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Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955) is a five-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe-winning American actor best known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane in the NBC sitcoms Cheers (nine years) and Frasier (eleven years). He is also known for voicing Sideshow Bob for The Simpsons. He was nominated for Emmys for playing his character on three different sitcoms (the third being a guest appearance on Wings).
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Quotations
I dreamt that Frasier was over and I was on this Sketch Show.
I'm not sure sophisticated comedy has a place on television any more. I'd like to think it still does … But I'm not sure the networks are interested, I'm not sure anybody else is interested in sophisticated comedy any more.
I guess Frasier and I have always looked for the same thing in life: being happy and making an honest living, trying to do some good in the world and changing a few minds if we can. Or at least lifting somebody's burden for a time.
Encyclopedia
Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955) is a five-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe-winning American actor best known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane in the NBC sitcoms Cheers (nine years) and Frasier (eleven years). He is also known for voicing Sideshow Bob for The Simpsons. He was nominated for Emmys for playing his character on three different sitcoms (the third being a guest appearance on Wings). He has also worked as a television producer, director, writer, and a voice artist.
Personal background
Grammer was born in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, the son of Sally (née Cranmer), a singer, and Frank Allen Grammer, Jr., a musician and owner of a coffee shop and a bar & grill. He is descended from Massachusetts Governor Thomas Dudley. His parents' marriage ended when he was young; his mother took him to live with her, and he was reared partly in New Jersey by his maternal grandparents, Evangeline Dimmock and Gordon Cranmer.
Family tragedies
His family life has been plagued by tragedies. In 1968, when Grammer was thirteen, his father, whom he had seen only twice since his parents' divorce, was murdered on the front lawn of his home in the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 1975, his sister was murdered after being abducted outside a Red Lobster restaurant in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where her boyfriend worked. Grammer has sworn to prevent his sister's murderer from being paroled. In 1980, his twin younger half-brothers by his mother's second marriage, Billy and Stephen Grammer, were killed by a shark in a SCUBA diving accident.
Career
Stage
After leaving Juilliard, he 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 Theatre, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He made his Broadway debut in 1981, as "Lennox," in Macbeth, taking the lead role when Philip Anglim withdrew after receiving negative reviews. In 1983, he performed on the demo of the Stephen Sondheim–James Lapine production Sunday in the Park with George, starring Mandy Patinkin. Also featured on the demo was Christine Baranski, who later starred as "Mrs. Lovett," to Grammer's "Sweeney," in the 1999 LA Reprise! production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Grammer then played the featured role of "Cassio" in a Broadway revival of Othello, with James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer.
Television
His television career began in the early 1980s when he portrayed Stephen Smith in the NBC mini-series Kennedy. Grammer came to broader public attention as Dr. Frasier Crane in the NBC sitcom Cheers. Grammer's former Juilliard classmate and Broadway co-star Patinkin suggested Grammer to the New York Casting Director, and he got what was supposed to be a six-episode job but ended up as a regular cast member. The character became the center of the successful spin-off Frasier. Grammer recently reprised his role of Dr. Frasier Crane in a commercial for Dr. Pepper.
In 2001, he negotiated a US$700,000-per-episode salary for Frasier, and his 20-year run playing Dr. Frasier Crane ties a length set by James Arness in playing Marshall Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke from 1955 to 1975.
In 2005 on Fox, he attempted to create an American adaptation of The Sketch Show, a British sketch show. 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, such as the "California Dreamin'," "English Course," and "Sign Language" sketches. Only six episodes of the show were made, and it was cancelled after only four of them had aired.
In addition to being producer, he also starred as the Angel of Death on Medium.
In 2007, Grammer returned to the sitcom format as the central character in the American sitcom Back to You, co-starring with Patricia Heaton. It was cancelled by Fox after its first season.
