another 90 minutes. At 3 a.m., he would allow callers to discuss any topic they pleased with him, until the end of the program, when he expressed his own political opinions. That segment was called "Open Phone America". Some of the regular callers used the pseudonyms "The Portland Laugher", "The Miami Derelict", "The Todd Cruz Caller", "The Scandal Scooper", "Mr. Radio" and "The Water Is Warm Caller". "Mr. Radio" made over 200 calls to King during Open Phone America. The show was successful, starting with relatively few affiliates and eventually growing to more than 500. It ran until 1994.

For its final year, the show was moved to afternoons, but, because most talk radio stations at the time had an established policy of local origination in the time-slot (3 to 6 p.m. Eastern Time) that Mutual offered the show, a very low percentage of King's overnight affiliates agreed to carry his daytime show and it was unable to generate the same audience size. The afternoon show was eventually given to David Brenner and radio affiliates were given the option of carrying the audio of King's new CNN evening television program. The Westwood One radio simulcast of the CNN show continued until December 31, 2009.

CNN

He started his ''Larry King Live'' CNN show in June 1985, hosting a broad range of guests from controversial figures of UFO conspiracy theories and alleged psychics, to prominent politicians and leading figures in the entertainment industry, often doing their first or only interview on breaking news stories on his show.

Unlike many interviewers, King has a direct, non-confrontational approach. His reputation for asking easy, open-ended questions has made him attractive to important figures who want to state their position while avoiding being challenged on contentious topics. His interview style is characteristically frank, but with occasional bursts of irreverence and humor. His approach attracts some guests who would not otherwise appear. King, who is known for his general lack of pre-interview preparation, once bragged that he never read the books of authors before they made their appearances on his program.

In a show dedicated to the surviving Beatles, King asked George Harrison's widow about the song "Something", which was written about George Harrison's first wife. He seemed surprised when she did not know very much about the song.

Throughout his career King has interviewed many of the leading figures of his time. CNN claimed during his final episode that he had performed 60,000 interviews in his career.

King also wrote a regular newspaper column in USA Today for almost 20 years, from shortly after that newspaper's origin in 1982 until September 2001. The column consisted of short "plugs, superlatives and dropped names" but was dropped when the newspaper redesigned its "Life" section. The column was resurrected in blog form in November 2008 and on Twitter in April 2009.

Departure

On June 29, 2010, King announced that after 25 years, he would be stepping down from his nightly job hosting ''Larry King Live''. However, he stated that he would remain with CNN to host occasional specials. The announcement came in the wake of speculation that CNN had approached Piers Morgan, the British television personality and journalist, as King's primetime replacement, which was confirmed in September.

The final edition of ''Larry King Live'' aired on December 16, 2010. The show concluded with his last thoughts and a thank you to his audience for watching and supporting him over the years.

On February 17, 2012 CNN announced that he would no longer host specials.

Other ventures

King was the moderator of the 6th KAZENERGY Eurasian Forum in Astana, Kazakhstan, an annual forum for Kazakhstan's energy sector occurring in October 2011.

Charitable works

As a result of heart attacks, he established the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, an organization to which David Letterman, through his American Foundation for Courtesy and Grooming, has also contributed. King gave $1 million to George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs for scholarships to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. King serves as a member of the Board of Directors on the Police Athletic League of New York City, a nonprofit youth development agency serving inner-city children and teenagers.

On September 3, 2005, following Hurricane Katrina, King aired "How You Can Help", a three-hour special designed to provide a forum and information clearinghouse for viewers to understand and join nationwide and global relief efforts. On January 18, 2010, in the wake the 2010 Haiti earthquake, King aired "Haiti: How You Can Help", a special two-hour edition designed to show viewers how to take action and be a part of the global outreach. Following the Deepwater Horizon explosion, King aired "Disaster in the Gulf: How You Can Help", a special two-hour edition designed to show viewers how to take action in the clean-up efforts on the Gulf Coast.

On August 30, 2010, King served as the host of Chabad's 30th annual "To Life" telethon, in Los Angeles.

Controversial positions

On September 10, 1990, while on ''The Joan Rivers Show,'' Rivers asked King which contestant in the Miss America pageant was "the ugliest". King responded, "Miss Pennsylvania. She was one of the 10 finalists and she did a great ventriloquist bit [...] The dummy was prettier." King was a judge for the September 8, 1990 pageant. King later sent Miss Pennsylvania, Marla Wynne, a dozen long-stemmed roses and a telegram apologizing for saying she was the ugliest contestant in the pageant that year.

In 1997, King was one of 34 celebrities to sign an open letter to then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, published as a newspaper advertisement in the ''International Herald Tribune'', which protested the treatment of Scientologists in Germany, comparing it to the Nazis' oppression of Jews in the 1930s. Other signatories included Dustin Hoffman and Goldie Hawn.

Personal life

King has been married eight times, to seven different women. He married high-school sweetheart Freda Miller in 1951 at age 18. The union ended the following year at the behest of their parents, who reportedly had the marriage annulled. King was later briefly married to Annette Kaye who gave birth to his son, Larry Jr., in November 1961. King did not meet Larry Jr. until the son was in his thirties. Larry Jr. and his wife, Shannon, have three children.

In 1961, King married his third wife, Alene Akins, a ''Playboy'' bunny at one of the magazine's eponymous nightclubs. The couple had son Andy in 1962, and divorced the following year. In 1963, King married his fourth wife, Mary Francis "Mickey" Stuphin, who divorced King. He remarried Akins, with whom he had a second child, Chaia, in 1969. The couple divorced a second time in 1972. In 1997, Dove Books published a book written by King and Chaia, ''Daddy Day, Daughter Day''. Aimed at young children, it tells each of their accounts of his divorce from Akins.

