James Calder’s dad, also named James, was one of the biggest Seinfeld fans of the world. He was also dying of cancer. So to celebrate his 67th birthday, James the son reached out to the cast and asked if they would mind making personal videos for his pop.
Not only did much of the cast respond with videos many did it as the famous characters his father James so beloved. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wayne Knight, John O’Hurley, Jerry Stiller (who asked that his remain private), Patrick Warburton, Larry Thomas (The Soup Nazi) and several others all came through in a big, big way. Heck, even Kenny Bania, Kramer’s buddy Mickey, Lloyd Braun and delivery man Ping Wu created videos.
“Some of the cast members not only made videos with great birthday messages but they were creative, thoughtful, and sincere. These wonderful people helped to honor and celebrate my father’s birthday and provided a much-needed distraction during an extremely difficult time for my family. Their kindness and compassion has humbled us to our core,” son James wrote on The Huffington Post.
Kramer himself, Michael Richards, also contacted them, but didn’t want to make a video because he wasn’t interested in the publicity and instead was planning on calling to wish James a happy birthday personally. Sadly, James’ dad passed away three days before his birthday.
“He was shocked and mystified about how we were able to reach the Seinfeld cast members,” wrote James about his dad. “He really felt the love and support.”
Consider my faith in humanity at least a little bit restored.
Below are some of the videos. You can watch the rest of them here.