Ted Danson as Sam Malone

Ted Danson starred as pitcher-turned-bartender Sam Malone on all 11 seasons of Cheers. His slick, nimble, and womanizing Sam proved so irresistible to audiences that Danson finally turned the highest-paid actor on TV. His portrayal scored him two Emmys and two Golden Globes.

Danson initially floundered in his post-Cheers years with middling movies (Made In America, Pontiac Moon, Getting Even With Dad) and TV initiatives (Ink) that failed to land with audiences. That modified in 1998, although, with the success of Becker (1998–2004), a CBS sitcom a few grumpy physician that Danson starred on for six seasons.

Danson has remained a reliably affable presence on TV all through the twenty first century. He obtained to sneer as an immoral billionaire on FX’s Damages (2007–2010), banter with Jason Schwartzman and Zach Galifianakis on HBO’s Bored to Demise (2009–2011), and ponder the that means of life on NBC’s The Good Place (2016–2020). For his activates Damages and The Good Place, he was nominated for six extra Emmys.

All through all of it, Danson additionally obtained to lampoon himself alongside IRL pal Larry David on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000–2024), showing sporadically in a few of the comedy’s greatest episodes. He is at present starring on Netflix’s A Man on the Inside, which scored him one more Golden Globe nomination.

Danson has been married to actress Mary Steenburgen, whom he met on the set of Pontiac Moon, since 1995.

Shelley Lengthy as Diane Chambers

The romantic rigidity between Sam and Shelley Lengthy’s waitress Diane Chambers was key to Cheers’ attraction throughout its early seasons. ”Folks love mismatches — and no person was extra mismatched than Sam and Diane,” co-creator and govt producer Glen Charles informed EW in 1997.

For her appeal and comedic timing, Lengthy gained an Emmy and two Golden Globes.

“We stated usually that we’re unsure that Cheers would have survived with out Shelley in that first season as a result of she was so sturdy and so assured and knew precisely who the character was and who she was,” co-creator and govt producer Les Charles informed Danson and Harrelson on their Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast in 2025. “And I believe all of the remainder of you had been discovering your method just a little bit.”

Lengthy famously left the sequence throughout its fifth season to give attention to a movie profession and her budding household. This compelled the writers to finish Sam and Diane’s engagement and fret over the sequence’ future.

“There have been some critics that stated when Shelley walks out the door, that is the finish of Cheers,” Glen added on the podcast.

Lengthy’s post-Cheers profession was a combined bag. Outrageous Fortune (1987) was successful, although movies like Troop Beverly Hills (1989) and Do not Inform Her It is Me (1990) had been essential and industrial flops (although the former has since develop into a cult favourite).

She did, nevertheless, discover success with The Brady Bunch Film (1995) and its 1996 sequel, in addition to a number of visitor roles on widespread sequence like Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1998), 8 Easy Guidelines (2003), and Trendy Household (2009–2018).

Lengthy reprised Cheers‘ Diane for 3 episodes of Frasier (1996, 2001), scoring an Emmy nomination for Excellent Visitor Actress in 1996.

Lengthy has one youngster, Juliana Tyson Kissick, with ex-husband Bruce Tyson. They are now divorced.

On Cheers, Rhea Perlman performed Carla Lozupone Tortelli LeBec, the brassy waitress who is aware of the buyer is not at all times proper. Throughout 11 seasons, Perlman landed 10 Emmy nominations, profitable 4 occasions, and seven Golden Globe nods.

Following Cheers, Perlman led her personal CBS sequence, Pearl (1996–1997), a few middle-aged widow returning to faculty. Regardless of essential acclaim, Pearl lasted 22 episodes. She chased it with a number of TV movies (Houdini, Secret Chopping) and guested on a few of the largest reveals of the period, together with Mad About You (1999), Becker (2001), and Ally McBeal (2001).

Over the previous couple of many years, Perlman reunited with Cheers costar Kirstie Alley as a principal cast member on Kirstie (2013–2014) and recurred on The Mindy Undertaking (2014–2017). She additionally branched out into voice work, lending her pipes to sequence like Star Wars: The Unhealthy Batch (2021–2023) and the 2016 animated movie Sing. She additionally reprised Carla for appearances on The Simpsons (1994) and Frasier (2002).

Most lately, she performed a pivotal position in the seismically widespread Barbie (2023), and seems on Peacock’s Poker Face (2023–current) and Apple TV+’s The Studio (2025).

Perlman has been married to actor Danny DeVito since 1982, although the couple separated in 2017 on cordial phrases, with no intention to divorce. They share three kids and two grandchildren.

George Wendt as Norm Peterson

Norm! George Wendt performed suds-slugging Cheers common Norm on all 11 seasons, a job that earned the Chicago-born-and-bred actor six consecutive Emmy nominations.