On September 25, 1976, King married his fifth wife, math teacher and production assistant Sharon Lepore. The couple divorced in 1983.

King met businesswoman Julie Alexander in summer 1989, and proposed to her on the couple's first date, on August 1, 1989. Alexander became King's sixth wife on October 7, 1989, when the two were married in Washington, D.C. The couple lived in different cities, however, with Alexander in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and King in Washington, D.C., where he worked. The couple separated in 1990 and divorced in 1992. He became engaged to actress Deanna Lund in 1995, after five weeks of dating, but they never married.

He married his seventh wife, Shawn Southwick, born in 1959 as Shawn Oro Engemann, a former singer and TV host, in King's Los Angeles, California, hospital room three days before King underwent heart surgery to clear a clogged blood vessel. The couple have two children: Chance, born March 1999, and Cannon, born May 2000. He is stepfather to Danny Southwick. On King and Southwick's 10th anniversary in September 2007, Southwick boasted she was "the only [wife] to have lasted into the two digits". On April 14, 2010, both Larry and Shawn King filed for divorce. but have since stopped the proceedings, claiming "We love our children, we love each other, we love being a family. That is all that matters to us".

On February 24, 1987, King suffered a major heart attack and then had quintuple-bypass surgery. Since then, King has written two books about living with heart disease. ''Mr. King, You're Having a Heart Attack: How a Heart Attack and Bypass Surgery Changed My Life'' (1989, ISBN 0-440-50039-7) was written with New York's ''Newsday'' science editor B. D. Colen. ''Taking On Heart Disease: Famous Personalities Recall How They Triumphed over the Nation's #1 Killer and How You Can, Too'' (2004, ISBN 1-57954-820-2) features the experience of various celebrities with cardiovascular disease including Peggy Fleming and Regis Philbin.

In July 2009, King appeared on ''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'', where he told host O'Brien about his wishes to be cryonically preserved upon death, as he had revealed in his book ''My Remarkable Journey''. In December of 2011, preceding a CNN Special on the topic, the Kings had a special dinner with friends Conan O'Brien, Tyra Banks, Shaquille O'Neal, Seth MacFarlane, Jack Dorsey, Quincy Jones and Russell Brand where his intent to do so was reiterated, among other topics that were discussed.

On February 12, 2010, Larry King revealed that he had undergone surgery five weeks earlier to place stents in his coronary artery to remove plaque from his heart. During the segment on Larry King Live which discussed Bill Clinton's similar procedure, King said he was "feeling great" and had been in hospital for just one day.

Awards

King has received many broadcasting awards. He won the Peabody Award for Excellence in broadcasting for both his radio (1982) and television (1992) shows. He has also won 10 CableACE awards for Best Interviewer and for Best Talk Show Series.

In 1989, King was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame, and in 1996 to the Broadcasters' Hall of Fame. In 2002, the industry magazine ''Talkers'' named King both the fourth-greatest radio talk show host of all time and the top television talk show host of all time.

in June 1998, King received an Honorary Degree from Brooklyn College, City University of New York, for his life achievements.

King was given the Golden Mike Award for Lifetime Achievement in January 2009, by the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California.

King is an honorary member of the Rotary Club of Beverly Hills. He is also a recipient of the President's Award honoring his impact on media from the Los Angeles Press Club in 2006.

King is the first recipient of the Arizona State University Hugh Downs Award for Communication Excellence, presented April 11, 2007, via satellite by Downs himself. Downs sported red suspenders for the event and turned the tables on King by asking "very tough questions" about King's best, worst and most influential interviews during King's 50 years in broadcasting.

References

External links

CNN profile

Larry King Cardiac Foundation - Foundation to fund treatments cardiac patients with little or no insurance

Clark lawsuit

Larry King Live - Transcripts of all interviews since 2000

Larry King interviewed by Gianluca D'Agostino

Larry King Archive of American Television video interview

Category:1933 births Category:Living people Category:American actors Category:American agnostics Category:American talk radio hosts Category:National Radio Hall of Fame inductees Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American people of Austrian descent Category:American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:American voice actors Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish agnostics Category:Miami Dolphins broadcasters Category:National Football League announcers Category:People from Brooklyn Category:World Football League announcers

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This is a list of people whose names in English are commonly appended with the phrase "''the Great''", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as ''e Bozorg'' and ''e azam'' in Persian and Urdu respectively.

In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.

The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus) assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "''the Great''".

The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.

Rulers

Abbas I of Persia (1571–1629), Shah of Iran

Akbar (1542–1605), ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India

Alain I of Albret (1440–1522), French aristocrat

Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia

Alexander I of Georgia (1386–1446), King of Georgia

Alfonso III of León (c. 848-910), King of León, Galicia and Asturias

Alfred the Great (848/849-899), King of Wessex

Antiochus III the Great (c. 241–187 BC), ruler of the Seleucid Empire

Ashoka the Great (c. 304–232 BC), Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty

Ashot I of Iberia “the Great”(died 826/830), presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia),

Askia Mohammad I (c. 1442–1538), ruler of the Songhai Empire

Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927), King of Thailand

Bolesław I Chrobry (967-1025), sometimes called "the Great", first King of Poland

Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the following section)

Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1736–1809), founder and ruler of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in what is now Thailand)

Cnut the Great (c. 985 or 995-1035), King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden

Casimir III the Great (1310–1370), King of Poland

Catherine the Great (1729–1796), Empress of Russia

Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/415), also known as Vikramaditya, ruler of the Gupta empire in India

Charlemagne (died 814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans

Chulalongkorn (1853–1910), King of Siam (now Thailand)

