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.
While Rene Auberjonois enjoyed a long and successful career as a character actor
starting in the mid-'60s, he's best remembered as the shapeshifting alien security chief Odo
on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." A couple of years after "DS9" ended, Aubjeronois
made two appearances on "Frasier" as the lead character's Harvard mentor, Dr. William Tewksbury.
Tewksbury is introduced in Season 8's "Frasier's Edge," when Frasier
is honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Tewksbury sends Frasier a congratulatory
bouquet of flowers with an innocent note that Frasier takes for an insult,
triggering him to confront his old professor. Later that season,
in "The Wizard and Roz," Frasier is shocked when his producer, Roz, begins dating Tewksbury.
Auberjonois never stopped working,
and along with his spot on "Frasier," he played many more memorable roles before
his passing. The actor died of metastatic lung cancer in 2019. He was 79 years old.
One of the foundations of Marty's character is his time with the Seattle PD. Throughout the series,
we get to see him with his old friends from the force, and that's where the late Bill Gratton
comes in. Gratton plays one of Marty's more vocal old buddies, Leo. He first shows up in
Season 2's "Duke's, We Hardly Knew Ye," hanging with Marty and company in their favorite bar.
"Oh, boy!"
He's part of the entourage later that season in "Retirement Is Murder," congratulating
Marty on solving a cold case from before his retirement. His final "Frasier" appearance
is in Season 5's "Where Every Bloke Knows Your Name," playing cards and
seriously bumming Roz out about the prospect of her daughter growing up.
While Gratton was never a leading man in Hollywood, he scored numerous one-offs
and recurring roles over the years in popular shows like "Cheers," "ER," and "The Practice."
One of his most visible roles was as Earl the plumber in "The Green Mile," where he famously
complains about having to wear a tie in prison before watching a performance by an inmate's
pet mouse. Tragically, Gratton passed away in 2011 after a long illness at the age of 71.
John LaMotta only had a couple of appearances on "Frasier," but he was a fairly important figure
in Marty Crane's life. LaMotta plays Duke, the owner and bartender of the establishment named
after him. As for the owner himself, we first find Duke tending the bar in Season 2's "Duke's,
We Hardly Knew Ye," when Niles' order of sherry doesn't impress Duke very much,
regardless of whose son Niles is. He shows up again in Season 5's "Where
Every Bloke Knows Your Name," playing cards with Marty and his other friends.
Along with playing Sergeant Rinaldo in the 1985 martial arts action flick
"American Ninja," LaMotta's most visible role was on the hit sitcom
"ALF." LaMotta passed away in Los Angeles in 2014 at the age of 75.
In Frasier's seventh season, "The Three Faces of Frasier" grants Dr. Crane a distinct honor.
At one of Seattle's most prestigious restaurants, Frasier is given his own
portrait. Unfortunately, the recreation of Frasier includes a humongous forehead,
something the psychiatrist has a difficult time letting go of. The owner of the restaurant who
unveils the offending caricature is one of the most celebrated actors to ever appear
on "Frasier." Stefano is played by the late Oscar-nominated actor Robert Loggia.
"Son of a gun, get outta here and never come back."
Loggia enjoyed a long career as a character actor beginning in 1951 and earned a long list of
impressive credits during his time in Hollywood. He earned a reputation for playing gruff bad guys,
and some of the roles he's most known for were members of organized crime, like Frank Lopez
in the classic crime drama "Scarface" and the rebellious Feech in Season 5 of "The Sopranos."
On the other side of the spectrum, he's remembered fondly as the toy company owner MacMillan in the
comedy film "Big." After battling Alzheimer's for five years, Loggia died in 2015 at the age of 85.
Together, Jack Sydow and Rosemary Murphy appear twice on "Frasier" as the Larkins,
the married couple Niles is initially desperate to impress when he gets a new
apartment in Season 4's "To Kill a Talking Bird." Unfortunately, Niles' newly acquired white bird
that refuses to leave his head puts a damper on their get-together, in spite of Frasier's
best efforts to cover for his brother. The pair appear again in Season 6's "Taps at the Montana,"
where Niles' failure to impress his neighbors inspires the condo board to rescind his lease.
Murphy may very well have been cast in "To Kill a Talking Bird" as a nod to her most well-known
role. In 1962, she appeared as Maudie Atkinson in the acclaimed film adaptation "To Kill A
Mockingbird." Murphy worked steadily from the late '40s until 2010, when she made her final on-screen
appearance in the rom-com "The Romantics." She was 89 when she passed from cancer in 2014.
While Sydow's list of movie and TV credits are few and far between, he was a celebrated
stage actor and director on and off Broadway. Sydow passed away in 2010 at the age of 88.
"I got needle and thread. You don't want to lose it, do you? I'm trying not to."
In Season 6 of "Frasier," the late Alice Playten plays the role of Marty's new love interest,
Bonnie. Frasier tries to set his father up with Roz's mother, Joanna,
but Marty has his eye on Bonnie instead. However,
he breaks things off in the two-part season finale "Shutout in Seattle" after Bonnie's
dog has a rendezvous with Marty's dog, Eddie, in the park, which Marty finds humiliating.
Known for her high, somewhat childlike voice, Playten was a prolific voice actor.
In both incarnations of the '90s animated series "Doug," for example, she played multiple roles,
most memorably the purple-skinned redhead Beebe Bluff. She had roles in movies like
the rom-com "I.Q." and as the evil goblin Blix in the 1985 fantasy film "Legend."
