Kelsey Grammer

Allen Kelsey Grammer born February 21, 1955 is an American actor, comedian, producer, director and writer, best known for his two-decade-long portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcom Cheers and its spin-off Frasier. He is also known for his performance in the political drama series Boss for which he won a Golden Globe Award, and the period drama series The Last Tycoon, as well as having an recurring role of voicing Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons, Anastasia (1997) and Toy Story 2 (1999). He has also appeared in various television shows such as 30 Rock, Modern Family, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Grammer is also known for his work in theatre, acting alongside Christopher Plummer and James Earl Jones in Othello, and Macbeth on Broadway. In 1983, he starred alongside Mandy Patinkin in Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George at Playwrights Horizons, Off-Broadway. He has also starred in productions of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street playing the title character, and My Fair Lady as Professor Henry Higgins. In 2010 he received his first Tony Award nomination for his performance in La Cage aux Folles. In 2016, Grammer won a Tony Award as a producer of The Color Purple. In 2019, Grammer starred as Don Quixote in a production of Man of La Mancha at the London Coliseum. Throughout his career in television Grammer has won five Primetime Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, one Daytime Emmy Award and one Tony Award; additionally, he has also worked as a television producer, director, and writer.

Early life

Allen Kelsey Grammer was born on February 21, 1955, in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, the son of Sally (née Cranmer; 1928–2008), a singer and actress, and Frank Allen Grammer Jr. (d. 1968), a musician and owner of a coffee shop and a bar and grill called Greer’s Place. He had one younger sister, Karen.

Grammer’s personal life has been surrounded by family tragedies. He was raised by his mother and maternal grandparents in New Jersey. The family later relocated to Pompano Beach, Florida, and shortly afterwards, when Kelsey was twelve years old, his grandfather died of cancer. In 1968, his father was murdered in a home invasion. In 1975, his sister was kidnapped, raped, and murdered in Colorado Springs. He was required to identify the body. In 1980, his two half-brothers died in a scuba diving accident.

Grammer attended Pine Crest School, a private preparatory school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was there that he first began to sing and perform on stage. From the age of 16, with his mother’s approval, he began to smoke a pipe. Grammer won a scholarship to the Juilliard School. He was a member of Group 6 from 1973 to 1975. Due to his sister’s murder, Grammer failed to attend classes and was eventually expelled. According to his interview with the Cayman Compass in 2019, Grammer described himself as “a Caribbean kid” who “was born in St. Thomas, USVI, and I have been back and forth a lot, gone to the Bahamas a lot, St. John and the Virgin Islands and the BVI.”

Career

Theatre

After leaving Juilliard, Grammer had a three-year internship with the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in the late 1970s before a stint in 1980 at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He made his Broadway debut in 1981 as “Lennox” in Macbeth, taking the lead role when Philip Anglim withdrew after receiving negative reviews. Grammer then played Michael Cassio in a Broadway revival of Othello, with James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer. In 1983 he performed in the demo of the Stephen Sondheim–James Lapine production Sunday in the Park with George, starring Mandy Patinkin. In 2000, Grammer again played Macbeth on Broadway, in a production that closed after only 10 days.

On April 18, 2010, Grammer made his Broadway musical debut playing the role of Georges in a revival of the Jerry Herman/Harvey Fierstein musical La Cage aux Folles at the Longacre Theatre. Grammer starred alongside Douglas Hodge for which they both were nominated for Tony Awards for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. Grammer was described by critics as “equally fine”, “delivering an assured and charming leading turn”.

In March 2015, Grammer originated the roles of Charles Frohman and Captain Hook in the Broadway premiere of the musical Finding Neverland continuing with the roles through June 28, 2015. He returned to the stage from January 19 to April 3, 2016. Most recently he made an appearance in the West End production of Big Fish. In 2016, Grammer won a Tony Award as a producer of The Color Purple. In 2019, Grammer starred as Don Quixote in a production of Man of La Mancha at the London Coliseum.

Film and television

In 1984, Grammer first appeared as Dr. Frasier Crane in the NBC sitcom Cheers. Grammer’s former Juilliard classmate and Broadway co-star Mandy Patinkin suggested Grammer to the New York casting director, and he got what was supposed to be a six-episode job, but ended up as a regular cast member. Cheers was created by James Burrows and aired on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993. The show is set in a bar named Cheers in Boston where a group of locals meet to drink, relax, and socialize. The character of Frasier first appears in the third season and continues to appear until the final season of the series, which aired in May 1993.

