Kelsey Grammer, is a five-time Emmy-winning actor who is best known for his 20-year role as Dr. Frasier Crane in the sitcom Cheers, and its spin-off Frasier. Along with his awards for the series Frasier, Grammer was nominated as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, for his guest appearance as Dr. Frasier Crane on the 1992 Wings episode “Planes, Trains and Visiting Cranes.” He was also a two-time nominee as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
for Cheers. That is a huge accomplishment, as I find it hard to believe that there are many, if any, other actors that have been nominated for an Emmy for three different shows, while playing the very same character.
The talented dramatic and comedic actor was born Allen Kelsey Grammer, on February 22, 1955, on St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, to parents Sally and Frank Allen Grammer, Jr. Both parents were musically inclined and owned a restaurant and coffee shop. His parents divorced when Grammer was a child and he was raised by his mother and maternal grandparents.
Grammer rarely saw his father after the divorce, and in 1968, his father was violently murdered. Seven years later, his sister Karen suffered at the hands of a vicious rapist, who then took her life. And if that wasn’t tragedy enough for one person, five years later, his twin half-brothers met their demise when a shark attacked them while they were scuba diving.
Even before these catastrophic events, Grammer had an early problem with alcohol, and later cocaine, which landed him in prison for a few days in the 1980s, and in the Betty Ford Clinic in the 1990s. The 2000s seem to have found him in a better place, especially when after two failed marriages, to Doreen Alderman and Leigh Anne Csuhany, Grammer found the love of his life, playboy model Camille Donatacci, and married her in 1997.
Grammer’s professional life began after he studied acting at the Juilliard School, a performing arts conservatory in New York City, and began a career in theater. He made it to Broadway in 1981, playing the role of Lennox in Macbeth. Other Broadway roles include Sweeney, in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Cassio, in Othello.
Grammer broke into the small screen playing the role of Stephen Smith in Kennedy, which led to, what was supposed to be, a short run as the pompous Dr. Frasier Crane in Cheers. Those six contracted episodes ended up being pivotal as they led to 11 more years as the lead in the quirky sitcom Frasier.
Lately in the sitcom world, my favorite funny man hasn’t been able to catch a break. Cast with Patricia Heaton in Back to You, the writing seemed to be repetitious and boring, certainly not a great platform for his talent, and after 17 episodes the show was canceled. Then after only nine episodes, ABC’s Hank was put to rest, in part due to a decision by Grammer. So sadly, if fans want to see Grammer act in the near future, they will have to travel to Broadway to watch him perform as cross-dressing Georges in La Cage aux Folles.
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