Playten passed away in 2011 at the age of 63 after a lifetime
of dealing with juvenile diabetes and complications from pancreatic cancer.
One common sitcom trope that often finds a home on "Frasier" is one where the main
character finds what seems like the ideal romantic partner except for one
unavoidable flaw. For example, in one of Frasier's cringier moments,
the titular shrink is on cloud nine with his new girlfriend, Mia, in the Season 7
premiere "Momma Mia" ... until he realizes she's the spitting image of his late mother.
Likewise, in Season 10's "Trophy Girlfriend," things are going well with Frasier's new partner,
Chelsea, but their romance takes a bizarre turn when Chelsea's
job as a gym teacher inspires painful flashbacks for Frasier of the abusive,
cigar-chomping Coach Fuller, played by the late Bob Hoskins.
To American audiences, Hoskins is likely most remembered as private
eye Eddie Valiant from 1988's "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" or as Mario in
the "Super Mario Bros." live-action film adaptation. But across the pond,
Hoskins was a regular, critically acclaimed feature on the big screen and the small one,
appearing in BBC series and British films like the 1980 gangster drama "The Long Good Friday."
Hoskins died in April 2014 after a bout with pneumonia. He was 71 years old.
KACL is the professional home to many eccentric characters and unusual programs
in "Frasier." Among the station's talent is a woman often mentioned
but rarely seen. Tooty the Story Lady comes up a lot in "Frasier," but we
don't meet her until halfway through the series when the station changes formats,
throwing all of its on-air talent into crisis. Tooty is portrayed by the late Marsha Kramer.
Most of Kramer's TV credits were for small recurring roles or one-offs in series like
"Newhart," "Cheers," and "Touched by an Angel." She was also a theater actress
who shared the stage with Sandy Duncan during the 1979 Broadway production of
"Peter Pan." Her last on-screen performance proved to be one of her most visible. On the
hit sitcom "Modern Family," Kramer played the recurring role of Jay's assistant, Margaret.
Kramer passed away at the age of 74 in January 2020. "Modern Family"
director Jeff Greenberg tweeted a sweet tribute to Kramer, writing:
"She was so delightful in the 14 episodes she shot as Margaret on 'Modern Family' over the last
7 years, but I'll always remember her soaring aloft as Wendy to Sandy Duncan's Peter Pan."
"This world would be a better place if people would remember two things: People stink."
On the surface, the late John Mahoney's Marty Crane has little in common with his sons. He
doesn't have their long lists of degrees. He couldn't care less about the Seattle elite that
Frasier and Niles are always bending over backward to impress. And he's a lot less careful about what
he says or how he says it. But Frasier wouldn't have been the same without him. As different as
he may be from his sons, his love for them is clear, and their back and forth is priceless.
Mahoney began his acting career later in life, not studying the art until he was
37. While he made the choice later, it was a good choice regardless. He would go on to
make big splashes not only in "Frasier" but in memorable films like the rom-com "Moonstruck,"
the Coen brothers' film "Barton Fink", and the 1996 legal thriller "Primal Fear."
Mahoney passed away in February 2018 of multiple health complications, including lung cancer
and brain disease. He was 77. His passing was accompanied by many touching online tributes,
not only from "Frasier" co-stars and crew but other famous actors whose love and respect
Mahoney had earned over the years. Perhaps the simplest and most heartbreaking words came from
Kelsey Grammer, who tweeted a picture of him hugging Mahoney along with the words:
"He was my father. I loved him."
There were a lot more stars "appearing" on "Frasier" than you may realize. Of course,
some of the biggest names on the series weren't there in person,
but instead, they showed up as the troubled callers on Frasier's radio show. Sadly,
there are a number of these incognito guests who are no longer with us.
One example comes very early in the series, in the second episode,
"Space Quest." Frasier receives a call from a man named Leonard who's afraid to
leave his home. The undiagnosed agoraphobe is voiced by the late Christopher Reeve,
who's remembered fondly for his film role as Superman in four movies.
Later in the season, it isn't an actor but the late counterculture
psychologist and writer Timothy Leary who's the first voice you hear in "The Show Where
Lilith Comes Back." Leary played Hank, a caller concerned with his overeating.
The late sitcom star Mary Tyler Moore plays a caller named Marjorie in the first season's
penultimate episode, "Frasier Crane's Day Off." She has the bad luck of calling when a sick,
over-medicated Frasier has taken his show back too early from his brother Niles. Marjorie's
conversation about her issues with her boss is cut off when security comes to take Frasier away.
Who could forget Marty's best friend, Eddie? When Marty moves in, the adorable
Jack Russell Terrier is perhaps the only thing Frasier likes less than his father's recliner,
and Eddie responds to his new living arrangements by giving him long,
hard stares. Eddie provided plenty of laughs on the show, and for most of the series,
he was played by a dog named Moose. Kelsey Grammer even jokingly credited the dog for
the series' success while accepting his 1994 Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Comedy, saying,
"Most important, Moose, this is for you."
Part of Moose's charm was a mischievous nature, and according to his trainer that's exactly
what got him in show biz in the first place. Reportedly, Moose was driving his original owners
even more nuts than Moose ever did to Frasier. He was given to Birds and Animals Unlimited,
a company specializing in training animals for entertainment, and eventually to the trainer.
Sadly, Moose crossed the rainbow bridge at the age of 16. We hope there was an
old recliner waiting for him and maybe a warm lap.