Imagine a world where Seinfeld captured the adventures of Jerry, George, Kramer and … Claire? That almost came to be. In a piece of television “What if?” trivia, it was Lee Garlington , rather than Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who originally appeared as the main female character opposite Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards in the pilot episode of the “show about nothing.”
Garlington, 72, had accumulated a handful of noteworthy roles in the 1980s, appearing in films like Psycho II, Cobra, and Field of Dreams and shows like Sledge Hammer!, Hill Street Blues and The Golden Girls. And in 1989, she landed the part of Claire in a show called The Seinfeld Chronicles. Garlington played a waitress at Pete’s Luncheonette who was a friend of George Costanza. But, test audiences didn’t react well to the pilot in general, forcing the show’s creators to make some major changes.