Chlothar II (584-629), King of Neustria and King of the Franks

Conrad, Margrave of Meissen (c. 1097-1157), Margrave of Meissen

Constantine I (c. 272-337), Roman emperor

Cyaxares the Great (c. 625-585 BC), third king of Media

Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), founder and ruler of the Persian or Achaemenid Empire

Darius the Great (550 – 486 BC), third ruler of the Persian Empire

Devapala (died 850), ruler of the Pala Empire in the Indian subcontinent

Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse

Ferdinand I of León and Castile (c. 1015–1065), King of León and Count of Castile

Frederick the Great (1712–1786), King of Prussia

Genghis Khan (1162?-1227), founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire

Gero (c. 900–965), ruler of Marca Geronis, a very large march in Europe

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594–1632), King of Sweden, founder of the Swedish Empire, and noted military leader

Gwanggaeto the Great, King of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea

Hanno the Great, the name of three leaders of Carthage, in the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries BC

Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (946–1002)

Henry IV of France (1553–1610), King of France and King of Navarre

Herod the Great (73/74 BC-4 BC), King of Judea

Hugh the Great (898-956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris

Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France

Hugh I, Count of Vermandois (1057–1101)

Humphrey I de Bohun (died c. 1123), Anglo-Norman aristocrat

Ivan III of Russia (1440–1505), Tsar of Russia

John I of Portugal (1358–1433), King of Portugal and the Algarve

John II of Aragon (1398–1479), King of Aragon and, through his wife, King of Navarre

Justinian I (483-565), Byzantine Emperor

Kamehameha I (c. 1758-1819), first King of Hawai'i

Kanishka (died c. 127), ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and parts of India

Kvirike III of Kakheti (1010–1029), King of Kakheti in eastern Georgia

Kublai Khan (1215–1294), Mongol ruler in the 13th century and Emperor of China; founder of the Yuan Dynasty

Llywelyn the Great (c. 1172–1240), Prince of Gwynedd and de facto ruler of most of Wales

Louis I of Hungary (1326–1382), King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland

Mangrai the Great (1238–1317), Lanna, northern Thailand

Emperor Meiji (1852–1912), Emperor of Japan

Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418)

Mithridates II of Parthia (died 88 BC), ruler of the Parthian Empire (in present day Iran)

Mithridates VI of Pontus (134 BC–63 BC), ruler of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom

Mstislav I of Kiev (1076–1132), Grand Prince of Kievan Rus

Naresuan (1555–1605), King of Ayutthaya

Narai (1633–1688), King of Ayutthaya (in what is now modern Thailand)

Odo the Great (died c. 735), Duke of Aquitaine

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (912-973)

K'inich Janaab' Pakal (603-683), ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque

Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa (1123–1186), King of Sri Lanka

Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (died 1075), King of Croatia

Peter the Great (1672–1725), Tsar of Russia

Peter III of Aragon (1239–1285), King of Aragon and King of Sicily

Pompey (106 BC-48 BC), military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, rival of Julius Caesar

Radama I (1793–1828), first king of greater Madagascar

Raja Raja Chola I (c. 947-1014), Indian emperor of the Cholas.

Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014–1044), Tamil King of India

Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BC – 1213 BC), considered the greatest pharaoh of Ancient Egypt

Ram Khamhaeng (around 1237 to 1247-1298), King of Sukhothai (in present day Thailand)

Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona (1082–1131), also Count of Provence and various other counties

Rhodri the Great (c. 820–878), King of Gwynedd (in present day Wales)

Roman the Great (after 1160-1205), Grand Prince of Kiev

Saladin (c. 1138-1193), Kurdish Sultan of Egypt and Syria, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, and victor over the Crusaders

Samudragupta (c. 335–375), ruler of the Gupta empire in the Indian subcontinent

Sancho III of Navarre (c. 992-1035), King of Kingdom of Navarre

Sargon of Akkad (died c. 2215 BC), ruler of the Akkadian Empire

Sejong the Great (1397–1450), Korean king

Shapur II (309-379), king of the Sassanid Empire, Persia

Simeon I of Bulgaria (864/865-927), ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire

Stephen III of Moldavia (1433–1504), Prince of Moldavia (Romania)

Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (c. 1308-1355), King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks

Taksin (1734–1782), King of the Thonburi Kingdom (Thailand)

Tamar (1160-1123), Queen of the Georgian Empire

Timur (1336–1405), better known as Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Dynasty

Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090–1151), Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and of Brie

Theodoric the Great (454-526), King of the Ostrogoths, regent of the Visigoths and a viceroy of the Byzantine Empire

Theodosius I (347-395), Roman emperor

Tigranes the Great (140-55 BC), Emperor of Armenia

Tiridates III of Armenia (285-339), King of Armenia

Umar (c. 586 to 590–644), second caliph of the Muslim Empire

Valdemar I of Denmark (1131–1182), King of Denmark

Valentinian I (364-375), Roman Emperor

Vladimir I of Kiev (c. 958-1015), ruler of Kievan Rus

Vytautas (c. 1350-1430), archduke of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy

William I, Count of Burgundy (1020–1087), Count of Burgandy and Mâcon

William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030), also Count of Poitou

Xerxes I (519-465 BC), King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia)

Yu the Great (c. 2200-2100 BC), legendary ruler in ancient China

Religious figures

Abraham the Great of Kashkar (ca. 492-586), monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East

Abraham Kidunaia (died c. 366, hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia

Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280), medieval German philosopher and theologian

Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), early Christian saint of Egypt

Babai the Great (c. 551–628), Assyrian church leader

Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Greek bishop and theologian

Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the previous section)

Euthymius the Great (377-473), abbot and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint

