Frasier Actors You May Not Know Passed Away
The cast of "Frasier" is what made it one of the greatest sitcoms of all time. Sadly, some of the people who provided the laughs are no longer with us.
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00:00The cast of Frasier is what made it one of the greatest sitcoms of all time. Sadly, some
00:05of the people who provided the laughs are no longer with us.
00:09While René Aubergineau enjoyed a long and successful career as a character actor starting
00:14in the mid-'60s, he's best remembered as the shapeshifting alien security chief Odo on
00:19Star Trek Deep Space Nine. A couple of years after DS9 ended, Aubergineau made two appearances
00:24on Frasier as the lead character's Harvard mentor, Dr. William Tewksbury. Tewksbury is
00:29introduced in Season 8's Frasier's Edge when Frasier is honored with a Lifetime Achievement
00:34Award. Dr. Tewksbury sends Frasier a congratulatory bouquet of flowers with an innocent note that
00:40Frasier takes for an insult, triggering him to confront his old professor. Later that
00:44season, in The Wizard and Roz, Frasier is shocked when his producer, Roz, begins dating
00:49Tewksbury. Aubergineau never stopped working, and along with his spot on Frasier, he played
00:53many more memorable roles before his passing.
00:56The actor died of metastatic lung cancer in 2019. He was 79 years old.
01:02One of the foundations of Marty's character is his time with the Seattle P.D. Throughout
01:06the series, we get to see him with his old friends from the Force, and that's where the
01:10late Bill Gratton comes in. Gratton plays one of Marty's more vocal old buddies, Leo.
01:15He first shows up in Season 2's Duke's We Hardly Knew Ye, hanging with Marty and company
01:19in their favorite bar.
01:20He's part of the entourage later that season in Retirement is Murder, congratulating Marty
01:27on solving a cold case from before his retirement. His final Frasier appearance is in Season
01:315's Where Every Bloke Knows Your Name, playing cards and seriously bumming Roz out about
01:36the prospect of her daughter growing up.
01:39While Gratton was never a leading man in Hollywood, he scored numerous one-offs and recurring
01:43roles over the years in popular shows like Cheers, ER, and The Practice. One of his most
01:48visible roles was as Earl the Plumber in The Green Mile, where he famously complains
01:52about having to wear a tie in prison before watching a performance by an inmate's pet
01:56mouse. Tragically, Gratton passed away in 2011 after a long illness at the age of 71.
02:02John LaMotta only had a couple of appearances on Frasier, but he was a fairly important
02:06figure in Marty Crane's life. LaMotta plays Duke, the owner and bartender of the establishment
02:11named after him. As for the owner himself, we first find Duke tending the bar in Season
02:162's Duke's We Hardly Knew Ye, when Niles' order of Sherry doesn't impress Duke very
02:20much, regardless of whose son Niles is. He shows up again in Season 5's Where Every Bloke
02:25Knows Your Name, playing cards with Marty and his other friends.
02:29Along with playing Sergeant Ronaldo in the 1985 martial arts action flick American Ninja,
02:34LaMotta's most visible role was on the hit sitcom ALF. LaMotta passed away in Los Angeles
02:38in 2014 at the age of 75.
02:42In Frasier's seventh season, The Three Faces of Frasier grants Dr. Crane a distinct honor.
02:47At one of Seattle's most prestigious restaurants, Frasier is given his own portrait. Unfortunately,
02:52the recreation of Frasier includes a humongous forehead, something the psychiatrist has a
02:56difficult time letting go of.
02:58The owner of the restaurant who unveils the offending caricature is one of the most celebrated
03:02actors to ever appear on Frasier. Stefano is played by the late Oscar-nominated actor
03:07Robert Loja.
03:08Son of a gun, get out of here! I don't ever come back!"
03:12Loja enjoyed a long career as a character actor beginning in 1951 and earned a long
03:16list of impressive credits during his time in Hollywood. He earned a reputation for playing
03:20gruff bad guys, and some of the roles he's most known for were members of organized crime,
03:25like Frank Lopez in the classic crime drama Scarface and the rebellious Feech in Season
03:305 of The Sopranos.
