Ben Stiller examined his parents Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara’s enduring legacy — and the downside of their fame — in the 2025 documentary Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost.
Jerry and his wife were not only partners in life, but they also formed a popular comedy duo that performed in major venues across the U.S. throughout Ben and his sister Amy Stiller’s childhood in the 1960s and ‘70s.
In Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost, Ben admitted that his parents’ connection was volatile and that he remembered hearing “raised voices” often in his childhood.
“They were very close but they were also very different, too,” he explained.
Keep scrolling for more on Jerry and Meara’s life and careers.
Who Was Jerry Stiller?
Jerry served in the U.S. Army in World War II and returned home to study at Syracuse University. He took part in various New York theatre productions in the early ‘50s, before meeting Meara in 1953.
The two were married the following year and soon began performing together as a comedic duo. Jerry and Meara were among the earliest members of the famed Second City improv troupe in Chicago, which subsequently launched the careers of Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert and Amber Ruffin, among countless others.
Jerry and Meara became recurring guests on The Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960s and hosted their own short-form series that aired after Saturday Night Live in syndication.
Aside from his comedy team, Jerry memorably played George Constanza’s curmudgeonly father Frank Costanza on the classic TV sitcom Seinfeld, for which he earned an Emmy Award nomination. Other notable roles included starring opposite Kevin James as Arthur Spooner in The King of Queens and doing voiceover work for Disney.
Stiller and Meara in June 2012. Taylor Hill/FilmMagic
Jerry frequently appeared in his son Ben’s projects, with notable roles in both Zoolander films and Heavyweights, among others.
Ben announced his father’s death at age 92 from natural causes in May 2020 and paid tribute to his comedic legacy.
“I’m sad to say that my father, Jerry Stiller, passed away from natural causes,” he tweeted. “He was a great dad and grandfather, and the most dedicated husband to Anne for about 62 years. He will be greatly missed. Love you Dad.”
Who Was Anne Meara?
The comedian had a very difficult childhood, as her mother Mary Dempsey died by suicide when Meara was only 10 years old.
As a teenager, Meara studied under famed acting teacher Uta Hagen at New York City’s prestigious New School. However, she credited her future husband Jerry with convincing her to try comedy.
“Jerry started us being a comedy team,” she revealed. “He always thought I would be a great comedy partner.”
Aside from her comedy team with her husband, Meara was nominated for four Emmy Awards throughout her life. She won a Writers Guild of America Award for cowriting the 1983 TV movie The Other Woman.
Like her husband, Meara worked extensively in TV sitcoms, including Rhoda, Archie Bunker’s Place and Alf throughout the 1970s and ‘80s. She memorably played Steve Brady’s mother Mary on Sex and the City and joined her husband Jerry on The King of Queens.
Ben Stiller is examining his role as a father in his new documentary about his parents, Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost. Ben, 59, spends the majority of the documentary revisiting his parents Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara’s ups and downs throughout their 61-year marriage before Anne’s death at age 85 in 2015. The actor […]
Meara faced numerous health issues throughout her life, with her son Ben later revealing that she struggled with alcoholism.
“My mother had issues across her life with alcoholism,” Ben acknowledged in 2023. “She got sober and really explored that stuff … She had so much trauma [in her life] and the thing that I’m so grateful for is that, I think so many people who live with alcoholism in their families, it’s never dealt with. It’s never, ever explored or even talked about.”
He went on, “What I’m grateful for is she really delved into that in her therapy. For someone who’s a functioning alcoholic, it’s basically that you’re trying to navigate that because it’s not dramatic.”
Meara died at age 85 in May 2015 after suffering multiple strokes.
What Did Ben Stiller Say About His Parents?
Ben explored his complicated relationship with his parents in the 2025 Apple TV documentary Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost, which premiered at the New York Film Festival in October 2025.
In the film, Ben opened up about the resentment he felt towards his father Jerry for not tackling his mom’s alcoholism head-on.
“When [my mom] was drinking, my dad never really knew how to handle it,” Stiller explained. “I think he loved her so much and he was so committed to her. Also the act and what they did together was so important, that he had to figure out how to deal with that on his own. But I think I resented him for not acknowledging it to us.”
Ben said that he and sister Amy always knew that their father “loved us more than anything,” though it was always painful to see their mother struggle.
Anne Meara, Jerry Stiller, Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor. Patrick McMullan
“I think he was just trying to figure out how to navigate that and I got so angry at him for not being there for us but I don’t even think I understood that for awhile,” he recalled.
However, Ben and his wife, Christine Taylor, also reflected on the way Meara was able to empathize and support them once she got sober.
“She would see me as a new mother, during those moments where it was crazy and frenetic, and tell me how great a job I was doing,” Taylor said. “It was a way to make me feel so good about what I was doing, but [also] her acknowledging what she couldn’t do.”
Speaking to Time about the documentary, Ben stressed how important it was to show that his parents’ fame was a double-edged sword.
“When people see the movie, you can see how organic it was for my sister and I to be a part of this world,” Stiller noted. “It was our reality and it’s what we grew up in and we loved it when we were kids. The flip side was, it took our parents away from us, which any creative endeavor does. You have a creative parent, part of them is going to be dedicated to their creativity, if they’re a real artist. They can’t deny that.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
