Elaine Benes was the last conceived of the four main "Seinfeld" characters. Note how she's nowhere to be seen in the pilot, "The Seinfeld Chronicles," and she only shows up at the end of the second produced (but fourth aired) episode, "Male Unbonding."

Obviously, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is the one who got the part of Elaine, and there's a convincing argument to be made that she was the best actor on the show. (Let's see any of her costars make something as good as "Veep." ) While JLD had an impressive resume before "Seinfeld," having been a "Saturday Night Live" cast member in the 1980s, the part of Elaine wasn't written for her and several other actresses auditioned for it.

One of those actresses was Patricia Heaton. As she told the story in 2020 on Access Daily : "The first audition [o

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