Before Becoming A Horror Icon, Saw's Tobin Bell Showed Up In Seinfeld

With over 100 IMDb credits to his name, Tobin Bell first debuted in an uncredited role in Woody Allen's "Manhattan" in 1979, and has been consistently performing in film and television for more than four decades. But his legacy and most memorable performance is with the "Saw" series thanks to his role as the maniacal trap architect and retribution seeker Jigsaw, aka John Kramer. "Saw" put the so-called "torture porn" subgenre on the map and features one of the most convoluted timelines in movie history, but what anchors all the twists and turns is Tobin Bell's chillingly even-keeled performance.

Interestingly, one of Tobin Bell's many credits is on the NBC sitcom "Seinfeld," in season 4, episode 18, "The Old Man." The episode centers around Jerry and the gang volunteering for a senior citizen program, which inadvertently ends up helping with Kramer and Newman's scheme to make money by selling records. Tobin Bell's role is fairly small as Ron, the stoic owner of Bleeker Bob's Records. He looks like an ex-hippie with his long ponytail and a mustache, and he wears a plaid shirt and a zip-up vest. Ron ends up in a skirmish with Newman and Kramer.

If it were Jigsaw they were confronting, Newman and Kramer would definitely find themselves in one of his traps after their "melee" with him. They're annoyed when Ron only offers them five dollars for their first pile of used vinyl, but then they explode when he offers them only twenty for Sid Field's robust record collection — the cantankerous old man Jerry tries to bond with for the senior citizen's program.

Kramer encourages Newman to stand up to Ron, feeding him insults until Newman calls Ron a "piece of crap," describes him as "extremely ugly," and claims he emits a "foul and unpleasant odor." Up until this point, Ron has had a flat affect, quiet demeanor, and a raspy voice not so unlike his performance as Jigsaw/John Kramer, but then he leaps over the sales counter, ready to fight Kramer and Newman.

Tobin Bell spoke about his appearance on "Seinfeld" in an interview with MTV, calling the shooting process "one of the truly greatest and rewarding experiences that I've had, and one of which I feel most proud." Since he was cast on such a popular series — what /Film considers to be the greatest sitcom of all time — he felt it was a sign that all his hard work as an actor had paid off. Tobin Bell carried this feeling with him on other hit shows such as "The Sopranos" and "24." As a young, struggling actor, Tobin Bell would've been thrilled to learn that one day he'd be the lead of a billion-dollar franchise.