15 Actors Who Foolishly Turned Down Career-Making TV Roles

14. Paul Shaffer Was Almost George Costanza - Seinfeld

If there is just one thing that Paul Shaffer has probably learned since Seinfeld first aired in 1989, it's that if Jerry Seinfeld calls you up, you better make sure you answer. Unfortunately for the longtime band leader on The Late Show with David Letterman, he didn't learn this life lesson until it was too late. While Seinfeld called the former Saturday Night Live musician personally to offer him the role that could have made him a household name without an audition, Shaffer said he was busy with other things at the time and simply forgot to return the comedian's phone call. If that wasn't bad enough, Seinfeld was a guest in David Letterman's show numerous times before Seinfeld ever aired. This could mean that not only was Shaffer to absentminded to answer Seinfeld's phone call, he also failed to talk to the man that shared a stage with him from time to time. This is when Jason Alexander swooped in and charmed us all as "the lord of the idiots," and pretty much made everyone forget that anyone had ever been linked with the role other than him. While Shaffer continues to make music for Letterman's show today, one can only imagine how his and Alexander's careers would have turned around had he just gotten back to Seinfeld.