While many of the characters on Seinfeld were nasty towards their fellow humans, the actors who played those characters showed that they are far from their show counterparts in real life.
James Anthony Calder was a Seinfeld fan who was suffering from a rare type of non-smoking lung cancer. His son, James Calder, the director of S.O.A.R. at Wound Care Center, and his family decided that it would be really cool to see if they could get as many members of the Seinfeld cast to wish him “Happy Birthday.”
They began using social media, but never thought that they would get far. However, the videos began pouring in. They first received videos from John O’Hurley, who played J. Peterman; Larry Thomas, also known as The Soup Nazi; and Danny Woodburn, who played Mickey Abbott.
So in October, Calder wrote his first post about the project on The Huffington Post. Then, videos started rolling in. No matter how small their part was, members of the Seinfeld cast started sending in videos with them briefly reprising their roles as characters. Jerry Stiller even recorded a video, although he asked that it stay private.
Today, Calder posted an update on The Huffington Post and noted that he did receive some responses from members of the main cast. Michael Richards called his father to wish him a happy birthday over the phone. Julia Louis-Dreyfus did record a video, which Calder was able to share with the world.
“The amount of kindness shown to my family not just by the actors and actresses but by all the people who read the story was overwhelming,” Calder wrote. “People wrote to me with leads about who they knew and how they knew some of the Seinfeld actors and how the wanted help my family and I reach out to them. Others just sent us beautiful emails about their own families and experiences with cancer.”
Calder’s father, who died two weeks ago, died just three days before his 67th birthday. He has asked that donations be made to the American Cancer Society here. You can also see all the videos on Calder’s YouTube page.