Meet the PARENTS

Film star BEN STILLER on creating a portrait of his famous mum and dad

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With box-office hits There's Something About Mary, Zoolander and the Meet the Parents franchise on a glittering CV spanning almost 40 years, Ben Stiller has cemented his place as a Hollywood heavyweight. But before the actor was a household name, it was his mum and dad, Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller, in the spotlight as a prominent comedy duo during the 1960s and 1970s.

After Anne and Jerry passed away, in 2015 and 2020 respectively, Ben explored a treasure trove of archive material and home recordings that charted their personal and professional milestones. These are at the heart of Apple TV+ documentary Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost, directed by Ben and which pays tribute to his parents' legacy. Joining TV Times for a video interview from his home city of New York, Ben, 59, talks to us about this very personal project...

Why was now the right time to tell your parents' story, Ben?