Biff Yeager was a Gilmore Girls fan favorite as Tom, the Stars Hollow contractor. But, Tom wasn’t the first role the show considered him for. 22 years later, Yeager is revealing his original audition and memories from Gilmore Girls as Tom.
Yeager appeared on Scott Patterson’s I Am All In podcast on Nov 2. Going back to Yeager’s Gilmore Girls debut in the season 2 episode “Hammers and Veils,” he revealed it almost occurred even earlier.
The first ‘Gilmore Girls’ role Biff Yeager almost played
Before he was Tom the contractor, Yeager auditioned for the role of shopkeeper and town meeting honcho Taylor. Good thing he didn’t get that role or Gilmore Girls would have been deprived of Michael Winters.
“Originally I read for Taylor’s role,” Yeager said on I Am All In. “That was the first year. That didn’t work out, I didn’t get it which I’m very happy with because I don’t think anyone could’ve done it better.”
Tom became a recurring role on ‘Gilmore Girls’
Tom was the gift that kept on giving for Yeager. Once he showed up to help Rory (Alexis Bledel) build homes, he kept coming back to Gilmore Girls.
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“The following year they called me back for Tom, the one little thing where I guess Rory was building a house, a house for Habitat [for Humanity],” Yeager said. “From that they called me back.”
Biff Yeager’s favorite construction jobs
Tom’s Gilmore Girls gigs are happy memories for Yeager. In his original episode, Yeager remembers fooling around with the tools.
“One thing about that episode was though, they wouldn’t let me use the power saw,” Yeager said. “Even when I did use it for Taylor’s thing, I screwed it up and jammed the wood. So they were smart. As a matter of fact, when I was using the hand saw, it was so awkward because further on, when they had me use a hand saw, they wouldn’t let Rory stand near me while I was hand sawing.”
Later, Tom helps renovate Dragonfly Inn for Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Sookie (Melissa McCarthy). Yeager has fond memories of a scene with Graham.
“I think one of them was when Lauren and I were talking side by side about renovating the stable for the inn for the horses or something like that,” Yeager said. “We had a long time between takes of course. I looked at her and it just struck me at that time. I knew her eyes were very blue. But it struck me, I said, ‘God, you’ve the most beautiful blue eyes.’ I don’t know if it embarrassed her or what but that image, that moment really struck me. She does have beautiful blue eyes.”
