Entertainment
‘Cheers’ Cast: Where Are They Now? Ted Danson, Rhea Perlman and More
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Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name! The critically acclaimed sitcom Cheers aired from 1982 to 1993, following a group of locals who hung out at a Boston bar of the same name.
“Everything I do is because of the popularity of that show,” Ted Danson said of the series during a September 2022 interview with Entertainment Tonight. “It still makes me laugh when I watch sometimes. It’s funny and it’s great to see my friends and they make me laugh.”
Danson played the bar’s owner and head bartender, Sam Malone, a former Boston Red Sox relief pitcher. For the first five seasons, his character had an on-again, off-again relationship with Diane Chambers (Shelley Long). During one of their off periods, Diane dated psychiatrist and bar regular Frasier Cane (Kelsey Grammer). Sam, for his part, pursued savvy businesswoman Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) after Long left the show during season 5.
Despite her early exit, Long returned for the series finale.
“It was a dream to have Diane come back. To have the show end the right way, you kind of needed to get some closure on that relationship,” Cheers co-executive producer Rob Long told Variety in May 2018. “I think it was one of those things where people thought, ‘Well, the only thing we can do is ask.’ You can’t get a ‘yes’ until you ask a question. But she was an incredible trooper about it.”
Series writer Ken Levine added: “Of course, there’s the debate that’s still raging as to whether or not Sam and Diane should’ve gotten together at the end or not. I know there were a lot of people that were disappointed and were just kind of hoping for that fairytale ending of Sam and Diane riding off into the sunset happily ever after, but the decision was ultimately made for them to be apart, and I have to say that I agree with that decision.”
Despite the lead characters’ undeniable chemistry, Cheers was first and foremost an ensemble show. Nicholas Colasanto, Rhea Perlman and George Wendt rounded out the original main cast as “Coach” Ernie Pantusso, Carla Tortelli and Norm Peterson, respectively.
The show’s co-creators, brothers Les Charles and Glen Charles, thought a bar was the perfect setting to explore human nature.
“A bar is a place where everything that happens in life can end up. You go to celebrate, drown your sorrows, meet and fall in love, break up. It’s an interesting spot for human dynamics,” Les told The Hollywood Reporter in May 2018.
Scroll through to see what the cast of Cheers is doing now:
Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name! The critically acclaimed sitcom Cheers aired from 1982 to 1993, following a group of locals who hung out at a Boston bar of the same name.
“Everything I do is because of the popularity of that show,” Ted Danson said of the series during a September 2022 interview with Entertainment Tonight. “It still makes me laugh when I watch sometimes. It’s funny and it’s great to see my friends and they make me laugh.”
Danson played the bar’s owner and head bartender, Sam Malone, a former Boston Red Sox relief pitcher. For the first five seasons, his character had an on-again, off-again relationship with Diane Chambers (Shelley Long). During one of their off periods, Diane dated psychiatrist and bar regular Frasier Cane (Kelsey Grammer). Sam, for his part, pursued savvy businesswoman Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) after Long left the show during season 5.
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Despite her early exit, Long returned for the series finale.
“It was a dream to have Diane come back. To have the show end the right way, you kind of needed to get some closure on that relationship,” Cheers co-executive producer Rob Long told Variety in May 2018. “I think it was one of those things where people thought, ‘Well, the only thing we can do is ask.’ You can’t get a ‘yes’ until you ask a question. But she was an incredible trooper about it.”
Series writer Ken Levine added: “Of course, there’s the debate that’s still raging as to whether or not Sam and Diane should’ve gotten together at the end or not. I know there were a lot of people that were disappointed and were just kind of hoping for that fairytale ending of Sam and Diane riding off into the sunset happily ever after, but the decision was ultimately made for them to be apart, and I have to say that I agree with that decision.”
Despite the lead characters’ undeniable chemistry, Cheers was first and foremost an ensemble show. Nicholas Colasanto, Rhea Perlman and George Wendt rounded out the original main cast as “Coach” Ernie Pantusso, Carla Tortelli and Norm Peterson, respectively.
The show’s co-creators, brothers Les Charles and Glen Charles, thought a bar was the perfect setting to explore human nature.