Gertrude the Great (1256-c. 1302), German Benedictine, mystic, theologian and Roman Catholic saint

Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)

Hiyya the Great, 3rd-century rabbi, Palestine

Pope John Paul II (1920–2005)

Pope Leo I (c. 391 or 400-461)

Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391), Egyptian hermit

Pope Nicholas I (c. 800-867)

Photius I of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople

William of Maleval (died 1157), founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites

Other

Beli Mawr, a figure in medieval Welsh literature and genealogies

Emmy the Great, folk singer

Matteo Rosso the Great, Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III

Prokop the Great, Hussite general in Bohemia

See also

Epithet

List of monarchs by nickname

List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility: G-I

James, son of Zebedee, also known as James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus

Ajax (mythology), called Ajax the Greater

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, whose common honorific "Mahatma" means "Great Soul"

Notes

Category:Monarchs Great, List of people known as The Category:Greatest Nationals Category:Epithets

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Name	George Steinbrenner
Width	200px
Birth name	George Michael Steinbrenner III
Birth date	July 04, 1930
Birth place	Rocky River, Ohio, U.S.
Death date	July 13, 2010
Death place	Tampa, Florida, U.S.
Death cause	Heart attack
Occupation	Owner of New York Yankees (MLB), businessman, investor, entrepreneur
Alma mater	Williams College ,Ohio State University
Party	Republican
Spouse	Elizabeth Joan Zieg
Parents	Henry G. Steinbrenner IIRita Haley
Children	Hank SteinbrennerHal SteinbrennerJessica SteinbrennerJennifer Steinbrenner-Swindal }}

George Michael Steinbrenner III (July 4, 1930July 13, 2010) was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. During Steinbrenner's 37-year ownership from 1973 to his death in July 2010, the longest in club history, the Yankees earned seven World Series titles and 11 pennants. His outspokenness and role in driving up player salaries made him one of the sport's most controversial figures. Steinbrenner was also involved in the Great Lakes shipping industry.

Known as a hands-on baseball executive, he earned the nickname "The Boss." He had a tendency to meddle in daily on-field decisions, and to hire and fire (and sometimes re-hire) managers. Former Yankees manager Dallas Green gave him the derisive nickname "Manager George."

He died after suffering a heart attack in his Tampa home on the morning of July 13, 2010, the day of the 81st All-Star Game.

Early life and education

Steinbrenner was born in Rocky River, Ohio, the only son of Rita (née Haley) and Henry George Steinbrenner II. His mother was an Irish immigrant who had changed her name from O'Haley to Haley. His father was of German descent and had been a world-class track and field hurdler while at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he graduated in engineering in 1927, first in his class. The elder Steinbrenner later became a wealthy shipping magnate who ran the family firm operating freight ships hauling ore and grain on the Great Lakes. George III was named after his paternal grandfather, George Michael Steinbrenner II. Steinbrenner has two younger sisters, Susan and Judy.

Steinbrenner entered Culver Military Academy, in Northern Indiana, in 1944, and graduated in 1948. He received his B.A. from Williams College in Massachusetts in 1952. While at Williams, George was an average student who led an active extracurricular life. He was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He was an accomplished hurdler on the varsity track and field team, and served as sports editor of ''The Williams Record'', played piano in the band, and played halfback on the football team in his senior year. He joined the United States Air Force after graduation, was commissioned a second lieutenant and was stationed at Lockbourne Air Force Base in Columbus, Ohio. Following honorable discharge in 1954, he did post-graduate study at Ohio State University (1954–55), earning his master's degree in physical education.

He met his wife-to-be, Elizabeth Joan (pronounced Jo-Ann) Zieg, in Columbus, and married her on May 12, 1956. The couple had two sons Hank Steinbrenner and Hal Steinbrenner, and two daughters Jessica Steinbrenner and Jennifer Steinbrenner-Swindal.

Pre-Yankees career

While studying at Ohio State, he served as a graduate assistant to legendary Buckeye football coach Woody Hayes. The Buckeyes were undefeated national champions that year, and won the Rose Bowl. Steinbrenner served as an assistant football coach at Northwestern University in 1955, and at Purdue University from 1956 to 1957.

Steinbrenner joined Kinsman Marine Transit Company in 1957, the Great Lakes shipping company that his great-grandfather Henry had purchased in 1901 from The Minch Transit Company, which was owned by a family relation, and renamed. Steinbrenner worked hard to successfully revitalize the company, which was suffering hardship during difficult market conditions. In its return to profitability, Kinsman emphasized grain shipments over ore. A few years later, with the help of a loan from a New York bank, Steinbrenner purchased the company from his family. He later became part of a group that purchased the American Shipbuilding Company, and, in 1967, he became its chairman and chief executive officer. By 1972, the company's gross sales were more than $100 million annually.

In 1960, against his father's wishes, Steinbrenner entered the sports franchise business for the first time with basketball's Cleveland Pipers, of the American Basketball League (ABL). Steinbrenner had hired John McClendon, who became the first African American coach in professional basketball and persuaded Jerry Lucas to join his team instead of the rival National Basketball Association. The Pipers switched to the new professional ABL in 1961; the new circuit was founded by Abe Saperstein, owner of the Harlem Globetrotters. The league and team experienced financial problems, and McClendon resigned in protest halfway through the season; however, the Pipers had won the first half of a split season. Steinbrenner replaced McClendon with former Boston Celtics star Bill Sharman, and the Pipers won the ABL championship in 1961-62. The ABL folded in December 1962, just months into its second season. Steinbrenner and his partners lost significant money on the venture, but Steinbrenner paid off all of his creditors and partners over the next few years.

