The father of one of the main cast members. Multiple World War II veterans. A real-life
magician. A lot of actors made their way through the bar where everybody knows your
name over the years, so let's take a closer look at the ones who have sadly passed away.
Harry Anderson is best known as Judge Harry T. Stone on Night Court,
and he also showed up eight times on Saturday Night Live in the 80s.
He made his Cheers debut in the fourth episode of the series, "Sam at Eleven," as Harry "The Hand",
a swindler with a knack for sleight of hand, and he ultimately appeared in six
episodes. It was an appropriate part, as he was also a magician offscreen.
"How'd I do it? Marked cards! Cards are marked on the back, you see."
Anderson's run on Night Court began in 1984 and lasted for nine seasons until 1992. In 2018,
news broke that he had died following a stroke on April 16. He was 65. News of his passing spurred
an outpouring of love and support from his friends and co-stars, with Markie Post, for one, tweeting,
"I am devastated. I’ll talk about you later, Harry, but for now, I’m devastated."
Another Cheers alum who was a series regular on Night Court, Markie Post is probably best known
as defense attorney Christine Sullivan on the latter show. She appeared in only one half-hour
of Cheers, as Diane's oldest pal Heather in Season 2's "Just Three Friends." In the episode,
Sam gets the idea that Heather is hitting on him, which creates a bit of a problem for Diane,
who initially shrugs it off before becoming jealous after Carla eggs her on.
Post also appeared on several other notable shows, including the "30 Rock" episode "The One with the
Cast of Night Court." In an interview with Patch, she talked about that experience, as she noted,
"They built the entire set exactly
so when Harry and I went on, it was weird. We really felt like: welcome to our show."
On August 7, 2021, Post died after a battle with cancer that had lasted
three years and ten months. She was 70 years old.
Roger Rees' onscreen career began in 1975 when he appeared in a TV movie called The Place of Peace.
He was primarily a stage actor, but he also acted in film and on TV
throughout his career. Cheers fans likely remember him best as Robin Colcord,
who served as a bit of a foil to Sam, as both men were interested in Kirstie Alley's Rebecca Howe.
Between 1989 and 1993, he appeared on a total of 17 episodes of Cheers.
At one point, he goes to prison and eventually returns to the bar, destitute and haggard.
But his career was much healthier, as he continued acting for decades afterwards.
"Marry Robin. I hope you'll be very happy waking up every morning to 'Good morning, Rebeca.'"
"Good morning, Rebecca."
Rees' other notable TV credits include M.A.N.T.I.S., The West Wing, and Warehouse
13. In October 2014, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He continued to work for as long
as he could while undergoing treatment until he died on July 10, 2015 at the age of 71.
Before transitioning into acting, Jay Thomas was a popular DJ in New York.
His charisma translated to the small screen, as he gained fame early in his career on
Mork and Mindy. He eventually landed a recurring role on Cheers as Eddie LeBec,
a down-on-his-luck goalie for the Boston Bruins who woos and marries Carla.
Eddie remained on the series for three seasons, appearing in a total of nine episodes.
He left the show rather abruptly in the episode "Death Takes a Holiday on Ice" when he gets
killed by a Zamboni. This turn of events came about after Thomas reportedly made some unkind
remarks about his co-star on his radio show. As Cheers writer Kevin Levine shared on his blog,
"He said something to the effect of 'It's brutal. I have to kiss Rhea Perlman.'"
Thomas managed to bounce back afterwards, as he appeared on dozens of TV shows and a number
of films over the course of his career. On August 24, 2017, he died of throat cancer,
with his wife Sally and three sons reportedly at his side when he passed.
For much of his professional life, Michael Currie was a regular guest star on sitcoms
like Family Ties and procedural crime dramas like Homicide: Life on the Street.
He also showed up in multiple Clint Eastwood films, including Any Which Way You Can
and the fourth Dirty Harry flick, Sudden Impact.
As for Cheers, Currie appeared in two episodes as Mr. Sheridan, an executive at Lilian,
the company that Rebecca worked for and that owned the bar after purchasing it from Sam.
In the episode "Adventures in Housesitting," Rebecca offers to housesit for Mr. Sheridan,
and of course, everything goes comically wrong.
Currie's appearances on Cheers were mere blips in his long onscreen career.
He continued acting into the 90s, with his final credit coming in 2002 with the TV movie Fantasy.
He died on December 22, 2009 while at home with his family. He was 81.
Al Rosen spent a considerable amount of time both in front of and behind cameras
throughout his long career, including his time as a stuntman for The Three Stooges.
He began acting in the 1940s in minor parts before transitioning into TV.
Cheers was often filled with extras, with some of the people in the background coming back
to the bar time and time again. Big Al was one such customer. While he didn't have many lines,
he managed to visit his favorite watering hole for 110 episodes.
He would often say one or two sentences, always for comedic effect.
"Who is the biggest bigwig of them all?"
"Sinatra!"
Rosen's final appearance on the show happened in 1989, as he couldn't return afterwards due
to his ongoing cancer treatment. He passed away on August 2, 1990 at the age of 80. The season
after his death, the episode "Norm and Cliff's Excellent Adventure" was dedicated to Al Rosen".
Nicholas Colasanto didn't begin working in the entertainment industry right out of college.
