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Peter Crombie, the actor who was probably best known for playing the role of \u201cCrazy\u201d Joe Davola on five episodes of the hit television sitcom \u201cSeinfeld,\u201d died on Wednesday in a health care facility in Palm Springs, Calif. He was 71.<\/p>\n
Crombie had been recovering from unspecified surgery, said his ex-wife, Nadine Kijner, who confirmed<\/a> his death.<\/p>\n In his role as Davola, Crombie played a temperamental character who stalks Jerry \u2014 a semi-fictionalized version of the comedian Jerry Seinfeld \u2014 and develops a deep hatred of him.<\/p>\n Tall and lanky, Crombie\u2019s character had a flat, borderline menacing affect<\/a> and an unblinking 1,000-yard stare. In the series, he also stalked the tough New Yorker Elaine, in one case plastering a wall of his apartment with black-and-white surveillance photos of her.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Aside from his part in \u201cSeinfeld,\u201d Crombie also had roles<\/a> in the movies \u201cSeven<\/a>\u201d (1995), \u201cRising Sun<\/a>\u201d (1993) and \u201cBorn on the Fourth of July<\/a>\u201d (1989), among other acting television and movie credits.<\/p>\n Crombie was born on June 26, 1952, and grew up in a neighborhood outside of Chicago.<\/p>\n His father was an art teacher, and his mother taught home economics, Ms. Kijner said. Crombie trained at the Yale School of Drama before moving to New York.<\/p>\n Crombie and Kijner met in Boston in the late 1980s before marrying in 1991. Though they divorced a few years later, the two remained friends.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was like a rock,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was someone you could always call and lean on.\u201d<\/p>\n Kijner said Crombie is survived by a brother, Jim. She said Crombie stepped back from acting around 2000, and worked on his other passion, one of which was writing.<\/p>\n The comedian Lewis Black commemorated Crombie on social media, calling him a \u201cwonderful actor\u201d and an \u201cimmensely talented writer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cMore importantly he was as sweet as he was intelligent and I am a better person for knowing him,\u201d Mr. Black wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n Larry Charles, a \u201cSeinfeld\u201d writer, also mourned Mr. Crombie.<\/p>\n \u201cHis portrayal of Joe Davola managed to feel real and grounded and psychopathic and absurd and hilarious all at the same time,\u201d Mr. Charles wrote<\/a> on social media. \u201cThis was a juxtaposition I was always seeking on my Seinfeld episodes and reached a climax of sorts with \u2018The Opera.\u2019 Seinfeld was a sitcom that could make you uncomfortable and no guest actor walked that line better than Peter.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n