With his burgeoning sports aspirations put on hold, Steinbrenner turned his attention to the theatre. His involvement with Broadway began with a short-lived 1967 play, ''The Ninety Day Mistress'', in which he partnered with another rookie producer, James Nederlander. Whereas Nederlander threw himself into his family's business full-time, Steinbrenner invested in a mere half-dozen shows, including the 1974 Tony Award nominee for Best Musical, ''Seesaw'', and the 1988 Peter Allen flop, ''Legs Diamond''.

New York Yankees career

The Yankees had been struggling during their years under CBS ownership, which had acquired the team in 1965. In 1972, CBS Chairman William S. Paley told team president E. Michael Burke the media company intended to sell the club. As Burke later told writer Roger Kahn, Paley offered to sell the franchise to Burke if he could find financial backing. Steinbrenner, who had participated in a failed attempt to buy the Cleveland Indians from Vernon Stouffer one year earlier, was brought together with Burke by veteran baseball executive Gabe Paul.

On January 3, 1973, Steinbrenner and minority partner Burke led a group of investors, which included Lester Crown, John DeLorean and Nelson Bunker Hunt, in purchasing the Yankees from CBS. For years, the selling price was reported to be $10 million. However, Steinbrenner later revealed that the deal included two parking garages that CBS had bought from the city, and soon after the deal closed, CBS bought back the garages for $1.2 million. The net cost to the group for the Yankees was therefore $8.8 million.

The announced intention was that Burke would continue to run the team as club president. But Burke later became angry when he found out that Paul had been brought in as a senior Yankee executive, reducing his authority, and quit the team presidency in April 1973. (Burke remained a minority owner of the club into the following decade, but as fellow minority owner John McMullen stated, "There is nothing in life quite so limited as being a limited partner of George Steinbrenner.") Paul was officially named president of the club on April 19. It would be the first of many high-profile departures with employees who crossed paths with "The Boss." At the conclusion of the 1973 season, two more prominent names departed: manager Ralph Houk, who resigned and took a similar position with the Detroit Tigers; and general manager Lee MacPhail, who became president of the American League.

The 1973 off-season would continue to be controversial when Steinbrenner and Paul fought to hire former Oakland Athletics manager Dick Williams, who had resigned immediately after leading the team to its second straight World Series title. However, because Williams was still under contract to Oakland, the subsequent legal wrangling prevented the Yankees from hiring him. On the first anniversary of the team's ownership change, the Yankees hired former Pittsburgh Pirates manager Bill Virdon to lead the team on the field.

}} Steinbrenner quickly became famous for his rapid turnover of management personnel. In his first 23 seasons, he changed managers 20 times (Billy Martin alone was fired and rehired five times). He also employed 11 general managers over 30 years. He was equally famous for pursuing high-priced free agents and then feuding with them. In July 1978, Billy Martin famously said of Steinbrenner and his $3 million outfielder Reggie Jackson, "The two were meant for each other. One's a born liar, and the other's convicted." The comment resulted in Martin's first departure, though officially he resigned (tearfully), before Yankees President Al Rosen could carry out Steinbrenner's dictum to fire him.

Another notable Steinbrenner policy was his military-style grooming code: All players, coaches, and male executives were forbidden to display any facial hair other than mustaches (except for religious reasons), and scalp hair could not be grown below the collar. (Long sideburns and "mutton chops" were not specifically banned.) The policy led to some unusual and comical incidents.

During the 1973 home opener against the Cleveland Indians, as the Yankees, caps removed, were standing at attention for the National Anthem, Steinbrenner, in the owner's box next to the New York dugout, noticed that several players' hair was too long for his standards. As he did not yet know the players' names, he wrote down the uniform numbers of the offenders (Thurman Munson, Bobby Murcer, and Sparky Lyle), and had the list, along with the demand that their hair be trimmed immediately, delivered to Houk. The order was reluctantly relayed to the players.

In 1983, at Steinbrenner's behest, Yankee coach Yogi Berra ordered Goose Gossage to remove a beard he was growing. Gossage responded by shaving away the beard but leaving a thick exaggerated mustache extending down the upper lip to the jaw line, a look Gossage still sports to this day.

The most infamous incident involving facial hair occurred in 1991. Although Steinbrenner was suspended, the Yankee management ordered Don Mattingly, who was then sporting a mullet-like hair style, to get a hair cut. When Mattingly refused he was benched. This led to a huge media frenzy with reporters and talk radio repeatedly mocking the team. The WPIX broadcasting crew of Phil Rizzuto, Bobby Murcer, and Tom Seaver lampooned the policy on a pregame show with Rizzuto playing the role of a barber sent to enforce the rule. Mattingly would eventually be reinstated. Coincidentally, ''The Simpsons'' episode "Homer at the Bat", which was filmed earlier that year, included Mattingly as a guest star who is suspended from play by Mr. Burns for his sideburns being too long, despite shaving the area of his head above where side burns grow. In 1995, Mattingly again ran afoul of the policy when he grew a goatee. Steinbrenner publicly criticized him for it and Mattingly eventually trimmed it to a mustache. Mattingly was clean-shaven later as a coach with the Yankees.

David Wells occasionally wore a goatee and informed the media he would be willing to pay any fine to do so.

During the 1981 World Series, Steinbrenner provided a colorful backdrop to the Yankees' loss of the series. After a Game 3 loss in Los Angeles, Steinbrenner called a press conference in his hotel room, showing off his left hand in a cast and various other injuries that he claimed were earned in a fight with two Dodgers fans in the hotel elevator. Nobody came forward about the fight, leading to the belief that he had made up the story of the fight in order to light a fire under the Yankees. After the series, he issued a public apology to the City of New York for his team's performance, while at the same time assuring the fans that plans to put the team together for 1982 would begin immediately. He was criticized heartily by players and press alike for doing so, as most people felt losing in the World Series was not something requiring an apology.

