In 2016 Judd Hirsch appeared on The Big Bang Theory as Dr. Alfred Hofstadter, Leonard’s father. However, in many ways Hirsch had been Leonard’s father for years. In fact, when Johnny Galecki was preparing to film the first episodes of the sitcom, he looked to Hirsch for inspiration. Years later, Galecki, drunk on Merlot, asked Hirsch to make it official.
“We were all honored to be invited to this James Burrows tribute a couple of months ago. I had the opportunity to meet Judd Hirsch,” Johnny Galecki recalled during an appearance at PaleyFest 2016. “I ran up to him and just kind of bombarded him with verbalization. I went on for a long time about what a fan I am. I should probably preface this story by sharing the fact that they were serving wine at the James Burrows tribute. It was free wine, and so I went on for a little bit.”
“I did share with him, and this is true, that when we were shooting the pilot, I was always a fan of Taxi, but I rewatched the first two or three seasons, not because I wanted to base Leonard on his character, but the purpose that his character served in this group of people. This kind of anchor to this group of people, who was just as much at times a voice of reason as he was just as confused as everyone else. I shared that with him, and then a lightning bolt struck, or maybe another Merlot. I said, ‘Hey, would you have any interest in playing my dad on the show?’”
An episode around Leonard’s father hadn’t been written yet, but that wasn’t important. “It may have been presumptuous of me, because nothing was written or anything like that, but I knew that Chuck, and Steve, and Bill were equal fans of his, and so it just kind of went from there.”
Judd Hirsch would appear as Dr. Alfred Hofstadter in the season nine episode ‘The Convergence Convergence’ and the season 10 episode ‘The Conjugal Conjecture.’ His chemistry with Galecki was great, and they didn’t even need any Merlot.
