"Seinfeld" Actor Daniel Von Bargen Survives Suicide Attempt
Feb. 22, 2012, 6 p.m.
Von Bargen told a 911 operator, "I was supposed to go to the hospital and I didn't want to."
The actor who played George Costanza's boss Mr. Kruger on Seinfeld is "clinging to life in an Ohio hospital after shooting himself in the head Monday morning in a failed suicide attempt," according to TMZ. Daniel von Bargen called 911 and said, "I've shot myself in the head ... and I need help."
You can listen to the harrowing call here, but after the operator asks if it was an accident, von Bargen replied, "I was supposed to go to the hospital and I didn't want to," further explaining he's diabetic, "They were supposed to amputate at least a few toes." He also says, "I shot in my temple."
Von Bargen, 61, said of playing Mr. Kruger, the oblivious president of Kruger Industrial Smoothing (he donated to The Human Fund), "When you start becoming a commodity because of your face or your stature or whatever, those opportunities become fewer and fewer. So it's nice to get on a comedy and have people go, "You're funny!'" He also played Commandant Spangler on Malcolm in the Middle. Here's a nice montage of Kruger scenes.
