Seinfeld actor, comedian, dead at 71

Hiram Kasten starred in Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Saved By the Bell. He was a good friend of Jerry Seinfeld.

The New Yorker’s wife, Diana Kisiel Kastenbaum, announced his death in a Facebook post on Sunday, revealing that the actor had been battling prostate cancer.

Kasten died in his wife’s arms “only hours after their 38th wedding anniversary,” the post read, reported the New York Post.

In addition to cancer, Kasten had been battling Crohn’s disease for the past seven years. He died at his Batavia, in upstate New York east of Buffalo.

While Kasten’s “health had taken a downturn and he no longer performed or actively pursued his career,” beginning in 2017, “he only began to share the terminality of it all with his friends in the last six months,” Mrs Kastenbaum wrote.

His “great comedy and artistic community rallied to his side,” as “some made trips to Batavia to visit him, late night Zoom meetings with friends on both coasts ensued and went into the wee hours of the morning”.

“It prolonged his life for at least another two months to be able to laugh with his peers,” his wife added.

A funeral service will be held in New York City at a later date. An official memorial service will take place in Los Angeles later in the summer.

Kasten is best known for his role as Michael on Seinfeld from 1993 to 1994. His character was Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ character Elane Benes’ co-worker.

The actor earned his stripes in the comedy world by making a name for himself in the NYC comedy circuit after becoming a regular performer at The Comic Strip — an iconic venue that once hosted Jerry Seinfeld.

Seinfeld “passed Hiram on his first audition and he became a regular,” with the pair striking “up a friendship that has lasted for 45 years,” Mrs Kastenbaum wrote in the post.

Kasten also performed stand-up at a string of well known comedy venues including The Improv, The Comedy Cellar, Caroline’s and Dangerfield’s.

Aside from his work on Seinfeld, Kasten made appearances on Saved By the Bell, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Cybill, Mad About You and Everybody Loves Raymond.

In the early 2000s, Kasten went on to make appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Sabrina the Teenage Witch,My Wife and Kids, and 7th Heaven.

The New York City-born actor is survived by his wife, daughter Millicent Jade and brother-in-law, Kevin John Kisiel.

This article was published in the New York Post and is reproduced with permission.