Dr. Frasier Winslow Crane^[2] (bornc. 1952)[3]^{[note 1]} is a fictional character who is both asupporting character on the American televisionsitcomCheers and thetitularprotagonist of itsspin-offFrasier and the latter’s2023 sequel. In all three series, he is portrayed byKelsey Grammer. The character debuted in theCheers third-season premiere, "Rebound (Part 1)" (1984), asDiane Chambers's love interest, part of the Sam and Dianestory arc. Intended to appear for only a few episodes, Grammer's performance in the role was praised by producers, prompting them to expand his role and increase his prominence.

Dr. Frasier Crane, MD
Cheers /Frasier /Frasier (2023) character
Dr. Frasier Crane doing his radio show at KACL in theFrasier episode "Shrink Wrap" (1995)
First appearance	Cheers: "Rebound (Part 1)" (episode 3.01)
Created by	Glen Charles Les Charles
Portrayed by	Kelsey Grammer
In-universe information
Nickname	Doc, Fras
Gender	Male
Occupation	Psychiatrist[1] (1983–1993) Radio host andpsychotherapist (1993–2004) TV host andpsychotherapist (For 14–15 years) Harvard professor (2023) Apartment owner (2023)
Family	Martin Crane (father; deceased) Hester Crane (mother; deceased) Niles Crane (younger brother) Ronee Lawrence (stepmother)
Spouse	Nanette "Nanny G" Guzman (before 1984) Lilith Sternin (1988–1993)
Significantother	Charlotte Connor (2003–2023)
Children	Frederick Crane (b. 1989; son, withLilith)
Relatives	Walt Crane (paternal uncle) Zora Crane (paternal aunt) Nikos Crane (paternal cousin) David Crane (nephew) Maris Crane (ex-sister-in-law) Daphne Moon (sister-in-law)
Religion	Episcopalian
Nationality	American

Later inCheers, Frasier marriesLilith Sternin (Bebe Neuwirth) and has a son, Frederick. AfterCheers ended, the character moved to a spin-off series,Frasier, through which the span of his overall television appearances totals twenty years.^[4][5] In the spin-off, Frasier moves back to his birthplace,Seattle, after his divorce from Lilith, who retained custody of Frederick in Boston, and is reunited with a newly created family: his estranged father,Martin, and brother,Niles. In February 2021, ViacomCBS (nowParamount Global) announced that Grammer would reprise the character ina new series onParamount+.^[6]

Grammer received award recognitions for portraying this character on these two shows, in addition to a 1992 one-time appearance onWings. For his portrayal onCheers, Grammer was nominated twice forOutstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series but did not win in that category. For portraying the character onFrasier, Kelsey Grammer won four Emmy Awards out of eleven nominations forOutstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and two Golden Globe Awards out of eight nominations forBest Performance by an Actor in a Television Series (Musical or Comedy).

The character Frasier Crane was created in the third season ofCheers (1984–1985) by series creatorsGlen and Les Charles asDiane Chambers's (Shelley Long) "romantic and intellectual ideal" following her breakup withSam Malone (Ted Danson). Not only Sam Malone's rival and opposite, Frasier Crane was also part of the love triangle, "a different form of theSam-Diane relationship," said Glen Charles.^[7] The show's writers initially conceived the character as "the roleRalph Bellamy used to play inCary Grant movies — the guy the lady falls in love with, but is not real. You just know he doesn't have the sexual dynamism Grant does."^[8]

John Lithgow was originally chosen byCheers producers for the role, but turned it down as he felt that TV would down his dignity.^{[9][10][11][12]} Grammer believed that he had failed the audition because no one laughed, but was chosen because of the quality of his performance with Danson.^[8] Frasier was supposed to appear only on a few episodes before Diane left him, but Grammer's performance was praised by series executives, leading to an extended role in the series.^[13] His character was not universally popular, however, for coming between Sam and Diane; a viewer approached Grammer asking "Are you that pin dick that plays Frasier?", and the show receivedfan mail denouncing Grammer.^[8]

