Remember Friends’ Mr Heckles? Actor Larry Hankin is unrecognisable 28 years on from sitcom debut
MANY Friends fans will remember Mr Heckles as ‘the Weird Man’ who lived below Monica and Rachel.
Nearly three decades after his debut in the popular sitcom, Larry Hankin went on to appear in numerous shows and looks very different.
Larry took the part of Mr Heckles, Monica and Rachel’s retired downstairs neighbour who often complained about the noise the pair supposedly made.
His complaints were either made in person or with the tap of a broom on his ceiling.
Mr Heckles – who was first credited as “The Weird Man” upon his first appearance – was only featured in five episodes of the programme between 1994 and 1996.
He appeared in the following episodes of Friends: “The One With The Blackout”, “The One With Two Parts, Part 1”, “The One Where The Monkey Gets Away”, “The One Where Heckles Dies” and “The One With The Flashback.”
On his official website, Larry recalls the retired man as one of his “favourite characters” and “the most opinionated male” he could ever play.
When Mr Heckles died in Friends, Larry popped up in another iconic 90s show, Seinfeld, where he took on the role of Tom Pepper during the show’s pilot.
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After spending a few years away from the spotlight, he rekindled with the small screen by slipping into the skin of Old Joe in AMC’s Breaking Bad from 2010 to 2012.
It was a role he reprised in 2019, when he took part in the Breaking Bad movie, El Camino.
While his TV credits also include Star Trek (where he portrayed Gaunt Gary) and HBO series Barry, Larry dedicated many years of his career to roles on the silver screen.
He was seen in movies in the likes of Home Alone, Pretty Woman and Money Talks in the 1990’s, alongside Clint Eastwood in Escape From Alcatraz in 1979, but also appeared in Pain & Gain in 2013.
Like many other Friends stars, Larry couldn’t pass up on the Friends Reunion, which aired in May, 2021.