“A bar is a place where everything that happens in life can end up. You go to celebrate, drown your sorrows, meet and fall in love, break up. It’s an interesting spot for human dynamics,” Les told The Hollywood Reporter in May 2018.
Scroll through to see what the cast of Cheers is doing now:
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Ted Danson — Sam Malone
The California native went on to star in the CBS series Becker (1998-2004), the legal drama Damages (2007-2010) and the NBC sitcoms The Good Place (2016 to 2022) and Mr. Mayor (2021-2022).
He has been married to Mary Steenburgen since 1995. He shares daughters Kate and Alexis with ex-wife Casey Coates.
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Shelley Long — Diane Chambers
After leaving Cheers in 1987, Shelley appeared in films including Troop Beverly Hills (1989), The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) and Dr. T. & the Women (2000). She reprised her role as Diane Chambers in the series finale of Cheers and in three episodes of the spinoff Frasier.
The Indiana native also had a recurring role on Modern Family from 2009 to 2018. She shares daughter Juliana with ex-husband Bruce Tyson.
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Rhea Perlman — Carla Tortelli
After her portrayal of wise-cracking head waitress Carla won her four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress, Perlman went on to do films including Matilda (1996), The Sessions (2012) and Poms (2019). She had a recurring role on The Mindy Project from 2014 to 2017.
The New York native shares three children with Danny DeVito: Lucy, Grace and Jake who were born in 1983, 1985, and 1987, respectively. The two actors separated in 2017 after more than three decades of marriage.
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George Wendt — Norm Peterson
Wendt went on to do films including Gung Ho (1986), Forever Young (1992) and Lakeboat (2000). He shares three children with his wife, Bernadette Burkett: Hilary, Joe and Daniel.
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Nicholas Colasanto — ‘Coach’ Ernie Pantusso
The Rhode Island native died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 61. A memorial service held in Los Angeles was attended by the full staff and cast of Cheers. The show’s season 4 premiere episode deals with his character’s death and introduced his successor, Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson).
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Kirstie Alley — Rebecca Howe
Alley joined the cast in season 6 and remained on the show until its finale. She went on to do films including Look Who’s Talking (1989) and its subsequent sequels, Look Who’s Talking Too (1990) and Look Who’s Talking Again (1993), Village of the Damned (1995) and Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999). In 2016, she appeared on the Fox comedy horror series Scream Queens.
The Kansas native died at age 71 after a short battle with colon cancer. She is survived by her two children, William and Lillie, whom she adopted with ex-husband Parker Stevenson.
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Kelsey Grammer — Frasier Cane
The Juilliard alum went on to star on the Cheers spinoff Frasier from 1993 to 2004, winning four Emmy awards and two Golden Globe awards for his work on the series. His film roles include X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Swing Vote (2008) and Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014).
Grammar shares daughter Spencer with ex-wife Doreen Alderman, daughter Greer with ex-girlfriend Barrie Buckner, daughter Mason and son Jude with ex-wife Camille Meyer and daughter Faith and sons Kelsey and Auden with wife Kayte Walsh.
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Woody Harrelson — Woody Boyd
Harrelson joined the cast of the NBC sitcom in 1985. After the series finale, he went on to star in critically acclaimed films including The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), The Messenger (2009) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017). The Texas native also received an Emmy award nomination for his role in the crime anthology series True Detective (2014).
The Hunger Games actor has been married to Laura Louie since 2008. The duo share three daughters: Zoe, Deni and Makani.
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John Ratzenberger — Cliff Clavin
After playing a trivia-whiz mail carrier on Cheers, Ratzenberger voiced various characters in Pixar movies including the Abominable Snowman in Monsters, Inc., (2001), The Underminer in The Incredibles (2004) and Mack in Cars (2006). He shares daughter Nina and son James with ex-wife Georgia Stiny.
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Bebe Neuwirth
The New Jersey native played Frasier’s wife on the beloved sitcom and its spinoff. She went on to portray Nora Shepherd in the original Jumanji (1995) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). From 2014 to 2017, she starred in the CBS political drama Madam Secretary.
She has been married to Chris Calkins since 2009.
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Sara Donnellan
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