Frasier Crane, an alumnus ofHarvard College,Harvard Medical School,^[14] andOxford University, debuted in the two-part episode "Rebound" (1984), the premiere ofCheers season three (1984–85), as a psychiatrist to help bartenderSam Malone recover from a brief return toalcoholism and also cope with his breakup fromDiane Chambers. Also, Diane's fiancé throughout the third season,^[15] he and Diane are supposed to wed in Italy in "Rescue Me" (1985), the finale of season three. However, in "Birth, Death, Love, and Rice" (1985), the premiere of season four (1985–86), Frasier enters the bar and tells Sam that he was jilted by Diane at the altar in Europe.^[15] A despondent Frasier, who had given up his practice to go to Europe, loses his job lecturing at a university in Europe. Later in season four, he begins to regularly attend Cheers for drinks and finds himself depending more and more on alcohol. In "The Triangle" (1986), Sam feigns symptoms of depression, planned by Diane, to help Frasier recover from alcoholism and regain his self-confidence. This leads Frasier to conclude that Sam's symptoms indicate his love for Diane. However, upon arrival, Frasier sees Sam and Diane arguing in the bar office, and Sam admits the whole plan. Furious, Frasier declares himself to be sober, refuses to be a part of their relationship, and vows to practice psychiatry again.

The character finally becomes a permanent fixture among the other bar patrons by the middle of the series' run and adds to his comedic repertoire an occasional penchant for commenting on the personality flaws of the other Cheers regulars while still managing to remain a likable addition to the gang.^[16][17] As his role is expanded, Frasier becomes romantically involved with a stereotypical "intelligent, ice queen"^[18]Lilith Sternin (Bebe Neuwirth). Their first date in "Second Time Around" (1986) does not go well; they exchange insults with each other until she leaves the bar, disappointing him. In "Abnormal Psychology" (1986), Frasier and Lilith feel mutual attraction after Diane gives Lilith a makeover. At first reluctant to start anew, they then decide to go on another date. They live together for a year before being married one month before "Our Hourly Bread" (1988) as revealed in the episode and give birth to their son Frederick in "The Stork Brings a Crane" (1989). In "Smotherly Love" (1992), they reenact their wedding to please Lilith's mother Betty (Marilyn Cooper), who was irritated that she had not been present for their marriage.

In "One Hugs, the Other Doesn't" (1992), Frasier is revealed to have been previously married to Nanette Guzman (Emma Thompson), now known as the popular children's entertainer Nanny G. When Nanette sings a song implying her possible feelings for Frasier (despite being fully aware he's remarried), Lilith attacks her during Frederick's second birthday party.

In "Teaching with the Enemy" (1992), Lilith admits her affair with another man, Dr. Louis Pascal (Peter Vogt), dooming their marriage. In "Is There a Doctor in the Howe?" (1993), a distraught Frasier is going to sleep with Rebecca Howe in his bed until Lilith unexpectedly returns and—in the following episode, "The Bar Manager, The Shrink, His Wife and Her Lover" (1993)—storms out of the room and heads to Cheers. There, Lilith reveals that the eco-pod experiment with Pascal was a disaster—Pascal turned out to beclaustrophobic, among other mental problems—and she abandoned the project to return to Boston. Frasier, Rebecca, and eventually Pascal converge on Cheers in pursuit of Lilith. Pascal, armed with a pistol, demands Lilith return to him, threatening to shoot Frasier and the others. Lilith demands that he shoot her first, which causes him to back down and surrender to the police. Although Frasier initially refuses to take Lilith back after all this, her pathetic sobbing wins him over, and he hesitantly reconciles with her.

WhenCheers ended in 1993, at first the creators did not plan to spin off the character from the predecessor because they were concerned that a spinoff might fail. Instead, they wanted to cast Kelsey Grammer as aparaplegic millionaire resemblingMalcolm Forbes, "a magazine mogul [and] a motorcycle enthusiast". The idea was deemed unsuitable and scrapped. Then the show's creators decided to move Frasier Crane out of Boston to avoid any resemblance toCheers. The spinoff idea would have focused primarily on "his work at a radio station", but they found it resembled an older sitcom,WKRP in Cincinnati, too much. Therefore, they decided to add in his private life, such as his father Martin and younger brother Niles.^[19] In his titular spin-off, Frasier becomes "haughty, disdainful, and exceedingly uptight."^[20]

AfterCheers, Frasier andLilith (Bebe Neuwirth)divorce off-screen, and Lilith is awardedcustody of their son, Frederick, with Frasier granted visiting rights. In the pilot "The Good Son", Frasier explains that he left Boston because he felt that his life and career had grown stagnant (and he had been publicly humiliated after climbing onto a ledge and threatening to commitsuicide before being talked down). Therefore, he returned to his original hometown ofSeattle, where his fatherMartin (John Mahoney) and younger brotherNiles (David Hyde Pierce) live, to have a fresh start.