Talking with EW in 2020, Cheers author David Isaacs stated the inventive group valued Norm due to how difficult it was to pen his jokes. “The writing with the best diploma of issue was writing an entrance for Norm,” stated Isaacs. “He would at all times are available and they’d say, ‘Hello, Norm,’ and then the operating joke was the query, so: ‘The way you doing?’ ‘What’s up?’ ‘What are you up to?’ And you then had to write a joke from Norm’s ‘my life is simply nothing’ angle to match that, which is arduous as a result of it is like writing a joke from nothing. You aren’t getting a operating begin as a result of it is not popping out of context, it is not popping out of the battle or scenario, so you’ve to write a joke by itself.”

The problem led to what Isaacs described as one in all his favourite traces ever on the sequence, written by his writing companion, Ken Levine. “We stated, ‘Okay, let’s strive, What are you up to?’ And Ken simply stated, ‘My superb weight if I used to be 11 toes tall.’ I stated, ‘You simply broke the financial institution. We’ll by no means high that.’”

Wendt remained wildly prolific following Cheers, lending his laconic appeal to dozens of movies (Man of the Home, Spice World, Sandy Wexler, VFW) and sequence (Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Becker, George Lopez). He briefly led his personal CBS sitcom, The George Wendt Present (1995), which lasted for one season.

The actor embraced his enduring legacy as Norm, reprising the character on Cheers spinoffs The Tortellis and Frasier, in addition to on The Simpsons, Household Man, Wings, and St. Elsewhere. He additionally paid homage to the character on the Boston-set season of High Chef.

Wendt had three kids together with his longtime spouse Bernadette Birkett, whom he married in 1978. He died on Could 20, 2025, at age 76. In accordance to his agent, the actor handed peacefully at his residence.

John Ratzenberger as Cliff Clavin

John Ratzenberger’s Cliff Clavin served as a relentless companion to Wendt’s Norm throughout all 11 seasons. A font of ineffective data, Ratzenberger’s amiable mailman scored the actor two Emmy nominations.

Ratzenberger dusted off Cliff for episodes of The Tortellis (1987), Wings (1990), The Simpsons (1994, 2014), and Frasier (2002), in addition to a number of Disney specials.

The actor, in any case, had a particular relationship with the Mouse Home, serving as a voice actor for the Disney-owned Pixar, starting together with his flip as Hamm in the Toy Story franchise (1995–2019).

You can even hear his amiably gruff voice in a number of Monsters, Inc. (2001–2013), Vehicles (2006–2018), The Incredibles (2004–2018), and Inside Out movies (2015–2024), amongst a number of others, together with WALL-E (2008), Up (2009), and Coco (2017).

He was married to Georgia Stiny for 20 years, having two kids. The 2 divorced in 2004, and Ratzenberger went on to wed Julie Blichfeldt in 2012.

Woody Harrelson as Woody Boyd

Debuting in season 4, Woody Harrelson’s dim and candy Woody Boyd helped fill the hole left behind Cheers‘ bar by the late Nicholas Colasanto, who performed “Coach” Ernie Pantusso. Harrelson earned 5 Emmy nominations for his work on Cheers, profitable in 1989. He’d later be nominated in the Visitor class after reprising the position on a 1999 episode of Frasier.

Following Cheers, Harrelson rapidly shed the simple-minded impacts of Woody with searing, often controversial turns in Indecent Proposal (1993), Pure Born Killers (1994), and The Folks vs. Larry Flynt (1996), the latter of which landed him his first Academy Award nomination.

Over the subsequent 30 years, Harrelson has effortlessly slipped between broad comedy (Kingpin, Semi-Professional), high-stakes drama (The Skinny Purple Line, LBJ), advanced thrillers (No Nation For Previous Males, Seven Psychopaths), and style experiments (A Scanner Darkly, Zombieland).

He is additionally appeared in quite a few franchises, from Marvel (Venom: Let There Be Carnage) and Star Wars (Solo: A Star Wars Story) to Planet of the Apes (Warfare for the Planet of the Apes) and in The Starvation Video games as the oafish however big-hearted Haymitch Abernathy (2012–2015).

He was nominated for 2 extra Academy Awards for The Messenger (2009) and Three Billboards Exterior Ebbing, Missouri (2017), in addition to quite a few Emmys and Golden Globes for his work on initiatives like Sport Change (2012), True Detective (2014), and White Home Plumbers (2023).

Harrelson met his spouse, Laura Louie, in 1987. They married in 2008 and share three daughters, the final of whom was born in 2006.

Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane

As the erudite Frasier Crane, Kelsey Grammer is maybe the most enduring determine from the Cheers prolonged universe, having constructed his personal profitable sequence round the character with Frasier (1993–2004) and its two-season revival (2023–2024) on Paramount+.

