Where are the Frasier cast now?

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The beloved sitcom Frasier is set to return for a revival after 17 years, with Kelsey Grammer starring in the leading role. 

Streaming service Paramount+ announced on Wednesday that the show will be part of its new line-up – and that Grammer, 66, will reprise his role as Dr Frasier Crane – but fans were left eagerly waiting on more details about which members of the original cast will feature. 

David Hyde Pierce – who played Frasier’s brother Niles and came out as gay in 2007, three years after Frasier went off-air in 2004 – is still acting, as is his on-screen wife Jane Leeves, who played Frasier’s housekeeper Daphne. However, Leeves is currently starring in medical drama The Resident and previously said she has no plans to leave for a Frasier reboot.

Peri Gilpin, who played radio producer Roz, went on to star in numerous TV shows including The Lionhearts, Make It or Break It and Scorpion, and her most recent film role was 2019’s Benjamin.

Meanwhile Blackpool-born John Mahoney, who played Frasier and Niles’s father Martin Crane, died from throat cancer in 2018 aged 77.  His faithful dog Eddie, played by Jack Russell terrier Moose, also passed away in 2006.

Frasier enjoyed a tumultuous love life in the show – and things weren’t that different for the actor who played him. Grammer is now married to his fourth wife, air stewardess Kayte Grammer, whom he met while still married to his third, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Camille.

It was during their marriage that he suffered a sudden heart attack while paddle-boarding in Hawaii and was moments away from death. Their split was acrimonious, with her blaming it on him being a ‘cross-dresser’.

It’s also apt that the father-of-seven played a psychiatrist, having endured more than his share of trauma; his dad – who divorced from his mother when he was two – was shot dead -two years after his grandfather died from cancer aged 63; his sister was brutally raped and murdered, and his two half brothers were eaten by sharks. Grammer also battled drug and alcohol addiction.  

The Frasier cast have continued to share a special bond, with Leeves having co-star Gilpin present at her daughter’s birth and making Hyde Pierce and Mahoney her son’s godfathers. Here we reveal what the original stars have been doing for the last 17 years…

Dr. Frasier Crane, played by Kelsey Grammer

Before joining the cast of Frasier when it began in 1993, Kelsey Grammer had already made a name for himself on the show Cheers.

On Frasier, Grammer played psychiatrist turned radio phone-in host Dr Frasier Crane, captivating audiences with his exuberant personality and long-time rivalry with his brother Niles. 

Frasier ended in 2004 after 264 episodes and dozens of awards. Afterwards, Grammer continued playing the voice of Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons until 2017. 

He has since gone on to act in major movies such as X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Transformers: The Age of Extinction plus TV shows Back to You, Boss and Proven Innocent. He also appeared in the 2020 film The God Committee. 

Grammer has won a range of awards, including five Emmys, three Golden Globes and a Tony Award. But despite his glittering career, behind the scenes Grammer’s life has been tainted by tragedy and addiction. 

His parents divorced when he was two and he and sister Karen were raised by their mother and grandmother in New Jersey. Their grandfather died from cancer when Grammer was 12, and two years later his biological father was shot dead by a madman who’d set fire to his car. The culprit, Arthur Niles, was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to a psychiatric facility. 

In 1975, 20-year-old Grammer’s sister Karen, then 18, was raped by four men and stabbed to death, with her body dumped in a trailer park. Speaking at the ring-leader’s parole hearing in 2009, Grammer – who’d had to identify her body – said her death ‘very nearly destroyed him’. 

While studying at the prestigious Julliard School of performing arts in New York, Grammer was expelled when he stopped going to classes and began abusing alcohol and drugs. He later told Oprah his alcoholism was in the beginning down to his depression after Karen’s murder. 

Tragedy struck yet again in 1980, when two of his half brothers, Stephen and Billy Grammer, died while scuba diving off the coast of St Thomas. Stephen suffered an embolism after surfacing too quickly, but Billy’s fate remains unknown – rescue teams believe he was eaten by sharks. 

Despite his big break with Cheers in 1984, Grammer continued to abuse drugs and alcohol and was arrested three times between 1988 and 1992 for drink driving and cocaine possession, and was once sentenced to 30 days in jail. 

Grammer has been married four times and has seven children three women. He wed dancer Doreen Alderman in 1982 and they had one daughter called Spencer, 35, a year later – however their marriage ended in divorce in 1990. 