Campaign contributions to Nixon and pardon

The "convicted" part of Billy Martin's famous 1978 "liar and convicted" comment referred to Steinbrenner's connection to Richard Nixon; in 1974 Steinbrenner pleaded guilty to making illegal contributions to Nixon's re-election campaign, and to a felony charge of obstruction of justice. He was personally fined $15,000 and his company was assessed an additional $20,000. On November 27 of that year, MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspended him for two years, but later reduced it to fifteen months. Ronald Reagan pardoned Steinbrenner in January 1989, one of the final acts of his presidency.

Dave Winfield controversy

After the 1980 season, Steinbrenner made headlines by signing Dave Winfield to a 10-year, $23 million contract, making Winfield baseball's highest-paid player. In 1985, Steinbrenner derided Winfield's poor performance in a key September series against the Toronto Blue Jays:

This criticism eventually became somewhat of an anachronism, as many believed Steinbrenner made the statement following the 1981 World Series. Part of that comment later led Ken Griffey Jr. to list the Yankees as one team he would never play for.

On July 30, 1990, Steinbrenner was banned permanently from day-to-day management (but not ownership) of the Yankees by MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent for paying a gambler named Howie Spira $40,000 to dig up "dirt" on Winfield. Winfield had sued the Yankees for failing to contribute $300,000 to his foundation, a guaranteed stipulation in his contract. (Vincent originally proposed a 2-year suspension, but Steinbrenner wanted it worded as an "agreement" rather than a "suspension" to protect his relationship with the U.S. Olympic Committee; in exchange for that concession, Vincent made the "agreement" permanent.) After considerable negotiation with Vincent's office, Robert E. Nederlander, one of Steinbrenner's theatre partners and a limited partner in the Yankees organization, became the managing general partner.

In 2001, Winfield cited the Steinbrenner animosity as a factor in his decision to enter the Hall of Fame as a representative of his first team, the San Diego Padres, rather than the team that brought him national recognition, the Yankees.

Reinstatement and championship years

Steinbrenner was reinstated in 1993. Unlike past years, he was somewhat less inclined to interfere in the Yankees' baseball operations. He left day-to-day baseball matters in the hands of Gene Michael and other executives, and allowed promising farm-system players such as Bernie Williams to develop instead of trading them for established players. Steinbrenner's having "got religion" (in the words of ''New York Daily News'' reporter Bill Madden) paid off. After contending only briefly two years earlier, the 1993 Yankees were in the American League East race with the eventual champion Toronto Blue Jays until September.

The 1994 Yankees were the American League East leaders when a players' strike wiped out the rest of the season. Similarly, a players' strike had cut short their 1981 playoff effort.

The team returned to the playoffs in 1995 (their first visit since 1981, and could have in 1994 had there not been a strike.) and won the World Series in . The Yankees went on to win the World Series in , and . The Yankees lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks in .

The Yankees made the playoffs every season through , winning the AL Pennant in seven games over the 2003 Boston Red Sox. In 2003, they won the ALCS but lost the World Series to the Florida Marlins, which denied Steinbrenner, who had won the Stanley Cup in June of that year as part-owner of the New Jersey Devils, the distinction of winning championships in two major sports leagues in the same year.

The Yankees' demise was furthered by the postseason collapse of 2004. While leading the eventual World Champion Boston Red Sox three games to none (3-0) and 3 outs away from winning Game 4, the Red Sox stunned the Yankees and the baseball world by coming back to win Game 4 and then the next three games and sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. In , the Yankees ended their post-season run with a third place finish in the American League East. However, in , the Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series to win a 27th championship, seven of which had been won under Steinbrenner's ownership.

Retirement

From 2006 to his death, George Steinbrenner spent most of his time in Tampa, Florida, leaving the Yankees to be run by his sons Hank and Hal Steinbrenner. Hank in particular shows similar traits to his father.

After ceding day-to-day control of the team, Steinbrenner made few public appearances and gave no interviews. Associates and family members refused to comment on rampant speculation concerning his declining health, specifically rumors that he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. The Yankees went to great lengths to prevent anyone outside Steinbrenner's immediate family and closest business associates from speaking to him, or even getting a glimpse of him on the rare occasions when he made an appearance at Yankee Stadium. Temporary curtains were set up to block views of his entry and exit routes, and no one was allowed near the vehicles transporting him. The press elevator carrying media members downstairs to the interview areas were shut down before he arrived, and again toward the end of the game while he departed.

Steinbrenner made a rare appearance in the Bronx on the field for the 79th All-Star Game on July 15, 2008. Wearing dark glasses, he walked slowly into the stadium's media entrance with the aid of several companions, leaning upon one of them for support. He later was driven out on to the field along with his son Hal at the end of the lengthy pre-game ceremony in which the All-Stars were introduced at their fielding positions along with 49 of the 63 living Hall of Famers.

In subsequent occasional visits to spring training, regular-season games, and other outings, he used a wheelchair.

On April 13, 2010, Derek Jeter and Joe Girardi privately presented the first 2009 World Series Championship ring to Steinbrenner in his stadium suite. He was "almost speechless", according to reports.

George Steinbrenner's estimated net worth was $1.15 billion USD in 2009 according to the Forbes 400 List in Forbes magazine issued in September 2009.

George Steinbrenner was the first owner of a baseball team to sell cable TV rights (to MSG Network).

In 1997, the Yankees signed a 10-year, $97 million deal with Adidas. A dispute with MSG over the cable rights fee ended with the creation of the Yankees' own YES Network.