Frasier works for the radio stationKACL as the host of hispsychotherapeutic radio show,The Dr. Frasier Crane Show, produced by his producer and friend,Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin), who has many ex-boyfriends. Later, his father Martin, a retiredSeattle Police Department detective who was shot in the line of duty, ends up moving in with him. Frasier is worried about his father in his current state as he can barely walk, and requires a cane to move. InCheers, Frasier had said that his father was dead and had been ascientist. He also says that he is an only child.^[21] This inconsistency is later explained in "The Show Where Sam Shows Up": At Frasier's apartment,Sam Malone (Ted Danson) tells Martin and Niles what Frasier had said about them, and Frasier explains that he was trying to distance himself from his family at the time. He confirms in "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" (1988) that his motherHester, portrayed byNancy Marchand in "Diane Meets Mom" (1984) and then byRita Wilson in flashbacks in "Mamma Mia" (1999) and "Don Juan in Hell: Part 2" (2001), is dead off-screen.

Frasier hires a live-inphysical therapist,Daphne Moon (Jane Leeves), to care for Martin. Daphne is an eccentric,working classEnglishwoman who professes to be "a bitpsychic". Moreover, Martin brings his belovedJack Russell Terrier, Eddie, whom Frasier is uncomfortable around. After some initial hostility, Frasier grows very close to his new family.

During the spin-off's run, especially in scenes at Frasier's apartment, Frasier and Martin regularly fight over the living arrangements and each other's personalities: Frasier is intellectual, elitist, and mild-mannered, while Martin is a rugged man of simple tastes who speaks (according to Frasier) in words that no "sophisticated, educated" person could understand.^[15] While Frasier has many common interests with Niles and shares adventures (or misadventures) with him, he has little in common with his father, Martin.

In "Dinner at Eight" (1993), Martin takes Frasier and Niles to a themedsteakhouse, where health-conscious Frasier and Niles criticize the food, the restaurant's customs, and the clientele. Martin becomes frustrated and angry before leaving, remarking upon departing that their mother, Hester, would be disappointed with their behavior. Frasier and Niles try to prove that they are not "snobs" by finishing their meal, although it takes them until after closing time. Ironically, in theCheers season seven episode "I Kid You Not" (1988), Frasier invites Carla and her son Ludlow to afine dining restaurant, but Carla and Ludlow criticize and mock it, enraging Frasier.

In "Chess Pains" (1996), Frasier teaches Martin how to playchess, but is horrified when Martin becomes a better player than him, due to Martin's seasoned insight as apolicedetective. Frasier becomes obsessed with winning against his father until Frasier wins one match and Martin does not want to play with Frasier anymore. One late night, Frasier wakes Martin up and asks him whether he lost the chess match on purpose. Martin responds that Frasier "won, fair and square" and nothing more. In theCheers season five episode "Spellbound" (1987), dimwittedWoody Boyd consistently beats Frasier in chess, frustrating Frasier.

In an episode of the seventh season "A Tsar Is Born" (1999), Martin takes an old family clock, which Frasier and Niles consider ugly, to exhibit on the television showAntiques Roadshow. As the boys soon discover, the clock is related to their ancestors and royalty, and may be worth a fortune, and heightens their expectations of being descended from royalty. Unfortunately, when they try to sell the clock later, the brothers learn from an antique specialist that it was stolen from the daughter ofTsar Alexander II. Moreover, their great-great-grandmother was discovered to have been the clock thief and the daughter'sscullery maid and is discovered to have later been aprostitute inNew York City. Therefore, the brothers are left without a fortune, a clock, and their royal dreams are destroyed, as Frasier puts it, they are descended from "thieves and whores". Much to their anger, Martin buys aWinnebago RV with money Frasier claimed was the proceeds from selling the clock.

