Kelsey Grammer

Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955) is an American actor and comedian. He gained fame for his role as the Harvard-educated Boston psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcom Cheers (1984–1993) and its spin-off Frasier (1993–2004, and again from 2023–2024). With more than 20 years on air, this is one of the longest-running roles played by a single live-action actor in primetime television history. He has received numerous accolades including a total of six Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, two Satellite Awards, two People's Choice Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Tony Award.

Grammer, having trained as an actor at Juilliard and the Old Globe Theatre, made his professional acting debut as Lennox in the 1981 Broadway revival of Macbeth. The following year, he portrayed Cassio acting opposite Christopher Plummer and James Earl Jones in Othello. In mid-1983, he acted alongside Mandy Patinkin in the original off-Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's musical Sunday in the Park with George. He has since starred in the leading roles in productions of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, My Fair Lady, Big Fish, and Finding Neverland.

In film, he is known for his role as Dr. Hank McCoy / Beast in the superhero films X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and The Marvels (2023). His other roles include Down Periscope (1996), The Pentagon Wars (1998), and Swing Vote (2008). He is also known for his voice roles in Anastasia (1997), Toy Story 2 (1999), and as Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons (1990–present). He took guest roles in the sitcoms 30 Rock (2010–2012), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2016), and Modern Family (2017). For his performance as the corrupt mayor in the Starz political series Boss (2011–2012), he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama.

In early 2010, Grammer returned to Broadway in the musical revival of La Cage aux Folles, where he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. In mid-2016, Grammer won a Tony Award for Best Musical as producer of a musical revival of The Color Purple. In early 2019, he starred as Don Quixote in a production of Man of La Mancha at the London Coliseum. In late 2023, The Telegraph described Grammer as one of "the finest actors" of his generation. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 22, 2001.

Allen Kelsey Grammer was born on February 21, 1955 in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Grammer's mother, Sally Cranmer (1928–2008), was a dancer who performed under the name of Sally Sullivan. His father, Frank Allen Grammer Jr., was a musician who owned a coffee shop, Greer's Place; he also owned and edited a magazine, Virgin Islands View. Kelsey had a younger sister, Karen, and four half-siblings from his father's second marriage.

Grammer's personal life has been shaped by many family tragedies. Following his parents' divorce, Grammer was raised in New Jersey by his mother and maternal grandparents, Gordon and Evangeline Cranmer. The family later relocated to Pompano Beach, Florida. When Grammer was twelve years old, his grandfather died of cancer. In 1968, his father was murdered in Saint Thomas during a wave of racial violence following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. In 1975, his sister was kidnapped, raped, and murdered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, by spree killer Freddie Glenn. In 1980, his two teenage half-brothers died in a scuba diving accident.

After leaving Juilliard, Grammer had a three-year internship with the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in the late 1970s before a stint in 1980 at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Grammer acted as the Burglar in the LA production of the George Bernard Shaw play Too True to Be Good in 1977. In 1980, he starred in the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of A Month in the Country. He made his Broadway debut in 1981 as "Lennox" in Macbeth, taking the lead role when Philip Anglim withdrew after receiving negative reviews. Grammer then played Michael Cassio in the 1982 Broadway revival of Othello, alongside Christopher Plummer and James Earl Jones. That same year he portrayed Codename Lazar in the Public Theatre production of the David Hare play Plenty. In 1983, he performed in the demo of the Stephen Sondheim–James Lapine production Sunday in the Park with George, starring Mandy Patinkin.

In 1984, Grammer first appeared as Dr. Frasier Crane in the NBC sitcom Cheers. Grammer's Broadway co-star and former Juilliard classmate, Mandy Patinkin, suggested Grammer to the New York casting director. He was supposed to appear for only six episodes, but ended up as a regular cast member. The character of Frasier first appears in the third season and continues to appear until the final season of the series in May 1993. Frasier Crane also had a crossover appearance in the 1992 Wings episode "Planes, Trains, & Visiting Cranes".

Grammer has provided the voice of Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons, starting in the 1990 episode "Krusty Gets Busted". He won a fifth Emmy Award for his work in the episode "The Italian Bob". Bob has appeared in twenty-three episodes of the show, the most recent being 2024's "The Yellow Lotus".

