Actor's career: Tied up in Cosmo?

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Jerry Seinfeld could never shake Cosmo Kramer -- and neither can Michael Richards, the comedian/actor who made him famous.
Playing the frenetic, frizzy-haired neighbor on "Seinfeld" earned Richards three Emmy awards, millions in "yadda, yadda" money and international stardom.
But since the spectacularly successful series ended in 1998, Richards has been unable to put the wacky character he came to embody in the past and move on with his career.
"The Michael Richards Show," his first big network TV outing after "Seinfeld," lasted for just eight episodes in 2000 before he pulled the plug.
Critics said the show, which Richards created, co-wrote, and co-produced, was too "Kramer-esque." And its failure left him devastated.
"I had a nervous breakdown," Richards said a few years later. "I was so depressed. I knew in my heart before the show even went to air -- it was a done deal."
Richards has also been unable to find his way on the big screen, despite well-regarded turns in such movies as "Unstrung Heroes" (1995) and "Trial and Error" (1997).
In interviews, Richards has invoked the so-called "Seinfeld" curse for his career "shrinkage."
"I'll tell you what one curse is: that I am not able to do just anything I want to do," he told the Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, two years ago. "Before I did 'Seinfeld,' I could just about do anything, and nobody would be saying, 'What's he doing now?'"
So Richards returned to where he started -- the standup comedy stage. But it's been a rocky return.