ActressBebe Neuwirth leftCheers for fear of becoming typecast and to doBroadway; she did not expect to appear recurrently onFrasier.^[22]Cheers andFrasier writersKen Levine andDavid Isaacs found the chemistry between Frasier and Lilith "special" enough to compare them withKatharine Hepburn andSpencer Tracy onProzac.^[23] In "The Show Where Lilith Comes Back" (1994), Lilith surprises Frasier by dialing into the radio show. They later make love in a hotel room but end up regretting it, prompting them to part ways again. They decide to remain friends and help each other co-parent their son, Frederick (Trevor Einhorn),^[24] who also appears occasionally in this spin-off. In "Adventures in Paradise, Part Two" (1994), Lilith gets engaged to her fiancé Brian (James Morrison), much to Frasier's chagrin. In "A Lilith Thanksgiving" (1996), Frasier and Lilith have Frederick admitted to a private school after they annoy the administrator (Paxton Whitehead) several times onThanksgiving. In "The Unnatural" (1997), Frasier is proven unathletic and bad atsoftball, which he reluctantly admits to Frederick. Then Frasier tells him that, when Frasier was a third-grade elementary student, Martin was bad atmath.

In "Room Service" (1998), Lilith is recently divorced from her husband Brian for hisgay affair. Frasier attempts to renew the relationship but changes his mind when he finds out, to his horror, that Lilith and Niles had a drunken one-night stand. Lilith last appears in "Guns 'N Neuroses" (2003), in which she and Frasier are accidentally set up to go on a blind date. Lilith and Frasier are close to restarting a relationship in the hotel room, but they are interrupted by a loud argument between a young married couple next door. Frasier and Lilith can resolve the couple's dispute, spend the night together watching television, and finally fall asleep on the couch without having had sex. The next morning, they part ways with a tender final onscreen moment together.

Except forRebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley), all the surviving main cast members ofCheers appear in the show at various points. In "The Show Where Sam Shows Up" (1995), Sam Malone reunites with Frasier in Seattle. Later, Frasier is discovered to have slept with Sam's fiancée Sheila (Téa Leoni), but Sam has not discovered the affair, much to Frasier's relief. Nevertheless, Sam finds out her dalliances withPaul Krapence (Paul Willson) andCliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger). Though Sam isn't initially angry when told of her infidelity with Paul when Sheila reveals she slept with Cliff (something that shocked and horrified both Sam and Frasier), it leads to him ending the romantic relationship. In "The Show Where Diane Comes Back" (1996), Frasier is reunited withDiane Chambers and learns that due to an accident with her andDr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (Jane Seymour), much of her personal life had been turned upside down and the financial backers for her upcoming play rescinded their support, prompting him to support it instead. The play turns out to be based on their relationship in Boston, including her leaving him at the altar. Frasier angrily confronts her about it, but they end up reconciling.

In "The Show Where Woody Shows Up" (1999),Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson), still married to Kelly with his son and daughter, accidentally reunites with Frasier after landing in the wrong destination, Seattle. However, they realize that they are no longer friends, as their lives are too different. Nevertheless, they admit that they had good times together in Boston, and they will always think about each other. In "Cheerful Goodbyes" (2002), Frasier arrives in Boston for a psychiatric conference. At the airport, Frasier unexpectedly bumps intoCliff Clavin and is invited to Cliff's retirement party the following evening, where he is reunited withCarla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman) and then brieflyNorm Peterson (George Wendt). Later, Cliff confides in Frasier that he fears that his friends will not miss him. Frasier tells everyone to say a nice farewell to Cliff; even Carla, who hates him. Moved, Cliff decides to stay inBoston, much to Carla's annoyance.

In "Caught in the Act" (2004), Frasier's ex-wife Nanette Guzman (Laurie Metcalf), tries to rekindle their relationship, but Frasier refuses. (The character was previously portrayed byEmma Thompson inCheers episode "One Hugs, the Other Doesn't" (1992) and byDina Spybey in "Don Juan in Hell, Part 2" (2001) as part of Frasier's imaginary dream.) Later, he falls in love with Charlotte Connor (Laura Linney), but the romance turns out to be short-lived when she moves toChicago. In the 2004 two-part series finale, "Goodnight, Seattle", Frasier is offered a job as the host of his television talk show, located inSan Francisco, and has decided to accept the job. However, in the final scene of the show, it is revealed that Frasier has boarded a plane to Chicago, implying he will be with Charlotte.