Two years later Grammer had a second daughter, Kandace, following a one-night-stand with a make-up artist. He married former exotic dancer Leigh-Anne Csuhany in 1992 – but their marriage only lasted a year, with Grammer claiming she used to spit in his face and once threatened to kill him. 

They split when Csuhany was three months pregnant, which allegedly prompted her to try to take her own life, resulting in a miscarriage of their baby. 

In 1995 Grammer was accused of raping his child’s babysitter, who was 15, but the case never made it to trial as the grand jury decided not to indict him.

The following year Grammer checked himself into the Betty Ford Center to finally deal with his drink and drug addicted, and he went on to marry model and dancer Camille Donatacci in 1997, a year after meeting her.

The couple lived in a lavish Malibu mansion and had two children, daughter Mason, 16, and son Jude, 13. They divorced in 2011 and a number of public spats ensued. 

On Conan O’Brien’s chat show in 2012, Grammer claimed they ‘hadn’t had sex in a decade’ before their split. He also claimed he was behind her landing a role in Real Housewives of Beverley Hills, and called it his ‘parting gift’ to her. He told Piers Morgan: ‘It was my way of saying, “Look, you always wanted to be famous. Here you go”.’ 

Meanwhile Camille made public allegations that her ex was a cross-dresser and that they ‘just didn’t mesh sexually.’ Still bitter, she tweeted in June 2018 that Grammer ‘acts like I never existed’. 

While still married to Camille, Grammer became involved with British flight attendant Kayte Walsh, after meeting her on a flight from LA to London. It was reportedly love at first sight and Grammer convinced her into going on a date. Weeks after his and Camille’s divorce was finalised in 2011, he wed Walsh, with whom he now shares his fifth, sixth and seventh children – Faith, six, Kelsey, four, and Auden, two. He also has a daughter with ex-girlfriend Barrie Buckner called Greer, 27.

Grammer never signed a prenuptial agreement with Camille, and she stood to make a fortune – $30 million – in the settlement. Camille said the second season of Real Housewives was horrible because Grammer left her for Katye while she was filming. 

To ensure he doesn’t stray, Walsh admitted in 2018 that she convinced her husband to get his name tattooed on his crotch so that, as he put it: ‘If ever, I maybe thought a peccadillo outside the marriage was a good idea, that whoever might be… you know… would read that this particular piece of equipment was already signed.’ 

Daphne Moon, who later becomes Daphne Crane, played by Jane Leeves  

Jane Leeves joined the cast of Frasier from the beginning and played Mancunian physiotherapist and live-in house keeper Daphne Moon, hired by Frasier to help his father Martin.  

Niles becomes obsessed with Daphne and the series followed their slow-burning love affair, which culminated in them getting married. 

Jane Leeves has remained in the entertainment sphere since the end of Frasier. Between 2010 and 2015 she played Joy Scroggs in the TV Land Comedy, Hot in Cleveland. The series ended in 2015 after six seasons and 128 episodes.

The English-born actress is currently starring in medical drama The Resident playing orthapaedic surgeon Kit Voss. Leeves said last week she had no plans to depart if there was a Frasier revival. 

‘I have no idea, but I won’t be leaving The Resident to do that if it happens,’ Leeves told Entertainment Weekly. ‘There’s a lot of pieces that have to come together to make [the revival] happen.’

Leeves, 59, married her husband Marshall Coben, a TV executive, on December 21, 1996 and they have a daughter, Isabella, and a son, Finn. 

Her first pregnancy with Isabella was written into the Frasier plot as a weight-gaining problem for her character caused by stressed over her relationship with the character Niles. 

In a sign of how strong her relationship is with her Frasier co-stars, Peri Gilpin was in the delivery room during Isabella’s birth and is her godmother. The pair of friends live next door to each other in Los Angeles. 

Meanwhile, David Hyde Pierce and the late John Mahoney are Finn’s godfathers.      

Niles Crane, played by David Hyde Pierce 

David Hyde Pierce, 61, starred as Niles Crane, Frasier’s brother, and their competitive relationship provides much of the comedy of the show.

Since Frasier ended, Pierce has gone on to have an illustrious career in the entertainment industry. He starred in the stage production of Spamalot and in 2006, he played Lieutenant Frank Cioffi in the musical Curtains. 

A year later, Curtains opened on Broadway and he won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for his performance. 

From 2014 to 2015 Pierce appeared in CBS’s The Good Wife as Frank Prady. He later starred in Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp on Netflix.

In 2017, he also appeared in the limited docudrama When We Rise about LGBT rights.   