03:31On the other side of the spectrum, he's remembered fondly as the toy company owner McMillan in
03:35the comedy film Big. After battling Alzheimer's for five years, Loja died in 2015 at the age
03:41of 85.
03:43Together, Jack Sido and Rosemary Murphy appear twice on Frasier as the Larkins. The married
03:48couple Niles is initially desperate to impress when he gets a new apartment in Season 4's
03:52To Kill a Talking Bird. Unfortunately, Niles' newly acquired white bird that refuses to
03:57leave his head puts a damper on their get-together, in spite of Frasier's best efforts to cover
04:01for his brother.
04:03The pair appear again in Season 6's Taps at the Montana, where Niles' failure to impress
04:07his neighbors inspires the condo board to rescind his lease.
04:11Murphy may very well have been cast in To Kill a Talking Bird as a nod to her most well-known
04:16role. In 1962, she appeared as Maudie Atkinson in the acclaimed film adaptation To Kill a
04:22Mockingbird. Murphy worked steadily from the late 40s until 2010, when she made her final
04:26on-screen appearance in the rom-com The Romantics. She was 89 when she passed from cancer in
04:312014.
04:33While Saito's list of movie and TV credits are few and far between, he was a celebrated
04:37stage actor and director on and off Broadway. Saito passed away in 2010 at the age of 88.
04:43I've got needle and thread. You don't want to lose it, do you?
04:47I'm trying not to.
04:48In Season 6 of Frasier, the late Alice Playton plays the role of Marty's new love interest,
04:53Bonnie. Frasier tries to set his father up with Roz's mother, Joanna, but Marty has his
04:57eye on Bonnie instead. However, he breaks things off in the two-part season finale,
05:02Shut Out in Seattle, after Bonnie's dog has a rendezvous with Marty's dog, Eddie, in the
05:07park, which Marty finds humiliating.
05:09Known for her high, somewhat childlike voice, Playton was a prolific voice actor. In both
05:14incarnations of the 90s animated series Doug, for example, she played multiple roles, most
05:18memorably the purple-skinned redhead Bebe Bluff. She had roles in movies like the rom-com
05:24IQ and as the evil goblin Blix in the 1985 fantasy film Legend. Playton passed away in
05:302011 at the age of 63 after a lifetime of dealing with juvenile diabetes and complications
05:36from pancreatic cancer.
05:38One common sitcom trope that often finds a home on Frasier is one where the main character
05:43finds what seems like the ideal romantic partner, except for one unavoidable flaw. For example,
05:48in one of Frasier's cringier moments, the titular shrink is on Cloud 9 with his new
05:52girlfriend Mia in the Season 7 premiere Mama Mia, until he realizes she's the spitting
05:57image of his late mother.
05:58Likewise, in Season 10's Trophy Girlfriend, things are going well with Frasier's new partner
06:03Chelsea, but their romance takes a bizarre turn when Chelsea's job as a gym teacher inspires
06:08painful flashbacks for Frasier of the abusive, cigar-chomping Coach Fuller, played by the
06:13late Bob Hoskins.
06:14To American audiences, Hoskins is likely most remembered as private eye Eddie Valiant from
06:191988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit or as Mario in the Super Mario Bros. live-action film
06:24adaptation. But across the pond, Hoskins was a regular, critically acclaimed feature on
06:28the big screen and the small one, appearing in BBC series and British films like the 1980
06:33gangster drama The Long Good Friday. Hoskins died in April 2014 after a bout with pneumonia.
06:39He was 71 years old.
06:41KACL is the professional home to many eccentric characters and unusual programs in Frasier.
06:47Among the station's talent is a woman often mentioned but rarely seen. Tootie the Story
06:52Lady comes up a lot in Frasier, but we don't meet her until halfway through the series,
06:56when the station changes formats, throwing all of its on-air talent into crisis. Tootie
07:00is portrayed by the late Marcia Kramer. Most of Kramer's TV credits were for small recurring
07:05roles or one-offs in series like New Heart, Cheers, and Touched by an Angel. She was also
07:10a theater actress who shared the stage with Sandy Duncan during the 1979 Broadway production
07:15of Peter Pan.