George Steinbrenner has been able to grow the Yankees from a $10 million franchise to a $1.2 billion heavyweight. In 2005, the Yankees became the first American professional sports franchise to be conservatively estimated as being worth over one billion dollars. If one adds up the revenue of $1.2 billion valuation of the 36% Yankees owned YES Network to the team revenue (the other 64% is owned by Goldman Sachs and the former New Jersey Nets owner which is also a minority owner of the ballclub), they far surpass even the Dallas Cowboys in total estimated value.

Off the field

In addition to being an intense boss to his on-field employees, Steinbrenner was also known for pressuring and changing off-field employees (including various publicity directors), sometimes chewing them out in public. Longtime Cardinals announcer Jack Buck once quipped that he had seen Steinbrenner's yacht and that, "It was a beautiful thing to observe, with all 36 oars working in unison." Former sportscaster Hank Greenwald, who called Yankee games on WABC radio for two years, once said he knew when Steinbrenner was in town by how tense the office staff was.

He usually kept his complaints about the team broadcasters he approved of (except for the YES Network crew, who have generally not been his direct employees) out of the newspapers. However, he was known to be upset with the sometimes blunt commentary of former broadcaster Jim Kaat and former analyst Tony Kubek.

The 1986 World Series was called "Steinbrenner's nightmare," because it was a showdown between two of the Yankees' biggest rivals, their cross-town rival New York Mets and their most hated rival, Boston Red Sox. As a result, Steinbrenner wrote articles in ''The New York Post'' on the World Series. The Mets won that World Series, which relieved many Yankee fans.

Steinbrenner had a reputation as a domineering boss. Only three Yankee employees were continuously employed from the start of Steinbrenner's ownership in 1973 until the end of his tenure. One of those is long time Head Athletic Trainer Gene Monahan, who recently missed his first spring training in 48 years after being diagnosed with cancer.

Harvey Greene, the Yankees' Director of Media Relations from 1986-1989, talked about the experience of working under Steinbrenner: :"When the team was on the road, you’d come back to your hotel late at night, and if your phone light was on, you knew that either there had been a death in the family or George was looking for you. After a while, you started to hope that there had been a death in the family."

George Steinbrenner was involved with thoroughbred horse racing from the early 1970s. He owned Kinsman Stud Farm in Ocala, Florida and raced under the name Kinsman Stable.

Charitable work

Steinbrenner gave to many charitable causes. He often donated to the families of fallen police officers in the Tampa Police Department and the NYPD in addition to college scholarships for many poor children. During the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, Steinbrenner comforted United States Olympic Swimming medalist Ron Karnaugh through his father's death and maintained a relationship with him until his death. At his residence in Tampa, Steinbrenner supported numerous individuals and charities including the Boys and Girls Club as well as the Salvation Army. Mel Stottlemyre recalled that during his myeloma cancer treatment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital he had mentioned in passing to Steinbrenner how he regretted not being able to watch Yankee games from his room. Stottlemyre heard that Steinbrenner went all the way to Mayor Rudy Giuliani to ensure he was able to watch the broadcasts from his room. Steinbrenner had also donated $1 million to St. Joseph's Children's Hospital where a wing was named in his honor.

In the media

Despite Steinbrenner's controversial status he poked fun at himself in the media. His frequent firings and rehirings of manager Billy Martin were lampooned in a '70s Miller Lite beer commercial in which Steinbrenner tells Martin "You're fired!" to which Martin replies "Oh, no, not again!" After one of Martin's real-life rehirings, the commercial was resurrected, only with Steinbrenner's line redubbed to say "You're ''hired!"''

He hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' on October 20, 1990 at the same time his former outfielder and Yankee manager, Lou Piniella, led the Cincinnati Reds to a World Championship. In the opening sketch, he dreamt of a Yankees team managed, coached, and entirely played by himself. In other sketches, he chews out the ''SNL'' "writing staff" (notably including Al Franken) for featuring him in a mock Slim Fast commercial with other ruthless leaders such as Saddam Hussein and Idi Amin and plays a folksy convenience store manager whose business ethic is divergent from that of Steinbrenner.

In ''The Simpsons'' episode "Homer at the Bat", Mr. Burns fires Don Mattingly for refusing to shave sideburns only Burns could see. It is often assumed that this was a parody of an argument Steinbrenner and Mattingly had in real life with regards to Mattingly's hair length. However, the episode was actually recorded a year before the suspension actually occurred, and was nothing more than a coincidence. As Mattingly walks off the baseball field, he states, "I still like him [Burns] better than Steinbrenner."

He appeared as himself in the Albert Brooks comedy ''The Scout''. In 1991, he played himself in an episode of Good Sports, with Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal.

In the 1994 computer game ''Superhero League of Hoboken'', one of the schemes of the primary antagonist, Dr. Entropy, is to resurrect George Steinbrenner to bring chaos to the world and rule together. The superheroes foil his plan by resurrecting Billy Martin.

After a public chastising of Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter for "partying too much," the two appeared in a Visa commercial club-hopping. A 2004 Visa commercial depicted Steinbrenner in the trainer's room at Yankee Stadium, suffering from an arm injury, unable to sign any checks, including that of his then-current manager Joe Torre, who spends most of the commercial treating Steinbrenner as if he were an important player.

George Will once described Steinbrenner as an "error machine" and a "baseball dumb-o-meter."