Instead, he steered boats for the U.S. Navy during World War II. About a decade after
that conflict ended, he began studying acting. He spent much of his career as a TV director,
and he also appeared in a variety of films, but he's absolutely best known as Coach on Cheers.
Ernie Pantusso was introduced in the pilot episode as Sam Malone's former coach and mentor
when he played ball for the Red Sox. He then tended bar alongside Sam,
and in a nod to Colasanto's own struggle with alcoholism, he helped keep Sam from succumbing
to the temptation of picking up the bottle. Coach was featured throughout the series' first
three seasons, but towards the end of Season 3, Colasanto became ill and died of a heart attack.
When the fourth season aired, it was explained that Coach had died off-screen.
"Coach passed away a couple months ago, but yeah, I'd like to think he's still around."
On the series finale, Sam straightens a picture of Geronimo. That picture was a favorite of
Colasanto's, and incorporating it into the episode served as a final nod to the actor.
Georgia Brown's professional life began with singing in nightclubs at a young age.
She recorded some albums and performed in cabarets before joining the singing quartet
Lambert, Hendricks, Ross & Brown. After leaving that group, she transitioned to TV and theater.
One of her most impressive performances was when she played
Madame Lazora on the Season 8 Cheers episode "The Ghost and Mrs. LeBec,"
for which she earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for Guest Actress.
In the episode, Carla begins dating for the first time after Eddie's death, but it's not easy for
her. She sees him everywhere, and the guilt forces her to conclude that he's haunting her. So she
visits her psychic, Madame Lazora, who holds a séance to contact Eddie and sort it all out.
Brown returned to play the character in one more episode, Season 10's "Madame LaCarla." Outside of
Cheers, she's probably best known for playing Nancy in the stage musical Oliver! in 1960.
In 1992, she fell ill, and she died on July 5 of that year. At the time,
she was in London to film a tribute to Sammy Davis Jr.
Philip Perlman became an actor after retiring from the toy industry.
His first onscreen gig was an uncredited part on an episode of Hill Street Blues, and he appeared
in a number of movies throughout the 80s and 90s. And of course, he was also a fixture on Cheers.
As Phil, one of the regular barflies, Perlman could often be seen tipping back a glass of
beer in the background. He was primarily an extra, but after Al Rosen's death, he took over the job
of delivering zingers. And he also got to work alongside his daughter Rhea all those years, as
her character Carla was one of the regulars on the show. He died at the age of 95 on April 29, 2015.
Upon his passing, his other daughter Heide told The Hollywood Reporter,
"He had a unique acting style; he was completely unschooled. We put together a reel of all his
performances for his 90th birthday, and he really had great timing. He was extremely natural."
Doris Grau began working in the entertainment industry in 1940 as a script supervisor.
The vast majority of her career was spent behind the camera, but then she began appearing on screen
in the late 80s. Her first acting credit was a walk-on role on a 1986 episode of the NBC sitcom
All Is Forgiven. That same year, she made her Cheers debut as Corinne, a relief server at the
bar. She appeared in three episodes total in '86 and '87. Grau also kept herself busy as a script
supervisor and voice actor, with her most famous vocal role being Lunchlady Doris on The Simpsons.
"Isn't there anything here that doesn't have meat in it?"
"Possibly the meatloaf."
On December 30, 1995, Grau died at the age of 71 from respiratory failure.
The Season 7 Simpsons episode "Team Homer" was dedicated to her memory,
and the series retired Lunchlady Doris to honor her. The character was eventually
reintroduced as Lunchlady Dora, with the name change made out of deference to Grau.
Max Wright spent much of his early career appearing on stage and in films playing
minor roles. But he eventually became one of the main cast members of an iconic TV show,
as he played patriarch Willie Tanner on ALF from 1986 to 1990. Right before that series began,
he showed up on Cheers as a politician named Jim Fleener in Season 4's "Strange Bedfellows."
Although ALF was a big hit, it reportedly wasn't exactly always cheerful behind the scenes.
After the show wrapped, Wright explained to People Magazine,
"It was hard work and very grim [...] I was hugely eager to have it over with."
His co-star Anne Schedeen also seemed rather unenthused, as she told People,
"It's astonishing to me that ALF really was wonderful
and that word never got out what a mess our set really was."
A few years after ALF ended, Wright was diagnosed with lymphoma.
He eventually died from the disease on June 26, 2019 at the age of 75.
Keene Curtis served in the Pacific during World War II before returning to the United States
to study acting. He made his feature film debut in the 1948 Orson Welles adaptation of Macbeth,
and the following year, he started working on Broadway as an assistant stage manager.
He began performing on stage in the 1960s and continued working in the theater for years,
earning a Tony Award along the way.
Curtis eventually made his way to numerous popular TV shows, including M*A*S*H,
Knight Rider, and Hawaii Five-O. In 1990, he debuted on Cheers as John Allen Hill,
the manager of the restaurant above the bar. He played the character in a total of 15 episodes.
Afterwards, he continued to work on various series and made-for-TV films.
He also spent a lot of time in the recording booth, providing his rather distinct voice
to numerous characters, such as Balthazar on The Smurfs. He would eventually be diagnosed
with Alzheimer's disease and spend his later years in a nursing home in Utah.
He died on October 13, 2002 at the age of 79.
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