Grammer has provided the voice of Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons, winning an Emmy Award for his work in the episode “The Italian Bob”, his fifth Emmy win. He has appeared in eighteen episodes from the show’s inception in 1989 through 2015’s “Treehouse of Horror XXVI”.

In September 1993 the character became the center of the spin-off Frasier which became one of the most successful spin-offs in television history. In addition to starring, he also directed more than 30 episodes, especially during the second half of the series, and sang the closing theme “Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs.” Frasier was nominated for and won many awards during its 11-year run, concluding in May 2004. In the show Frasier has moved from Boston to Seattle and works as a radio psychiatrist alongside his producer Roz (Peri Gilpin). The show also starred David Hyde Pierce as Niles, Frasier’s brother, and John Mahoney as the father, Martin Crane. Jane Leeves plays his fathers health care worker Daphne Moon. The show was a critical hit, and received the most Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series. The record has never been broken with Modern Family tying the record. Grammer himself received 10 Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his role in Frasier, winning four times, tying him with Carroll O’Connor, Michael J. Fox and Jim Parsons for the most wins for Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series.

In 1995, Grammar voiced Dr. Frankenollie in the Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain (1995), were it was nominated for Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. He later starred in the lead role as Lt. Commander Thomas “Tom” Dodge in the film Down Periscope (1996), and voiced Vladimir “Vlad” Vanya Voinitsky Vasilovich in the 20th Century Fox’s critically acclaimed animated movie Anastasia (1997). In 1999, Grammer voiced Stinky Pete in Pixar’s Golden Globe Award-winning Toy Story 2 (1999). He also provided voice work for several other animated television series and direct-to-video films, such as Barbie of Swan Lake, Bartok the Magnificent, the title character in the short-lived animated series Gary the Rat and the narrator of Mickey Mouse – Once Upon a Christmas. He also voiced Dr. Ivan Krank in the theatrically Disney film Disney’s Teacher’s Pet (2004).

In 2001, he negotiated a $700,000-per-episode salary for Frasier. The series lasted 11 seasons running from 1993 to 2004. His 20-year run playing Dr. Frasier Crane ties a length set by James Arness in playing Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke from 1955 to 1975 but was surpassed by Richard Belzer in playing Det. John Munch on Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit since 1993. Frasier Crane also had a crossover appearance in 1992 Wings episode “Planes, Trains, & Visiting Cranes”.

The show featured a variety of guest stars from Cheers including Ted Danson, Shelley Long, Woody Harrelson, Rhea Perlman, George Wendt and John Ratzenberger. Bebe Neuwirth appears in a recurring role throughout the series as Frasier’s ex-wife Lilith. Other guest stars include Laura Linney, James Earl Jones, Nathan Lane, Patrick Stewart, Patrick Macnee, Derek Jacobi, Michael Keaton, Laurie Metcalf, Jean Smart and Eva Marie Saint. One of Frasier ‘s in-jokes was its use of celebrities as guest stars who were put through on Frasier’s radio program as callers seeking advice.

In 2004, he played Ebenezer Scrooge in the musical television film A Christmas Carol.

Work post-Frasier

In 2005, Grammer returned to television. He produced and appeared in an American adaptation of the British show The Sketch Show, which aired on Fox. The main cast consisted of Malcolm Barrett, Kaitlin Olson, Mary Lynn Rajskub and Paul F. Tompkins, as well as Lee Mack from the British version of the show. Grammer appeared in only short opening and closing segments in each episode. Many of the sketches from the British version were re-created, such as the “California Dreamin'”, “English Course”, and “Sign Language” sketches. Only six episodes of the show were made, and it was cancelled after only four of them had aired.

In 2007, Grammer starred with Patricia Heaton in the American sitcom Back to You, which Fox cancelled after its first season. His next attempt, ABC’s Hank, fared even worse. It was cancelled after only five episodes had aired. Grammer later commented, “Honestly, it just wasn’t very funny.”

