Before the
Cheers pilot "
Give Me a Ring Sometime" was completed and aired in 1982, the series consisted of four employees in the first script. In later years,
Woody Boyd replaced Coach, after the character died off-screen in season three (1984–85), following actor
Nicholas Colasanto's death.
Frasier Crane started as a recurring character and became a permanent one. In season six (1987–88), new character
Rebecca Howe was added, having been written into the show after the finale of the previous season (1986–87).
Lilith Sternin started as a one-time character in an episode of season four, "Second Time Around" (1985). After her second season five appearance, she became a recurring character and was later featured as a permanent one during season 10 (1991–92).
Original main characters ,
Ted Danson;
(middle) Rhea Perlman,
Nicholas Colasanto;
(bottom) George Wendt,
John Ratzenberger |alt=Background is the bar setting. Top row has a businesswoman and a handsome bartender. Middle row has a brunette perm waitress and an old bartender. Bottom row has a suit-dressed man and a mailman. •
Ted Danson as
Sam Malone: A
bartender and proprietor of Cheers, Sam is also a
lothario. Before the series began, he was a baseball
relief pitcher for the
Boston Red Sox nicknamed "Mayday Malone" until he became an alcoholic, harming his career. He has an
on-again, off-again relationship with
Diane Chambers, his class opposite, in the first five seasons (1982–1987). During their off-times, Sam has flings with many not-so-bright "sexy women" All of her children are ill behaved, except Ludlow, whose father is a prominent academic. She flirts with men, including ones who are not flattered by her ways, and believes in
superstitions. Later, she marries
Eddie LeBec, an
ice hockey player, who later becomes a penguin mascot for ice shows. After he dies in an ice show accident by an
ice resurfacer, Carla later discovers that Eddie had committed
bigamy with another woman, whom he had gotten pregnant. Carla sleeps with Sam's enemy, John Allen Hill, to Sam's annoyance and anger. •
George Wendt as
Norm Peterson: A bar regular and occasionally employed accountant. A recurrent joke on the show, especially in the earlier seasons, is that the character was such a popular and constant fixture at the bar that anytime he entered through the front door, everyone present would yell out his name ("NORM!") in greeting (when present in the scene Diane would be heard saying "Norman!" moments later); usually, this cry would be followed by one of the present bartenders asking Norm how he was, usually receiving a sardonic response and a request for a beer. ("It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear.") He has infrequent accounting jobs and a troubled marriage with (but is still in love with and married to) Vera, an
unseen character, though she is occasionally heard. Later in the series, he becomes a
house painter and an
interior decorator. Even later in the series, Norm secures his dream job, tasting beer at a brewery. The character was not originally intended to be a main cast role; After he was cast in a more permanent role, the character was renamed Norm.
Subsequent main characters •
John Ratzenberger as
Cliff Clavin: A know-it-all bar regular and
mail carrier. He lives with his mother
Esther Clavin (
Frances Sternhagen) in first the family house and later his own apartment. In the bar, Cliff continuously spouts nonsensical and annoying trivia, making him an object of derision for the bar patrons (especially Carla). Ratzenberger auditioned for the role of a minor character George, but it went to Wendt, evolving the role into Norm Peterson. The producers decided they wanted a resident bar know-it-all, •
Kelsey Grammer as
Frasier Crane: A psychiatrist and bar regular, a recurring character for seasons 3 and 4 who joins the main cast by season 5. Frasier started out as Diane Chambers' love interest in the third season (1984–85). In the fourth season (1985–86), after Diane jilts him at the altar in Europe, Frasier starts to frequent Cheers and becomes a regular. He later marries
Lilith Sternin and has a son, Frederick. After the series ends, the character becomes the focus of the spin-off
Frasier, in which he is divorced from Lilith and living in
Seattle. •
Woody Harrelson as
Woody Boyd: A not-so-bright At the start, Sam frequently attempts to seduce Rebecca without success. As her personality changes,
Celebrity appearances Other celebrities guest-starred in single episodes as themselves throughout the series. Sports figures appeared on the show as themselves, with a connection to Boston or Sam's former team, the Red Sox, such as
Luis Tiant,
Wade Boggs, and
Kevin McHale and
Larry Bird (of the
Boston Celtics). Some television stars also made guest appearances as themselves such as
Alex Trebek,
Arsenio Hall,
Dick Cavett,
Robert Urich,
George McFarland and
Johnny Carson. Various political figures even made appearances on
Cheers such as then-
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral William J. Crowe, former
Colorado Senator Gary Hart, the
Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, the Senator
John Kerry, the
Governor Michael Dukakis,
Ethel Kennedy (widow of
Robert F. Kennedy), and the
Mayor of Boston Raymond Flynn, the last five of whom all represented Cheers' home state and city. In maternal roles,
Glynis Johns, in a guest appearance in 1983, played Diane's mother, Helen Chambers.
