When it came to romance, Jerry embodied man's most infantile impulses. This, after all, is a guy who once dumped a woman because she ate peas one at a time, dated another whose boyfriend was in a coma and tried to break up with a third in order to date her roommate—who laughed at his jokes. But the actresses who played the aggrieved amours have only fond memories. Marlee Matlin's guest spot as hearing-impaired Laura, she says, "was like going to somebody's house for dinner." And while TV Jerry was less than chivalrous, the real thing got high marks. "Everybody gets a crush on Jerry while working with him," says Christine Taylor, whose character was eighty-sixed because she got along with his parents. "If anyone denies that, they're lying!" On the next pages, memorable—if momentary—love interests look back.
Kathleen McClellan
CHARACTER: Melissa
EPISODE: The Apology
FATAL FLAW: Always in the buff, which, in certain poses, loses its appeal.
FLASHBACK: When she told Jerry that wearing only skin-colored skivvies on the set was "like a bad dream," says McClellan, he said, "Yeah, but it's a dream come true for me."
Janeane Garofalo
CHARACTER: Jeannie
EPISODE: The Invitations
FATAL FLAW: Passionate for Superman, cereal and one-liners, she was a female Jerry.
FLASHBACK: Despite being "the only comic who does a bad Jerry Seinfeld impression," the actress and stand-up says playing Jerry's fiancée, even fleetingly, won her family's respect. "If you can say, 'I'm playing the woman that Seinfeld gets engaged to,' you've definitely made it," she says. "Finally your grandmother will concede that maybe it's working out for you."
Kristin Bauer
CHARACTER: Gillian
EPISODE: The Bizarro Jerry
FATAL FLAW: "Man hands."
FLASHBACK: "Those weren't my hands!" insists Bauer. "They auditioned all these big guys, like a hands casting, and looked at their hands. Then they were like, 'Should we shave them?' Thankfully, they did, but they were still so huge."
Teri Hatcher
CHARACTER: Sidra
EPISODE: The Implant
FATAL FLAW: Jerry suspects—wrongly—that she has breast implants.
FLASHBACK: The episode and her parting shot ("They're real—and they're spectacular!") "definitely identified me for a while," says the ex-Lois & Clark star. "I got people coming up to me and saying, Are they real?' "
Kristin Davis
CHARACTER: Jenna
EPISODE: The Pothole
FATAL FLAW: Germaphobic Jerry drops her toothbrush into the toilet—and can't bring himself to kiss her after she uses it.
FLASHBACK: Davis was nervous taping such a hit show, so naturally, she says, Seinfeld "made so much fun of me. Right before they'd yell, 'Action!,' he'd say, '37 million people!' "
Lori Loughlin
CHARACTER: Patty
EPISODE: The Serenity Now
FATAL FLAW: She tells Jerry to express his anger. He overcompensates.
FLASHBACK: After getting dumped, the newly emotional Jerry bursts into tears. Says Loughlin: "The writers told me, 'You made Seinfeld history. You're the first girl who broke up with Jerry and made him cry.' "
Jane Leeves
CHARACTER: Marla
EPISODES: The Virgin; The Contest
FATAL FLAW: She hated "The Contest."
FLASHBACK: After playing a virgin who is deflowered by JFK Jr., Leeves was often questioned about her own sex life. "I'm not a slut," she once told PEOPLE. "But I'm not a virgin, either.' "
Susan Walters
CHARACTER: Dolores (alias Mulva)
EPISODE: The Junior Mint
FATAL FLAW: Jerry can't recall her name, which rhymes with a female body part.
FLASHBACK: "I just happened to be Mulva," says Walters, who totes a key chain with that name on it, a gift from a friend. "And Mulva is the way I'll be remembered. I'm just forever grateful to be a part of cult history. It was a hoot."
Lauren Graham
CHARACTER: Valerie
EPISODE: The Millennium
FATAL FLAW: Assigns Jerry the No. 1 spot on her speed dial, angering her jealous stepmom, the former No. 1.
FLASHBACK: Being on Seinfeld "wasn't too nerve-racking," says Graham, thanks to Seinfeld. He helped put her at ease by laughing at her lines—and, she says, "laughing really hard at other people's scenes. Come to think of it, he laughed all the time. He seems to think everyone's funny."
Alexandra Wentworth
CHARACTER: Sheila
EPISODE: The Soup Nazi
FATAL FLAW: Forces Jerry to choose "Schmoopie" or soup.
FLASHBACK: "Jerry Seinfeld is a great kisser," says Went-worth, who first met him, in real life, when he smashed her car windshield playing softball (he paid for repairs and a rental Lexus). "He's got a great mouth, he's got great lips. No problem in that department."
Keith Hernandez
CHARACTER: Keith Hernandez
EPISODE: The Boyfriend
FATAL FLAW: He's dating Elaine.
FLASHBACK: Jerry seemed a little smitten with the ex-Mets star, on camera and off. "He's a diehard Mets fan and he was kind of shy around me," says Hernandez. After returning for the final episode, he adds, "We exchanged numbers and will probably hook up from time to time." Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Tawny Kitaen
CHARACTER: Isabel
EPISODE: The Nose Job
FATAL FLAW: The sex is great, but she's sooo stupid.
FLASHBACK: After filming the 1991 episode, she and Jerry "had a lot of fun with each other," says Kitaen. How much fun, exactly? "I'm pleading the Fifth."
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