After years of speculation about his sexuality, Pierce came out as gay in 2007 and married his long-time partner Brian Hargrove, a television writer, director and producer, in 2008. 

When accepting his Tony Award for Curtains, Pierce thanked ‘my partner, Brian, because it’s 24 years of listening to your damn notes – that’s why I’m up here tonight’. 

Pierce has spent years working with the Alzheimer’s Association on behalf of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease.

Roz Doyle, played by Peri Gilpin 

Peri Gilpin, 59, starred as Roz Doyle, the long-suffering, quick-witted producer of Frasier’s radio show. 

After the show ended, Gipin appeared on the ABC Family drama Make It or Break it. For her role, Gilpin received the highly commended Gracie Award in the category of ‘Outstanding Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama Series’.

Gilpin and her co-star Leeves, who are great friends, ran a production company together after Frasier ended. They even had a project involving an American remake of the British comedy sitcom The Vicar of Dibley, with Kirstie Alley in a starring role.

Gilpin has also appeared in the TV series Medium and Desperate Housewives and has has also appeared on Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Her most recent film role was 2019’s Benjamin. 

She married painter Christian Vincent in July 1999, and the couple had twins born by a surrogate mother in May 2004. 

Since her mother’s death from leiomyosarcoma in 1997, Gilpin has led efforts for cancer research. She’s also a prominent Democrat and showed her support for Joe Biden via her Instagram page in the run-up to the US election last year.

Martin Crane, played by John Mahoney  

The sitcom co-starred John Mahoney as Frasier’s father Martin, who passed away aged 77 in 2018, following a four-year throat cancer battle.

In 2000, Mahoney was awarded a SAG Award for his work on the show, and was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes.

Besides starring in the hugely popular sitcom, John also had a lucrative film career, with roles in productions including The American President, Say Anything… and  Eight Men Out. 

Most recently, John had a recurring role in TV Land’s Hot In Cleveland, where he appeared as Roy in six episodes between 2011 and 2014. 

Bob ‘Bulldog’ Briscoe, played by Dan Butler

Butler, 66, appeared in every season of Frasier but one between 1993 and 2004, and played Bob ‘Bulldog’ Briscoe, a volatile, macho sports presenter who hosted the show which followed Frasier’s at KACL.

Prior to Frasier, he played two different characters within the Hannibal Lecter franchise. In 1986 he played the role of Jimmy Price, a technician in the film Manhunter, then five years later was played Roden in 1991’s The Silence of The Lambs.

While Frasier was airing, Butler provided the voice of Mr Simmons on the Nickelodeon show Hey Arnold (1997-2002), and later reprised the role in Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie.

In 2006, Butler produced and starred in the faux documentary Karl Rove, I Love You (which he also co-wrote and co-directed). Other film work includes roles in Prayers for Bobby and Longtime Companion, while Butler has also enjoyed success on stage as Truman Capote in American Repertory Theatre’s 2017 production of Rob Roth’s Warhol/Capote, Jack in the 2013 Off-Broadway production of Conor McPherson’s The Weir and Lenin in the Broadway revival of Tom Stoppard’s Travesties in 2018.

Butler married his partner, actor and director Richard Waterhouse, in 2010. 

Bebe Glazer, played by Harriet Sansom Harris 

Bebe Glazer was a lascivious Seattle talent agent who represented Frasier, having previously been Bulldog’s rep, and appeared roughly once per season.

Harris, now 66, started out as a Broadway star and has continued to enjoy success on stage, winning a Tony Award in 2002 for her performance in Thoroughly Modern Millie.

She had notable guest roles in TV series such as Ally McBeal, Ellen, Ghost Whisperer and Six Feet Under, and played Martha Huber’s sister Felicia Tilman in Desperate Housewives in 2004.

She’s also made various film appearances, including Memento, Addams Family Values, Nurse Betty and Phantom Thread. In January 2019, Harris was cast in the Netflix drama series Ratched. 

Kenny Daly, played by Tom McGowan

McGowan, 61, played easy-going KACL station manager Kenny Daly – previously a successful DJ who was married with at least three children, but got divorced in 2003, following which he suffered a breakdown.

In real life, McGowan and his wife Cathy have two children, and he has a string of theatre and TV credits to his name, including Down the Shore, Monty, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Everybody Loves Raymond and The Good Fight.

He received a Tony Award nomination for his role in La Bete in 1991, and played the Wizard in the original Second National Tour production of Wicked in 2009, and has reprised the role on multiple occasions including in London’s West End from 2015-16.