Frasier debuted as a visitor participant in Cheers‘ season 3 premiere as a love curiosity for Diane, however caught round due to the character’s reputation, finally changing into a principal cast member in season 5.

For his turns as Frasier, Grammer was nominated for 13 Emmy Awards, profitable 4 occasions, and eight Golden Globes, profitable twice. He additionally gained an Emmy for his elegant voice work as Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons (1990–current) and acquired one other Golden Globe in 2012 for his efficiency as a scheming Chicago mayor on Starz’s Boss (2011–2012).

Grammer’s profession has actually been a marvel, with the golden-voiced actor hopping between lauded West Finish theater productions, big-budget franchise work in X-Males: The Final Stand (2006), The Expendables (2014), and Transformers (2014) movies, and self-skewering roles on 30 Rock (2010–2012), Entourage (2015), and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2016).

He reprised his X-Males character Dr. Hank McCoy, a.ok.a. Beast, in the post-credits scene of The Marvels (2023) and will play the character once more in subsequent yr’s Avengers: Doomsday.

Bebe Neuwirth as Lilith Sternin

Bebe Neuwirth first bellied up to Cheers as the icy, educated Lilith as a date for Grammer’s Frasier in season 4. She and Frasier finally married and had a toddler, although they divorced by the starting of the Frasier spinoff. Nonetheless, Neuwirth’s Lilith remained a constant presence on Frasier and appeared on its 2023 revival. She gained two Emmys for the position.

An icon of the stage, Neuwirth is a two-time Tony winner for her performances in Candy Charity (1986) and Chicago (1997). On movie, she bounced between voice work (All Canines Go to Heaven 2, An Extraordinarily Goofy Film) and live-action roles in enduring hits like Jumanji (1995), The College (1998), and How to Lose a Man in 10 Days (2003).

She stays a fixture on TV, having appeared in a number of community procedurals (Regulation & Order: Trial by Jury, Blue Bloods, The Good Combat).

Just lately, she helped lead the cast of HBO Max’s Julia (2022–2023) and earned one other Tony nomination for her work on the 2024 Broadway revival of Cabaret.

Kirstie Alley as Rebecca Howe

As Rebecca Howe, Kirstie Alley had the unenviable activity of filling the romantic void left by Lengthy’s absence. However Alley’s whip-smart, hard-edged Rebecca gained over followers upon arriving in season 6, and the present remained a scores and awards winner. She gained an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her efficiency.

Alley’s profitable presence onscreen translated to big-screen success in the Look Who’s Speaking trilogy (1989–1993) and cult devotion in Drop Lifeless Beautiful (1999). She additionally led her personal sitcom, Veronica’s Closet (1997–2000), for which she acquired Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

All through the 2000s, she bounced all over the small display, starring in sequence reminiscent of TV Land’s Kirstie (2013–2014) and Fox’s Scream Queens (2016), in addition to her personal A&E actuality present, Kirstie Alley’s Huge Life (2010). Alley additionally appeared on Dancing With the Stars (2011), Superstar Huge Brother (2018), and The Masked Singer (2022).

Alley died in 2022 at age 71 after a short battle with colon most cancers, main to a number of of her Cheers costars sharing tributes to the actress.

“I used to be on a airplane in the present day and did one thing I not often do. I watched an previous episode of Cheers. It was the episode the place Tom Berenger proposes to Kirstie, who retains saying no, though she desperately needs to say sure,” Danson stated in an announcement to EW.

He continued, “Her capability to play a girl on the verge of a nervous breakdown was each shifting and hysterically humorous. She made me chortle 30 years in the past when she shot that scene, and she made me chortle in the present day simply as arduous. As I obtained off the airplane, I heard that Kirstie had died. I’m so unhappy and so grateful for all the occasions she made me chortle. I ship my love to her kids. As they effectively know, their mom had a coronary heart of gold. I’ll miss her.”

Nicholas Colasanto as “Coach” Ernie Pantusso

Nicholas Colasanto was a veteran actor and director, having helmed over 100 episodes of reveals like Bonanza and Hawaii 5-O. He helped lead the first three seasons of Cheers as “Coach” Ernie Pantusso, who, like Danson’s Sam, was a former ballplayer tending bar.

Sadly, Colasanto died of a coronary heart assault in February 1985 as Cheers was wrapping its third season. In the fourth season premiere, Coach was mourned by the cast and changed by Woody Harrelson’s Woody Boyd, who we discovered was a pen pal of Coach’s.

Co-creator James Burrows described Colasanto as a father determine for the cast, per an EW report from 1994. “He was the older, extra skilled one in all all of us. Nick was Coach.”