In 2011 and 2012, Grammer found temporary success in the Starz drama series Boss as a fictional mayor of Chicago in the mold of Richard J. Daley which premiered in October 2011. It was his first dramatic TV series. At the 2012 Golden Globe Awards Kelsey Grammer won the award for Best Actor in a Television Series Drama for his role on Boss. The show ran for 18 episodes over two seasons.

In 2010–2012, Grammer guest starred as a comical version of himself in three episodes of the NBC show 30 Rock alongside Jane Krakowski and Jack McBrayer.

In 2014 Grammer returned to sitcom television in Partners with comedian Martin Lawrence. The Lionsgate-produced show was written and executive produced by Robert L. Boyett and Robert Horn, known for writing hit shows like Family Matters, Living Single, Full House, Designing Women, and Perfect Strangers. Despite this, the show was cancelled after its first season. Later that same year, Grammer starred in several films such as Bonaparte in The Expendables 3 (2014) and as Harold Attinger in Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014).

The following year in 2015, he played Buckley in Best of Enemies (2015), the National Geographic TV film Killing Jesus (2015) as Herod the Great (in which he both played a role and narrated), and as Harry Hamilton in the Netflix film Like Father with Kristen Bell (2019).

Other work

Grammer’s voice has been featured in many commercials. One of the earliest was a 1998 commercial for Honey Nut Cheerios, where he voices the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood. Since 2006, Grammer has provided the voice for television commercials advertising Hyundai. In 2008, Grammer reprised his role of Dr. Frasier Crane in a commercial for Dr Pepper (Frasier and Cheers co-star Bebe Neuwirth also reprised her role as Lilith Sternin in the same commercial, albeit in voice only).

In 2015 Grammer and John Lithgow lent their voices to the critically acclaimed documentary Best of Enemies as William F. Buckley, Jr. and Gore Vidal, respectively. The documentary surrounds the events around the televised debates between intellectuals Vidal and Buckley during the 1968 United States presidential election. The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary but did not make the final cut.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Galaxies Are Colliding	Peter
1995	Runaway Brain	Dr. Frankenollie	Voice; Short film
1996	Down Periscope	Tom Dodge
1997	Anastasia	Vladimir	Voice
1998	The Real Howard Spitz	Howard Spitz
	The Pentagon Wars	General Partridge
1999	Standing on Fishes	Verk
	Bartok the Magnificent	Zozi	Voice; Direct-to-video
	Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas	Narrator
	Toy Story 2	Stinky Pete the Prospector	Voice
2001	15 Minutes	Robert Hawkins
	Just Visiting	Narrator	Uncredited
	God Lives Underwater: Fame	Robert Hawkins	Short film
2003	The Big Empty	Agent Banks
	Barbie of Swan Lake	Rothbart	Voice; Direct-to-video
2004	Teacher’s Pet	Dr. Ivan Krank	Voice
2005	The Good Humor Man	Mr. Skibness
2006	Even Money	Detective Brunner
	X-Men: The Last Stand	Dr. Hank McCoy / Beast
2008	Swing Vote	President Andrew Boone
	An American Carol	Patton
2009	Middle Men	Frank Griffin
	Fame	Mr. Martin Cranston
2010	Crazy on the Outside	Frank
2011	I Don’t Know How She Does It	Clark Cooper
2013	Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return	Tin Man	Voice
2014	X-Men: Days of Future Past	Dr. Hank McCoy / Beast	Uncredited cameo
	Think Like a Man Too	Lee Fox
	The Expendables 3	Bonaparte
	Transformers: Age of Extinction	Harold Attinger
	Reach Me	Angelo AldoBrandini
	Breaking the Bank	Charles Bunbury
2015	Entourage	Himself	Cameo
	Best of Enemies	William F. Buckley, Jr.	Voice; Documentary
2016	Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising	Shelby’s Dad	Cameo
	Storks	Hunter	Voice
2017	Bunyan and Babe	The Amazing Blackstone Norman Blandsford	Voice
2018	Guardians of the Tomb	Mason
	Like Father	Harry Hamilton
2019	Grand Isle	Detective Jones
2020	Money Plane	Darius Emmanuel Grouch III, aka “The Rumble”
2021	The God Committee	Dr. Andre Boxer	Post-production