Steinbrenner also was a fan of professional wrestling. He wrote the foreword of the 2005 Dusty Rhodes autobiography and was a regular at old Tampa Armory cards in the 1970s and 1980s. In March 1989, he appeared in the front row of the WWF's ''Saturday Night's Main Event'' broadcast, even interacting with manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan at one point (Heenan remarked about the guy he managed in the ring at the time to Steinbrenner "I've got a ring full of Winfield"). At WWF WrestleMania 7, Steinbrenner, WWF owner Vince McMahon, and NFL announcer Paul Maguire filmed a skit with the trio debating instant replay. He was also present in the front row of an edition of ''WCW Monday Nitro'' in early 1998 when the event took place in Tampa.

At the funeral of his long time friend Otto Graham in December 2003, Steinbrenner fainted, leading to extensive media speculation that he was in ill health.

''New York Daily News'' cartoonist Bill Gallo often cited Steinbrenner's German heritage by drawing him in a Prussian military uniform, complete with spiked helmet, gold epaulettes and medals, calling him "General von Steingrabber."

In ESPN's miniseries ''The Bronx is Burning'', he is portrayed by Oliver Platt.

Seinfeld caricature

Steinbrenner appeared as a character in the situation comedy ''Seinfeld'', when George Costanza worked for the Yankees for several seasons. Lee Bear portrayed the character, and Larry David provided voice-over performances whenever the character spoke. Steinbrenner's full face was never shown, and the character was always viewed from the back in scenes set in his office at Yankee Stadium. The character appeared in the following episodes: "The Opposite", "The Secretary", "The Race", "The Jimmy", "The Wink", "The Hot Tub", "The Caddy", "The Calzone", "The Bottle Deposit", "The Nap", "The Millennium", "The Muffin Tops", and "The Finale".

The fictional Steinbrenner talked nonstop, regardless of whether anyone was listening, and sometimes referred to himself as "Big Stein". The team owner was known for eccentric decisions, such as cooking jerseys, threatening to move the team to New Jersey "just to upset people", scalping his owner's box tickets, wearing Lou Gehrig's uniform pants (and panicking about "that nerve disease" being contagious), trading several players to Frank Costanza's dismay, and canceling a meeting because he wanted George Costanza to get him an eggplant calzone. In "The Wink", the Steinbrenner character mentions all of the people he fired, saying Billy Martin four times, and mentions then-current manager Buck Showalter, but then quickly swears Costanza to silence. Though intended as a joke, the comment proved prophetic: A few weeks after the episode aired, Steinbrenner replaced Showalter as manager with Joe Torre.

Steinbrenner's involvement with ''Seinfeld'' began when he refused a request to make a cameo appearance and permit a Yankees pennant to appear; the show nonetheless used the pennant. A year later, Steinbrenner was asked to permit a Yankees uniform to appear on the sixth-season "The Chaperone". The owner was still angry about the unauthorized pennant, and knew so little about the show that after reading the script he believed George Costanza had been named after him as an insult. He refused to permit the uniform's use unless the character was renamed. After watching the show and enjoying both it and the Costanza character, however, Steinbrenner approved the uniform, and later maintained that he was a fan of the show and that "Costanza is always welcome back." He filmed three scenes for the ''Seinfeld'' season 7 finale, "The Invitations", but they were edited out when the time of the original episode ran longer than the allowed time. They are on the ''Seinfeld'' Season 7 DVD Disc 4.

Jerry Seinfeld said after Steinbrenner's death: “Who else could be a memorable character on a television show without actually appearing on the show? You felt George even though he wasn’t there. That’s how huge a force of personality he was."

Honors

Steinbrenner was awarded The Flying Wedge Award, one of the NCAA’s highest honors.

In 1992, Steinbrenner was presented with Tampa's most prestigious civic service award, the Tampa Metro Civitan Club's Outstanding Citizen of the Year Award.

In 2000, Steinbrenner was honored as Grand Marshal at the German-American Steuben Parade on Fifth Avenue in New York City. At this largest German-American event in the country, he was greeted by tens of thousands who celebrated him as an outstanding American of German heritage.

The Steinbrenner Band Hall at the University of Florida was made possible by a gift from George and Joan Steinbrenner in 2002. The facility was completed in 2008 and serves as The Pride of the Sunshine's rehearsal hall and houses offices, instrument storage, the band library and an instrument issue room.

A new high school in Lutz, Florida, which opened for about 1600 students in August 2009, is named George Steinbrenner High School. Steinbrenner was a generous contributor to the Tampa Bay area.

Legends Field, the Yankees' Spring Training facility in Tampa, was renamed George M. Steinbrenner Field in March 2008 in his honor by his two sons, with the blessing of the Hillsborough County Commission and the Tampa City Council. The entrance to the new Bryson Field at Boshamer Stadium at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has also been named for Steinbrenner and his family. A life-size bronze statue of Steinbrenner was placed in front of the stadium in January 2011.

Steinbrenner appeared on the 2011 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.

Death

On July 13, 2010, the morning of the 2010 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, George Steinbrenner died of a heart attack at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, Florida. His death came nine days after his 80th birthday, two days after the passing of long time Yankee Stadium public address announcer Bob Sheppard, and eight days before that of former Yankee manager Ralph Houk. On July 14, the Yankees announced that players and coaches would wear a Steinbrenner commemorative patch on the left breast of their home and road uniforms, and a Bob Sheppard commemorative patch on the left arm.

The Steinbrenner family added a monument to Monument Park on September 20, 2010 to honor Steinbrenner. He is buried at Trinity Memorial Gardens in Trinity, Florida.

References

External links

George: The Poor Little Rich Boy Who Built The Yankee Empire

The List: Steinbrenner's Worst ESPN

George M. Steinbrenner III: #380 Richest American

FBI file on George Steinbrenner

Outstanding Citizen of the Year; Past Winners, Tampa Metro Civitan Club.

George Steinbrenner at Find A Grave

Steinbrenner's basketball bio

George Steinbrenner Dies

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