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‘The Big Bang Theory’ Adds Judd Hirsch to Cast As Leonard’s Father

By Becky Padilla
Published on: 07:58 PST, Mar 17, 2016

As if The Big Bang Theory show and cast weren’t splendid enough already, it has just been announced that Judd Hirsch will guest star as Leonard Hofstadter’s father, the Telegraph shared.

The Theory Part

The Big Bang Theory began in 2007 as a comedy about four scientistic geniuses who could find their way around a lab with their eyes closed, but were as socially awkward as a comedian in an empty room. Leonard, Howard, Sheldon, and Raj forged their way through daily life, relying on numbers and theories. Things were fine until the gorgeous new neighbor, Penny, moved in across the hall from roommates Leonard and Sheldon.

Thus began a hilarious trip of growth and learning in the social skills and physicist areas of life. Because of Sheldon, “Bazinga” has been added to our vernacular, and many of us comprehend the correlation between rock-paper-lizard-Spock, even if we can’t repeat it.

“Scissors cuts paper, paper covers rock, rock crushes lizard, lizard poisons Spock, Spock smashes scissors, scissors decapitates lizard, lizard eats paper, paper disproves Spock, Spock vaporizes rock, and as it always has, rock crushes scissors.”

We have seen the characters grow while keeping true to their foundational ethos.

The Big Bang Part

The Big Bang Theory has now run for nine successful seasons, and continues to delight audiences and grow its cast. From Leonard and Penny’s first date to them now being married, from Howard and Bernadette getting married to now preparing for a baby, from Sheldon being Sheldon to him and Amy Farrah Fowler not only dating but having s-e-x, and after Raj spent six seasons believing he could only talk to women when he was drunk—which led to hilarious whisper moments—he finally broke through and was able to talk with Penny — and then to everybody, even snagging himself a girlfriend.

Like decorating a sugar cookie, the Big Bang cast has grown one hilarious character at a time. Like different kinds of sprinkles, guest characters have arrived, grown on the audience, and then become part of the beloved icing of The Big Bang Theory family. Each one has a personality of their own, but when combined with the dynamic of the rest of the cast, we feel their stories, whether that Big Bang episode is completely comedic and we laugh until we cry, or it stretches to the serious, like when Howard’s mother passed away and we just cried (okay, some of us cried).

The Judd Part

Now the cast is growing again with Judd Hirsch playing Leonard’s hinted at, but never before seen, anthropologist father. It will be interesting to see how this character is shown as one who could have put up with Leonard’s mother for any length of time. Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, Leonard’s tightly wound neuroscientist mother with few nurturing bones in her body and the seeming bane of his existence some days, is a recurring role played by Christine Baranski.

Other periodic parental guest stars on Big Bang have run the gamut on character personalities, and are as funny as the main Big Bang cast. Laurie Metcalf plays Sheldon’s humorously religious but caring mother from Texas, whose verbal filter is slightly askew. Bernadette’s father, played by Casey Sander, scares everybody, but has a soft side. Raj’s parents, played by Brian George and Alice Amter, have great comedic delivery. And Howard’s mother, voiced by Carol Ann Susi, was mourned on the show and in real life when the actress who played her passed away in 2014.

Johnny Galecki, who plays Leonard, tells Variety that he approached Judd Hirsch about playing this character during an event they both attended. Evidently, Galecki based his presentation of Leonard somewhat on Hirsch’s character, Alex, from Taxi, not the character itself, but Alex’s “purpose … in this group of people.”

Depending on which decade you were born in, you might remember Alex Rieger from Taxi and his on-point delivery as the voice of reason in the center of an unstable group of people. Or from the movie A Beautiful Mind, or other TV shows like Dear John, Numb3rs, or Forever, just to name a few. He is a television veteran, and will be a great addition to The Big Bang Theory world.

[Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images]

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