I’ve watched all the Seinfeld episodes many times over and always thought that Kramer reminded me of someone, but couldn’t put my finger on it.
Then today I tuned into “Elmer Gantry”, with Burt Lancaster in the lead role. Holy crap! Kramer was channeling (to put it politely) Gantry all this time…the hair, the voice, the mannerisms. They even looked somewhat alike.
Another thing I picked up on was that George Clooney seems to immitate Lancaster in some rolls as well. One particular line that jumped out at me was Gantry’s response when asked about Jean Simmon’s evangelist character. His answer: “Sheeee fascinates me.” Sound familiar? As in Clooney and Zeta-Jones?
Haw. Elmer Kramer. Eery, now that you mention it. I doubt what’s his name (somebody Richards? Richard somebody? Richard Richards! no; Somebody Somebody!) who played Kramer was doing it intentionally, but the effect is spooky just the same. Just like you can never watch The Partridge Family the same after seeing Elmer Gantry, I’ll never be able to watch Seinfeld the same either. Not that I watch Seinfeld–not that there would be anything wrong with it if I did, I’m just saying.
Michael Richards “borrowed” heavily from several other actors. Most notable are Harpo Marx and Art “Norton” Carney. Hardly any of Richards’ takes were original. He came out of the improv world, and in improv, the fastest way to generate a character is to use one someone else had created.
Jason Alexander was also told to basically do a Woody Allen impersonation at the beginning, but that soon faded out. It still re-appeared from time to time.