Voice work
Grammer's smooth, deep voice and Mid-Atlantic accent make him popular for voiceover work. He has provided the voice of Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons, winning an Emmy for his work in the episode "The Italian Bob." He has appeared in ten episodes since the show's inception in 1989.
Also, Grammer supplied the voices for "Stinky Pete the Prospector" in Toy Story 2, Vladimir in the Fox animated movie Anastasia, Zozi the Bear in the subsequently produced prequel Bartok the Magnificent, and the title character in the short-lived animated series Gary the Rat. Also, he provided the opening speech and piano in The Vandals' song "Phone Machine" from the album Fear of a Punk Planet, and sang a rewritten version of the "grinch" on an episode of Just Shoot Me. He was also the voice of the mad scientist, Dr. Frankenollie, in the Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain.
Production work
His production company, Grammnet Productions, produces the CW sitcoms Girlfriends and The Game and is involved in many other projects.
Other work
He returned to series television on Fox's The Sketch Show. Prior to that, he guest-starred as The Angel of Death on Medium, which he also produces. In film, his recent work includes the role of Dr. Hank McCoy (also known as Beast) in X-Men: The Last Stand and the film adaptation of the George Orwell classic book Animal Farm. Kelsey also stars in the movie Swing Vote, a film whose plot is based in part on the recent tight races for President of the United States, in which the vote is so tight that it comes down to one man's vote to determine the winner. Kelsey plays the Republican incumbent, a role that aligns with his own views. He played another role as General George S. Patton in An American Carol.
As part of his voice-over work, Grammer's voice has also been featured in commercials. He was the voice of the original GEICO gecko, a talking reptile created by The Martin Agency in 1999. In the commercial, the gecko pleads for people to stop calling him in error, mistaking gecko for GEICO. Since 2006, Grammer has provided the voice for television commercials advertising the Hyundai Sonata, Hyundai Santa Fe, Hyundai Veracruz, and Hyundai Azera. He was chosen because his "refined and luxurious voice" would help build the up-and-coming car maker's new image as an affordable luxury automobile.
Awards
He won a number of Emmys, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Golden Globes for his work on Frasier. He was the first American actor ever to be nominated for multiple Emmy awards for portraying the same character on three different television shows (Cheers, Frasier, and Wings).
Grammer has received at least 45 nominations for major awards and has won on 18 occasions. He has received 14 individual Emmy Award nominations for 4 different television shows (plus an additional 2 as part of the Frasier ensemble) and has won on 5 occasions. At the Golden Globes, he has received eight nominations and twice been victorious. He has received two People's Choice Awards, and in 1999 his directorial skills were recognised with a nomination for a Directors Guild of America award for directing an episode of Frasier. He received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in X-Men: The Last Stand. On May 22, 2001, he was presented with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The following table gives a selection of the awards he has won.
| Year | Award | Category |
|---|
| 1994 | Emmy | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Frasier) | | 1995 | Emmy | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Frasier) | | 1995 | American Comedy Award | Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (Frasier) | | 1996 | Golden Globe | Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series, Comedy/Musical (Frasier) | | 1996 | American Comedy Award | Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (Frasier) | | 1998 | Emmy | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Frasier) | | 2001 | Golden Globe | Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series, Comedy/Musical (Frasier) | | 2004 | Emmy | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Frasier) | | 2006 | Emmy | Outstanding Voice-Over Performance (The Simpsons) |
Personal life
Family
Grammer has been married three times. His first marriage, to dance instructor Doreen Alderman, lasted from 1982 to 1990. They had one daughter, Spencer Grammer (born October 9, 1983), an actress on the CBS Daytime soap opera As the World Turns and the ABC Family show Greek.
His second marriage, to stripper Leigh-Anne Csuhany in 1992, lasted one year. Grammer says that she was abusive and that, after talk of divorce, she attempted suicide, which resulted in the miscarriage of their child. During this marriage, Grammer had a daughter out of wedlock, Greer Kandace (born February 15, 1992), with hair and makeup stylist Barrie Buckner.
