Woody was born on July 23 (like Harrelson) and hails from
Hanover, Indiana, where he was voted the smartest student in school. His mother's name was Margaret and his father's name is Edgel. He and his childhood sweetheart, Beth Curtis, were voted "Couple Most Likely to Explode," as they were both obese at the time. It was later revealed that they always ate, to excess, around one another due to their palpable
sexual tension. Woody followed in
Coach's footsteps in many ways, failing to understand the most obvious jokes, concepts, and situations. Woody was essentially a
straight man for all of the other characters at Cheers, though his humor stemmed from his misunderstandings. Woody seemed to have an off-center mentality, misunderstanding others' comments much as Coach had done. For example, when
Bill Medley of
The Righteous Brothers appears and starts singing "
You've Lost That Loving Feeling," Woody asks him, "How come you changed your name from Righteous?" With the exception of
Carla, Eddie, and
Sam, Woody always addresses other characters by their
honorific. Sometimes this leads to awkward phrasing such as referring to
Lilith as Mrs. Dr. Sternin-Crane. Woody arrived at Cheers expecting to meet his "pen pal" Coach, with whom he exchanged pens instead of letters. Upon learning of Coach's death, he filled the open bartender position, and was quickly accepted by the staff and regulars. He also developed a "big brother/little brother" relationship with
Sam Malone, the owner of Cheers. In the coming years, he filled the void left by Coach and eventually married the wealthy Kelly Gaines (
Jackie Swanson), overcoming her father's objections to Woody's lowly station in life as well as conflicting religious views: he's
Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, she's
"Evangelical Lutheran Church of America" (in the episode America" is used, but the real denomination name ends America"). In the final season,
Frasier Crane orchestrated an experiment that went awry and resulted in Woody's election to the Boston City Council. He and Kelly were expecting their first child when
Cheers ended. Frasier extrapolates on Woody's interest in a political career to the point that Woody becomes President of the United States and shows his displeasure with another country by using
"The Bomb" (illustrated twice in Frasier's imagination as a
mushroom cloud). ==In other appearances==