From April to June 1992, he played the title role in Richard II, staged at the Mark Taper Forum at the Los Angeles Music Center.

In September 1993, the character became the protagonist of spin-off Frasier. In the show, Frasier has moved from Boston to Seattle and works as a radio psychiatrist alongside his producer Roz (Peri Gilpin). In addition to starring, Grammer also directed more than 30 episodes, and sang the closing theme "Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs". In 2001, he negotiated a $700,000-per-episode salary for Frasier. The show was nominated for, and won, numerous awards during its 11-year run, concluding in May 2004. The show met instant success, and received five Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series. This record has never been broken, with Modern Family tying the record. Grammer himself received 10 Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his role in Frasier, winning four times, tying him with Carroll O'Connor, Michael J. Fox and Jim Parsons for the most wins for Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. His 20-year run playing Dr. Frasier Crane (in both Cheers and Frasier) ties a length set by James Arness in playing Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke from 1955 to 1975, but it was surpassed by Richard Belzer in playing Det. John Munch on Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit since 1993. Then, in February 2021, it was announced that Grammer would reprise the character in a revival set to air on the streaming service Paramount+.

In 1995, Grammer voiced Dr. Frankenollie in the Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain, and it was nominated for Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. He later starred in the lead role as Lt. Commander Thomas "Tom" Dodge in the film Down Periscope (1996), and voiced Vladimir "Vlad" Vasilovich in the 20th Century Fox's critically acclaimed animated movie Anastasia (1997). In 1999, Grammer voiced the main antagonist Stinky Pete in Pixar's Golden Globe Award-winning Toy Story 2 (1999). He also provided voice work for several other animated television series and direct-to-video films, such as Barbie of Swan Lake, Bartok the Magnificent, the title character in the short-lived animated series Gary the Rat, and the narrator of Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas. He also voiced Dr. Ivan Krank in Disney's Teacher's Pet (2004). In 2004, he played Ebenezer Scrooge in the musical television film A Christmas Carol.

Grammer's voice has been featured in many commercials. In 1998, he appeared in a commercial for Honey Nut Cheerios, where he voices the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood. Since 2006, Grammer has provided the voice for television commercials advertising Hyundai. In 2008, Grammer reprised his role of Dr. Frasier Crane in a commercial for Dr Pepper (Frasier and Cheers co-star Bebe Neuwirth also reprised her role as Lilith Sternin in the same commercial, albeit in voice only). In 2000, Grammer again played Macbeth on Broadway, in a production that closed after only 10 days.

In 2005, Grammer produced an American adaptation of the British show The Sketch Show, which aired on Fox. The main cast consisted of Malcolm Barrett, Kaitlin Olson, Mary Lynn Rajskub and Paul F. Tompkins, as well as Lee Mack from the British version of the show. Grammer appeared in only short opening and closing segments in each episode. Many of the sketches from the British version were re-created. Only six episodes of the show were made, and it was cancelled after just four of them had aired. In 2007, Grammer starred with Patricia Heaton in the American sitcom Back to You, which Fox cancelled after its first season. His next lead role, ABC's Hank, was cancelled after only five episodes had aired. Grammer later commented, "Honestly, it just wasn't very funny."

On April 18, 2010, Grammer made his Broadway musical debut playing the role of Georges in a revival of the Jerry Herman/Harvey Fierstein musical La Cage aux Folles at the Longacre Theatre. Grammer starred alongside Douglas Hodge for which they both were nominated for Tony Awards for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. Grammer was said to have been "delivering an assured and charming leading turn." In 2011 and 2012, Grammer found temporary success in the Starz drama series Boss as a fictional mayor of Chicago, based on former mayor Richard J. Daley. It premiered in October 2011. It was his first dramatic TV series. At the 2012 Golden Globe Awards Grammer won the award for Best Actor in a Television Series Drama for his role. The show ran for 18 episodes over two seasons. From 2010 to 2012, Grammer guest starred as a comical version of himself in three episodes of the NBC show 30 Rock alongside Jane Krakowski and Jack McBrayer.