In the revival series, Frasier again returns to Boston, coming from Martin's funeral. Off-screen, Frasier has since been disillusioned with^[25] and then quit his eponymous television talk show in Chicago, and his relationship with Charlotte has ended as well. He tries to reconnect with his son Frederick (nowJack Cutmore-Scott), nicknamed Freddy, who has dropped out of Harvard and then become a firefighter. Frasier becomes recruited by Harvard's psychology department as a psychology professor, especially to prove himself as a serious psychiatrist rather than a mere showman.^[26][25] He also buys Freddy's apartment building, and has Freddy move in with him in his new apartment across the hall from Freddy's old apartment.^[26]

Kelsey Grammer has made several appearances as Dr. Frasier Crane outside ofCheers andFrasier.

• Mickey's 60th Birthday (1988)
• Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color Season 34, Episode 15, "Disneyland's 35th Anniversary Celebration" (1990)
• The Earth Day Special (1990)
• Wings Season 3, Episode 16, "Planes, Trains and Visiting Cranes" (1992)
• The John Larroquette Show Season 3, Episode 1, "More Changes" (1995)^{[note 2]}
• Dr Pepper TV Commercial (2008)

An animated version of the character appears inThe Simpsons episode "Fear of Flying", although Grammer, who voicesSideshow Bob on the show, does not voice the character of Frasier.

Frasier Crane is a licensedpsychiatrist who is, as Kelsey Grammer described, "flawed, silly, pompous, and full of himself, [yet] kind [and] vulnerable."^[27] Judy Berman fromFlavor Wire describes him as also "achild prodigy, theater geek, and frequent target forbullies."^[28] According toCheers andFrasier writerPeter Casey, Frasier is "very complicated, very intelligent, but also very insecure"; he may have solutions to such problems as a psychiatrist but is clueless about himself.^[19]

At the timeCheers originally aired, Rick Sherwood fromLos Angeles disdained Frasier Crane and his existence as part of the "Sam and Diane" dynamic.^[29] Sherwood found Frasier's frequent appearances in the bar setting ("his [former] girlfriend's former lover's bar") responsible for turningCheers into "as believable as [conservative]Archie Bunker [fromAll in the Family] voting for aliberalDemocrat."^[29] According to a 1993 telephone survey before theFrasier premiere and theCheers finale,Sam Malone (Ted Danson) scored 26 percent as a favorite character, and Frasier Crane scored 1 percent.^[30][31] In response to the question of spinning off a character, 15 percent voted Sam, 12 percent votedWoody Boyd (Woody Harrelson), 10 percent votedNorm Peterson (George Wendt), and 29 percent voted no spin-offs.^[31] Frasier Crane, whose own spin-offFrasier debuted in September 1993, was voted by 2 percent to have his own show.^[32]

Later, while the character became more prominent in the series, inspiring a spin-offFrasier, in a 1999 bookWriting and Responsibility, Beverly West and Jason Bergund noted that Frasier's father Martin was supposed to be dead inCheers but turns out still alive inFrasier, calling it inconsistent with "a bout of amnesia[,] poor scriptwriting", or desperation to elicit more laughter.^[21] (In "The Show Where Sam Shows Up" [1995], Frasier addresses the inconsistency by explaining that he told his friends Martin was dead after an argument with him.) In another bookTV Therapy, Frasier Crane inCheers is considered "high-strung [and] pseudo-sophisticated" and an attraction to 1980s demographics of "anti-intellectual snobbery",^[33] but Frasier inFrasier is considered a good, positive role model for intellectuality and sophistication.^[34] In 2004, he was ranked byBravo No. 26 ofBravo's The 100 Greatest TV Characters of all-time.^[35][36] In 2009, theNational Lampoon website ranked him No. 20 of "Top 20 Sitcom Characters You'd Kill in Real Life" and called him "hilarious" in the fictional world and "unbearable" in the real world.^[37]