07:16Her last on-screen performance proved to be one of her most visible. On the hit sitcom
07:20Modern Family, Kramer played the recurring role of Jay's assistant, Margaret. Kramer
07:25passed away at the age of 74 in January 2020. Modern Family director Jeff Greenberg tweeted
07:31a sweet tribute to Kramer, writing,
07:33"...she was so delightful in the 14 episodes she shot as Margaret on Modern Family over
07:37the last seven years, but I'll always remember her soaring aloft as Wendy to Sandy Duncan's
07:42Peter Pan."
07:44"...this world would be a happier place if everybody had remembered two little words.
07:48People stink."
07:49On the surface, the late John Mahoney's Marty Crane has little in common with his sons.
07:53He doesn't have their long lists of degrees, he couldn't care less about the Seattle elite
07:58that Frazier and Niles are always bending over backward to impress, and he's a lot less
08:02careful about what he says or how he says it. But Frazier wouldn't have been the same
08:06without him. As different as he may be from his sons, his love for them is clear, and
08:11back and forth is priceless.
08:13Mahoney began his acting career later in life, not studying the art until he was 37.
08:18While he made the choice later, it was a good choice regardless. He would go on to make
08:22big splashes not only in Frazier, but in memorable films like the rom-com Moonstruck, the Coen
08:27Brothers film Barton Fink, and the 1996 legal thriller Primal Fear.
08:32Mahoney passed away in February 2018 of multiple health complications, including lung cancer
08:37and brain disease. He was 77. His passing was accompanied by many touching online tributes,
08:43not only from Frazier co-stars and crew, but other famous actors whose love and respect
08:47Mahoney had earned over the years. Perhaps the simplest and most heartbreaking words
08:52came from Kelsey Grammer, who tweeted a picture of him hugging Mahoney along with the words,
08:56"'He was my father. I loved him.'"
08:59There were a lot more stars appearing on Frazier than you may realize. Of course, some of the
09:03biggest names on the series weren't there in person, but instead, they showed up as
09:07the troubled callers on Frazier's radio show. Sadly, there are a number of these incognito
09:12guests who are no longer with us.
09:14One example comes very early in the series, in the second episode, Space Quest. Frazier
09:18receives a call from a man named Leonard who's afraid to leave his home. The undiagnosed
09:22agoraphobe is voiced by the late Christopher Reeve, who's remembered fondly for his film
09:27role as Superman in four movies.
09:29Later in the season, it isn't an actor but the late counterculture psychologist and writer
09:33Timothy Leary, who's the first voice you hear in the show Where Lilith Comes Back. Leary
09:38played Hank, a caller concerned with his overeating.
09:41The late sitcom star Mary Tyler Moore plays a caller named Marjorie in the first season's
09:46penultimate episode, Frazier Crane's Day Off. She has the bad luck of calling when a sick,
09:50over-medicated Frazier has taken his show back too early from his brother Niles. Marjorie's
09:54conversation about her issues with her boss is cut off when security comes to take Frazier
09:59away.
10:00Who could forget Marty's best friend, Eddie? When Marty moves in, the adorable Jack Russell
10:04Terrier is perhaps the only thing Frazier likes less than his father's recliner, and
10:09Eddie responds to his new living arrangements by giving him long, hard stares.
10:13Eddie provided plenty of laughs on the show, and for most of the series, he was played
10:16by a dog named Moose. Kelsey Grammer even jokingly credited the dog for the series'
10:21success while accepting his 1994 Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Comedy, saying,
10:26Most important, Moose, this is for you.
10:28Part of Moose's charm was a mischievous nature, and according to his trainer, that's exactly
10:33what got him in showbiz in the first place. Reportedly, Moose was driving his original
10:36owners even more nuts than Moose ever did to Frazier. He was given to Birds and Animals
10:41Unlimited, a company specializing in training animals for entertainment, and eventually
10:45to the trainer.
10:46Sadly, Moose crossed the Rainbow Bridge at the age of 16. We hope there was an old recliner
10:51waiting for him, and maybe a warm lap.
10:56For more stories, visit nyseagrant.org