In 2011, he was originally announced to provide the voice of Henry J. Waternoose III in the prequel to Monsters, Inc., Monsters University, and he was meant to replace James Coburn, following Coburn's death in 2002. The character, however, got cut from the film.

In 2014, Grammer came back to sitcom television when he appeared in Partners with comedian Martin Lawrence. The Lionsgate-produced show was written and executive produced by Robert L. Boyett and Robert Horn, known for writing hit shows like Family Matters, Living Single, Full House, Designing Women, and Perfect Strangers. Despite this, the show was cancelled after its first season. Later that same year, Grammer starred in several films such as Bonaparte in The Expendables 3 (2014) and as Harold Attinger in Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014). He appeared as both the narrator and Herod the Great, in the National Geographic TV film Killing Jesus. In 2015, Grammer and John Lithgow lent their voices to the critically acclaimed documentary Best of Enemies as William F. Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal, respectively. The documentary surrounds the events around the televised debates between intellectuals Vidal and Buckley during the 1968 United States presidential election. The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary but did not make the final cut.

In March 2015, Grammer originated the roles of Charles Frohman and Captain Hook in the Broadway premiere of the musical Finding Neverland, continuing with the roles through June. In February 2016 he made an appearance in the West End production of Big Fish. In 2016, Grammer won a Tony Award as a producer of The Color Purple. In 2019, Grammer starred as Don Quixote in a production of Man of La Mancha at the London Coliseum. That same year he starred as Harry Hamilton in the Netflix film Like Father (2018), alongside Kristen Bell, and as a detective opposite Nicolas Cage in Grand Isle (2019).

Grammer has been married four times, and has eight children and one grandchild. His first marriage, to a dance instructor, Doreen Alderman, lasted from 1982 to 1990, although they were separated for the last six years of that period. They have one daughter, the actress Spencer Grammer (born October 9, 1983). Through Spencer, Grammer has one grandson, born on October 10, 2011.

After his divorce from Alderman, Grammer had a daughter, Kandace Greer Grammer (born February 15, 1992), with a hair and makeup stylist, Barrie Buckner. Greer was later a cast member on MTV's show Awkward. Greer has said that she was estranged from her father from age four through sixteen, when they reconnected by chance.

In 2001, Grammer described himself as religious and stated that he believed in God, but added that he did not adhere to any particular religion. In 2023, Grammer said that he considered himself a born-again follower of Jesus. He said, "What I found in my life – with the sort of resident malaise that lives in my soul because of some of the things that happened – I have found that in those moments, Jesus is actually more present, more apparent, more readily available than I realised." Grammer said he came to this conclusion when he was standing on a baseball field a while ago, and asked God: "Where were you?" "The answer came: 'I was right there.' I do think that when things are at their worst, that's when Christ is closest." He added that his views in some areas are in line with progressive Christianity.

On July 1, 1975, Grammer's younger sister, 18-year-old Karen Grammer, was raped and murdered by Freddie Glenn and three other men. Grammer identified his sister's body and informed their mother about her death. According to Grammer, his bouts of alcoholism and drug abuse were driven, in part, by guilt and depression over his sister's death, as the pair had been close during childhood.

In a 2012 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Grammer said he would be willing to forgive his sister's murderers if they took responsibility for the crime; however, the accused perpetrators all claimed innocence. In the same interview, Grammer expressed his loss of faith for several years after Karen's death. He subsequently forgave Glenn in a 2014 parole hearing after being convinced of Glenn's contrition, but refused to support his release, saying that it would "be a betrayal of my sister's life". He named his daughter Spencer Karen Grammer in part for his sister.

Karen Grammer's murder and the investigation by the Colorado Springs Police Department was the subject of the episode "Animal Nature" of the Investigation Discovery series Homicide Hunter.

Grammer's 2025 book Karen: A Brother Remembers is about his sister's life and murder, and its effect on his life.

Grammer has been a longtime supporter of the Republican Party, and he endorsed the Tea Party movement on economic issues such as small government and lower taxes; City A.M. described him as "one of Hollywood's best-known Republicans, a rare spark of red in a blue sea of Democrats".