Robert Bianco fromUSA Today considered Frasier Crane masculine in the days of "Fred Astaire andWilliam Powell" instead of recent "beer-belching" days of the reality show,Survivor. Bianco found the series of Frasier's love life repetitive and "tiring".^[38]Gillian Flynn fromEntertainment Weekly considered Frasier Crane's "diction" an inspiration ofFringe'sWalter Bishop (John Noble), who has an addition of "daffiness" of roles portrayed by actorChristopher Lloyd.^[39] Joe Sixpack, apseudonymous name for writer Don Russell, called Frasier an "insufferable twerp".^[40] An internet user fromKen Levine's blog considered Frasier a successor to more prestigious, experienced Bostonian medical doctor and surgeonCharles Winchester (David Ogden Stiers) from the television seriesM*A*S*H. However, Levine did not consider the comparison when Frasier was introduced inCheers in 1984.^[41] (Coincidentally, in theFrasier episode "Fathers and Son" (2003), actor Stiers, portrayer of Winchester, appears as Hester Crane's former lab assistant Leland Barton, who is suspected as Frasier and Niles' biological father.)Television Without Pity called Frasier "snooty and pretentious", even if he may be "smart" on television and a "rare" species of all characters.^[42] Steve Silverman fromScreen Junkies praised Kelsey Grammer's performances as Frasier Crane but found them "predictable". Silverman thought that Grammer did not deserve an Emmy, especially in 1998. In a note, Silverman deemed the character Frasier as "a windbag with a sense of humor" and "a whining schoolboy with a series of lame excuses."^[43]

Martha Nolan fromThe New York Times called Frasier and Lilith "repressed" when married together inCheers.^[44] Josh Bell fromAbout.com called Frasier and his ex-wife Lilith Sternin one of the "best sitcom divorced couples" of all-time.^[24] Steven H. Scheuer fromSarasota Herald-Tribune considered Lilith's significance to and marriage with Frasier "fun" to watch, especially when, in "Severe Crane Damage" (1990), she uses comparisons between "the duller good boy" Frasier and "the interesting bad boy"Sam Malone as "psychiatric examples of the good boy-bad boy syndrome".^[45] Faye Zuckerman and John Martin fromThe New York Times called their marriage inCheers a hilariously "perfect mismatch".^[46] Television critic Kevin McDonough from New York praised Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth's performances as "repressed individuals" and "separate couple on TV" with "acidic and hilarious" chemistry together.^[47]

For his performance as Frasier Crane inCheers, Kelsey Grammer wasEmmy Award-nominated forOutstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in1988 and1990.^[48][49] For the same role inWings episode "Planes, Trains, and Visiting Cranes", he was nominated forOutstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series at the1992 Emmy Awards.^[48]

For the same role inCheers spin-offFrasier, Grammer was consecutively nominated as anOutstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series during the show's whole run except in2003. He won that Lead category in1994,1995,1998, and2004.^[48] He earned eightGolden Globe Award nominations forBest Performance by an Actor in a Television Series (Musical or Comedy) throughout the series's whole run and won that category in1996 and2001.^[50] Grammer wonAmerican Comedy Awards as the Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (Leading Role) in 1995^[51] and 1996.^[52] Grammer won theScreen Actors Guild Award as part of an ensemble cast ofFrasier in 2000.^[53]

• Bjorklund, Dennis A. (1993).Cheers TV Show: A Comprehensive Reference. Praetorian Publishing.ISBN 9780967985237. RetrievedJanuary 31, 2020 – viaGoogle Books.Another edition
• Brown, Robert S. (2005). "Cheers: Searching for the Ideal Public Sphere in the Ideal Public House".The Sitcom Reader: America Viewed and Skewed.Albany, New York:State University of New York Press. pp. 253–260.ISBN 978-0-7914-6570-7.
• Gates, Anita (April 19, 1998)."TELEVISION: Yes, America Has a Class System. SeeFrasier".The New York Times. RetrievedNovember 3, 2015.
• West, Beverly; Bergund, Jason (2005).TV Therapy: The Television Guide To Life. New York: Bantam Dell, an imprint of Random House, Inc.ISBN 978-0-385-33902-5.

• Detailed Listing of Frasier Crane Locations in Seattle