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.
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