A New York magazine profile published in 2010 described Grammer as "pro-choice". In 2015, however, his wife posted an Instagram photo of Grammer wearing a T-shirt from the anti-abortion group Abort73.

Grammer has expressed disbelief in the scientific consensus on climate change, comparing the California wildfires to alleged global cooling from his youth and criticized the 2011 and 2018 climate meetings. Additionally, he stated in a 2016 interview with The Guardian that the person he admired most was Vladimir Putin "because he is so comfortably who he is". In 2019, he issued a statement in support of Brexit.

Grammer has criticized Washington politicians, stating: "I don't think Washington did us any favors for the last 50, 60 years, I think they've all been sort of the same party, the same bunch of clowns". He has expressed an interest in some day running for the United States Congress, Mayor of New York City, and the presidency. In an interview with radio talk show host Frank Morano in August 2021, he indicated that he was no longer interested in running for office. Grammer was a guest at President George W. Bush's first inauguration. Grammer endorsed Rudy Giuliani in the 2008 presidential primary and later campaigned for John McCain in the general election. Grammer also promoted RightNetwork, a conservative start-up American television network. He endorsed Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination for president in 2012. Grammer later endorsed Mitt Romney after he had won the Republican nomination. He initially supported Ben Carson's candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, although later stating he would gladly vote for Republican candidate Donald Trump in the upcoming election.

In a December 2023 interview with BBC's Today to promote the new series of Frasier, Grammer confirmed that he still supported Trump. Grammer expressed support for Trump again in a May 2025 interview with The Times. At the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors, Grammer called Trump "One of the greatest presidents we've ever had. Maybe the greatest".

Grammer has a history of substance abuse. In 1988, he was charged with drunk driving and cocaine possession and sentenced to 30 days in jail. In August 1990, Grammer was charged again with cocaine possession and was sentenced to three years' probation, fined $500, and required to perform 300 hours of community service. In January 1991, Grammer was given an additional two years' probation for violating his original probation through additional cocaine use. In September 1996, he crashed his Dodge Viper sports car while intoxicated, and subsequently checked into the Betty Ford Center for 30 days. Grammer's personal problems affected his work. The cast and producers of both Frasier and Cheers held interventions to help him; co-star Bebe Neuwirth and writer Ken Levine cited delays with rehearsals and filming due to his erratic behavior. The writer Dan O'Shannon recalled:

He would ooze into the studio, his life all out of sorts. Jimmy would say "Action," and he would snap into Frasier and expound in this very erudite dialogue and be pitch-perfect. And Jimmy would yell "Cut!" and he would ooze back into Kelsey—glazed-over eyes, half asleep, going through whatever he was going through. It was the most amazing transformation I'd ever seen.

Grammer credits his religious faith for helping him confront his personal problems.

On May 31, 2008, while paddleboarding with his then-wife Camille in Hawaiʻi, Grammer had a heart attack. Their personal assistant, Scott MacLean, was essential in saving his life. Grammer was discharged on June 4, 2008, and was said to be "resting comfortably" at his Hawaii residence. Seven weeks after the attack, Grammer told Entertainment Tonight that, although his spokesman described the attack as mild, it was more severe as his heart had stopped. Grammer thought Fox's decision to cancel his television sitcom Back to You contributed to his health problems, saying: "It was a very stressful time for me, and a surprise that it was cancelled. But you know, everything that doesn't kill us—which it almost did—makes us stronger!"

Grammer has won many awards and accolades, particularly for Frasier. He was the first American actor to be nominated for multiple Emmy awards for portraying the same character on three different television shows: Cheers, Frasier, and Wings. In 2010, Grammer received his first Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in La Cage Aux Folles opposite Douglas Hodge. He later won the Best Revival of a Musical, as a producer for The Color Purple, in 2016. In 2001, he was presented with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for television. He received a nomination from the Directors Guild of America Award in 1999, for directing the Frasier episode "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz". At the Golden Globes, he has received nine nominations and won three, two for Frasier and one for Boss.