Nancy Marchand played Frasier's mother, Hester Crane, in an episode that aired in 1984. In an episode that aired in 1992,
Celeste Holm – who had previously played Ted Danson's mother in "
Three Men and a Baby" – appeared as Kelly's jokester of a paternal grandmother.
Melendy Britt appeared in the episode "''Woody or Won't He''" (1990) as Kelly's mother, Roxanne Gaines, a very attractive high-society lady and a sexy, flirtatious upper-class cougar who tries to seduce Woody. The musician
Harry Connick Jr. appeared in an episode as Woody's cousin and plays a song from his Grammy-winning album
We Are in Love ().
John Cleese won a
Primetime Emmy Award for his guest appearance as "Dr. Simon Finch-Royce" in the fifth-season episode "Simon Says".
Emma Thompson guest-starred as
Nanny G/Nannette Guzman, a famous singing nanny and Frasier's ex-wife.
Christopher Lloyd guest-starred as a tortured artist who wanted to paint Diane.
Marcia Cross portrayed Rebecca's sister Susan in the season 7 episode
Sisterly Love.
John Mahoney once appeared as an inept jingle writer, which included a brief conversation with Frasier Crane, whose father he later portrayed on the spin-off
Frasier.
Peri Gilpin, who later played
Roz Doyle on
Frasier, also appeared in one episode of
Cheers, in its 11th season, as Holly Matheson, a reporter who interviews Woody.
The Righteous Brothers,
Bobby Hatfield and
Bill Medley, also guest-starred in different episodes. In "The Guy Can't Help It", Rebecca meets a plumber, played by
Tom Berenger, who came to fix one of the beer keg taps. They marry in the series finale, triggering her resignation from Cheers.
Judith Barsi appears in the episode
Relief Bartender. Notable guest appearances of actresses portraying Sam's sexual conquests or potential sexual conquests include
Kate Mulgrew in the three-episode finale of season four, portraying Boston councilwoman Janet Eldridge;
Donna McKechnie as Debra, Sam's ex-wife (with whom he is on good terms), who pretends to be an intellectual in front of Diane;
Barbara Babcock as Lana Marshall, a talent agent who specializes in representing male athletes, whom she routinely sleeps with on-demand;
Julia Duffy as Rebecca Prout, a depressed intellectual friend of Diane's;
Alison La Placa as magazine reporter Paula Nelson;
Carol Kane as Amanda, who Sam eventually learns was a fellow patient at the sanitarium with Diane;
Barbara Feldon as Lauren Hudson, Sam's annual Valentine's Day fling (in an homage to
Same Time, Next Year);
Sandahl Bergman as Judy Marlowe, a longtime casual sex partner; Laurie Marlowe (
Chelsea Noble), Judy's now-grown-up daughter, who always considered Sam a pseudo-father figure, & whom Sam falls for;
Madolyn Smith-Osborne as Dr. Sheila Rydell, a colleague of Frasier and Lilith;
Valerie Mahaffey as Valerie Hill, John Allen Hill's daughter whom Sam pursues if only to gain an upper hand in his business relationship with Hill; and
Alexis Smith as Alice Anne Volkman, Rebecca's much older ex-professor. In season 9, episode 17, "I'm Getting My Act Together and Sticking It in Your Face", Sam, believing Rebecca wants a more serious relationship, pretends to be gay, his lover being a casual friend named Leon (
Jeff McCarthy)—the plan ultimately leads to a kiss between Sam and Leon.
Death of Nicholas Colasanto Near the end of production of the third season, the writers of
Cheers had to deal with the death of one of the main actors.
Nicholas Colasanto's heart condition had been diagnosed in the mid-1970s, but it had worsened. He had lost weight and was having trouble breathing during filming, and he was hospitalized shortly before filming finished for season three due to fluid in his lungs. He recovered but was not cleared to return to work. He was visiting the set in January 1985 to watch the filming of several episodes, and co-star
Shelley Long commented, "I think we were all in denial. We were all glad he was there, but he had lost a lot of weight." Co-star
Rhea Perlman added, "He wanted to be there so badly. He didn't want to be sick. He couldn't breathe well. It was hard. He was laboring all the time." Colasanto ultimately died of a heart attack at his home on February 12, 1985. ==Episodes==