Kelsey Grammer
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
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| This article is written from the Real World point of view |
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| Kelsey Grammer | |
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| Birth name: | Allen Kelsey Grammer |
| Gender: | Male |
| Date of birth: | 21 February 1955 |
| Place of birth: | Saint Thomas, US Virgin Islands |
| Character(s): | Captain Morgan Bateson |
Kelsey Grammer (born 21 February 1955; age 53) is the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actor who appeared in the role of Captain Morgan Bateson in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Cause and Effect". He is most widely known for playing the character Dr. Frasier Crane on NBC's television comedy series Cheers and Frasier over a span of twenty years.
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[edit] Early life and career
Grammer was born in Saint Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, and partly raised in New Jersey. He attended Julliard where he was a roommate and classmate of future Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager guest star Leigh J. McCloskey.
In the late 1970s, after leaving Julliard, Grammer had a three-year internship at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego, California. In 1981, he made his Broadway debut in a revival of William Shakespeare's Macbeth, with Grammer playing Lennox and DS9 guest star Philip Anglim playing the title role. Ivar Brogger and John Vickery were part of the cast, as well. Grammer later assumed the role of Ross in the same production. He also understudied for the role of Macbeth and ultimately took over that role when Anglim abruptly withdrew from the show due to negative criticism. (Grammer again played Macbeth on Broadway in 2000.)
While both Grammer (as Ross) and Anglim (as Macbeth) were working on Macbeth, one of the show's performances was filmed for broadcast on television in 1982, marking Grammer's first appearance in that medium. Grammer returned to Broadway that same year, playing Cassio in a revival of Shakespeare's Othello. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country actor Christopher Plummer starred as Iago in the same production.
Grammer's first actual television production was the 1983 mini-series Kennedy, in which he co-starred with John Glover. The following year, Grammer and Glover appeared in another mini-series based on a former US President, George Washington. This production also featured Ron Canada, Megan Gallagher, Harry Groener, Richard Kiley, Stephen Macht, Clive Revill, and Anthony Zerbe.
In 1984, Grammer began portraying his most famous role, Dr. Frasier Crane, on the soon-to-be-hit sitcom Cheers. At around the same time, he became as a regular on the NBC soap opera Another World, playing the role of Dr. Canard, but he left this series after one year.
In 1985, Grammer acted alongside Star Trek: Voyager's Kate Mulgrew in a production of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. [1] The following year, he appeared in yet another mini-series, 1986's Crossings, co-starring Christopher Plummer, Zach Galligan, and Herta Ware. All the while, Grammer continued portraying Dr. Crane on Cheers.
[edit] Cheers and Frasier
Grammer played psychiatrist Frasier Crane on Cheers for nine years (1984-1993), during which time he worked alongside Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan actress Kirstie Alley, who starred as Rebecca Howe. During the course of the show, Grammer's character married fellow psychiatrist Lilith Sternin, played by Bebe Neuwirth, who, like Grammer, would later make an appearance on TNG. Paul Willson was another actor who appeared frequently on the show.
After Cheers ended its run, Kelsey reprised his role as Dr. Crane in his own hit spin-off series, Frasier, which ran from 1993 through 2004. Bebe Neuwirth made several recurring appearances on this show as Lilith, who was now divorced from Frasier. Other actors Grammer worked with frequently on Frasier included Dan Butler and Patrick Kerr. Paul Willson also reprised his Cheers role in one episode.
On Frasier, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine regular Rene Auberjonois played Frasier Crane's mentor from Harvard. Other Star Trek stars who have appeared on Frasier include Vaughn Armstrong, Penny Johnson, Scott MacDonald, Anthony Montgomery, Natalia Nogulich, Robert Picardo, Brent Spiner, David Ogden Stiers, Patrick Stewart, and Nana Visitor.
Grammer was also executive producer on Frasier and directed a number of episodes for the show. He even sang the show's theme song. Outside of Cheers and Frasier, Grammer guest-starred as Frasier Crane in episodes of Wings (starring Steven Weber) and The John Larroquette Show.
Grammer's portrayal of Dr. Crane has earned him numerous awards, including three Emmys and two Golden Globes. He has the distinction of winning Emmys for the same character on three different series (Cheers, Frasier and a guest appearance on Wings, starring Steven Weber). Along with Gunsmoke actor James Arness, Grammer is one of only two actors to portray the same prime-time series character for twenty years (albeit on two different shows in Grammer's case).
[edit] Other television projects
Grammer has starred in such TV movies as Dance 'Til Dawn (1988, with Cliff de Young), Beyond Suspicion (1993, with Corbin Bernsen and John Putch), The Innocent (1994, with Jeff Kober), The Pentagon Wars (1998, with Bruce French, Randy Oglesby, Richard Riehle, and Tom Wright), The Sports Pages (2001, with Brian Markinson), and Mr. St. Nick (with Wallace Shawn). He also played Ebenezer Scrooge opposite Jason Alexander's Jacob Marley in the 2004 TV adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
Grammer is an executive producer on the Paramount Television Network/CBS drama series Medium and made a guest appearance on the show as the "Angel of Death". Another show Grammer executive produced for Paramount Television was the short-lived sitcom Fired Up (1997-98), which starred Jonathan Banks and Sharon Lawrence; Grammer had a brief recurring role on this series, as well. He also produced UPN's Girlfriends, which starred Golden Brooks.
Grammer recently worked alongside Everybody Loves Raymond star Patricia Heaton in the FOX series Back to You, which ran from September 2007 through May 2008. He more recently starred in a pilot called Roman's Empire.
[edit] Film work
In addition to his television work, Grammer has acted in a number of films. His first was the 1992 independent comedy Galaxies Are Colliding. In 1996 he starred as the brash and cocky Lt. Commander Tom Dodge in the submarine comedy Down Periscope. He later co-starred with Avery Brooks and Kim Cattrall in the 2001 movie 15 Minutes (also featuring an appearance by Anton Yelchin).
In 2006 Grammer played Beast (aka Dr. Henry "Hank" McCoy) in X-Men: The Last Stand alongside his TNG co-star Patrick Stewart and fellow TNG guest star Famke Janssen. He will next be seen in the comedy film Swing Vote and has several other films currently in the works.
[edit] Voice-overs
Grammer is also a prolific voice actor, with perhaps his most recognizable voice role being Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons. He voiced Sideshow whom for 2007's The Simpsons Movie, but his scenes were cut from the final film.
He has supplied voices for such animated films as Anastasia (along with Christopher Lloyd, Kirsten Dunst and Andrea Martin), Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 2 (with Wallace Shawn), and Teacher's Pet (also with Shawn, as well as David Ogden Stiers). In the 1999 TV movie version of George Orwell's Animal Farm, Grammer supplied the voice of Snowball the Pig, while Patrick Stewart voiced the hog Napoleon. Additionally, Grammer voiced the title character of the short-lived Spike TV series Gary the Rat.
[edit] Trivia
The set of Cheers and later Frasier were next to the sets of Star Trek: The Next Generation on the Paramount Studios lot in Hollywood.
In the hit BBC-3 series Little Britain, the high school is called "Kelsey Grammar School", with the actor's last name misspelled to further the pun on Grammar School, an English school type where entrants have to pass an examination and/or pay fees in order to attend.