Grammer has been married since August 1997 to Camille Donatacci, a former Playboy model. They have a daughter, Mason Olivia (born October 24, 2001), and a son, Jude Gordon (born August 28, 2004), both born via surrogate mother. Grammer and Donatacci have homes in Malibu, California; Colorado; and New York. Also, they have a holiday home on Maui.
Defamation lawsuit
In 1995, Grammer was sued by ex-girlfriend Cerlette Lamme for defamation of character and invasion of privacy over content he included in his autobiography So Far.
Sex tape lawsuit
In 1998, Grammer filed a lawsuit against Internet Entertainment Group, which Grammer claimed had stolen from his home a videotape of him having sex with a woman. IEG countersued Grammer, denying they were in possession of such a tape, and Grammer's suit was eventually dropped. IEG President Seth Warshavsky told the New York Post, "We have been presented with another Kelsey Grammer tape. But we have no plans to air it. We are still evaluating it at this time." Grammer later told Maxim, "Whether or not you’re a celebrity—even if you’re just an old slob with a video camera—you don’t realize you shouldn’t do it. So you throw the tape in the back of a dark closet until your old girlfriend remembers it’s there because you’re famous now and she’s not. But if you’re not prepared to do the time, don’t do the crime."
Copyright lawsuit
In August 2008, Bradley Blakeman, a former aide to George W. Bush, filed a copyright lawsuit in federal court on Long Island, NY over Grammer's movie Swing Vote, claiming that parts of its plot and marketing had been stolen from him. The lawsuit claimed that Blakeman gave a copyrighted screenplay called Go November to Grammer in 2006, and that Grammer agreed to develop the project and star as a Republican president but instead ended up playing a similar role in Swing Vote, which was released on August 1, 2008. Grammer's spokesman dismissed the claims as "frivolous" and a "waste of time." The lawsuit claims that Blakeman's copyrighted screenplay had the same basic plot as Swing Vote.
Substance abuse
Grammer began drinking at age 9 and became a frequent abuser of alcohol. In 1988, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail for drunk driving and cocaine possession. He was again arrested for cocaine possession in August 1990 and was sentenced to three years' probation, fined $500, and given 300 hours' community service. In January 1991, he was given an additional two years' probation for violating his original probation through additional cocaine use. In September 1996, he flipped his Dodge Viper while intoxicated and subsequently checked in to the Betty Ford Clinic for 30 days.
Health problems
Grammer suffered a heart attack on May 31, 2008. He told Jay Leno on the July 24, 2008, airing of The Tonight Show that he had to wait one and half hours for paramedics to arrive. He was hospitalized in Hawaii after he had symptoms while paddle-boating with his wife, Camille. He was released on June 4, 2008, and was listed as "resting comfortably" at his Hawaiian residence. Seven weeks after his attack, Grammer told Entertainment Tonight that, although at the time his spokesman described the attack as mild, it was in fact more severe, almost leading to his death, as his heart had stopped.
Despite years of acknowledged drug and alcohol abuse, Grammer blamed Fox's decision to cancel his TV sitcom Back to You for his health problems, stating that "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!"
On July 28, 2008, Grammer checked into an undisclosed New York hospital after complaints of feeling faint. His publicist said that it may have been due to a reaction to medication.
Politics
Grammer is a member of the Republican Party and has expressed an interest in someday running for United States Congress.
Grammer was a celebrity guest at President George W. Bush's first inauguration, along with Drew Carey, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and Fred Thompson.
Grammer endorsed Rudy Giuliani in the 2008 presidential primary and later campaigned for John McCain in the general election.
When asked by Maxim magazine about his political ambitions, Grammer replied, "It's a notion I have about the future, to run for office, to do the world some good. Maybe in 15 years or so, there may be a run for office. But I don’t know what I’d run for."
Filmography
Films
Television
Video games
The Simpsons Game (2007) - Various characters
External links
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