Jason Alexander Goes to Head of Class

By Stephen M. Silverman

05/15/2002 at 12:34 PM EDT

All right, no rude remarks, such as those who can, do -- and those who can't, teach. Former "Seinfeld" co-star Jason Alexander, 42, will conduct seminars in acting, scene study and musical theater at the University of Southern California this fall, USC has announced to the Associated Press. "Jason has an excellent career that includes theater, film, television and commercials," Robert Scales, dean of the USC School of Theatre, said of George Costanza's alter ego. "He has a great deal to offer our students, and most importantly, he is interested in helping young people achieve as performers." Alexander will actually be the inaugural George Burns Distinguished Visiting Professor in Performance, a position established through a $1 million gift from the estate of the late comedian. Alexander's own educational career is a bit checkered. According to past profiles, he did graduate high school -- Livingstone High School, in Livingstone, N.J., where he played the flute and percussion in the school's marching band. He then attended Boston University, but was reportedly kicked out a year before graduating. (The school later awarded him an honorary degree.) Alexander kicked up his heels on Broadway in the '80s musicals "Merrily We Roll Along" and "Jerome Robbins's Broadway" -- for which he won a Tony -- before hitting it big on "Seinfeld." After that smash sitcom, he directed the little-seen 1999 movie "Just Looking" and starred on the short-lived 2001 TV series "Bob Patterson."