Kelsey Grammer
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
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- "Hello, Seattle. I'm listening."
Kelsey Grammer (born 21 February 1955; age 53) is the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actor who appeared in the role of Captain Morgan Bateson in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Cause and Effect". He attended Julliard where he was a roommate and classmate of future Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager guest star Leigh J. McCloskey.
Grammer is most widely known for playing the character Dr. Frasier Crane in the television series Cheers and its spin-off Frasier (working with Kirstie Alley on the former, Dan Butler and Patrick Kerr on the latter, and Bebe Neuwirth and Paul Willson on both). His portrayal of Dr. Crane has earned him numerous awards, including three Emmys and two Golden Globes. He has the distinction of winning Emmys for the same character on three different series (Cheers, Frasier and a guest appearance on Wings) and along with Gunsmoke actor James Arness is one of only two actors to portray the same prime-time series character for twenty years (albeit on two different shows in Grammer's case). Grammer guest-starred as Frasier in episodes of Wings (starring Steven Weber) and The John Larroquette Show. He has also directed a number of episodes for Frasier and even sang the show's theme song.
Grammer's television career began with a 1982 adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. The following year he and John Glover appeared in the mini-series Kennedy, and the year after that Grammer and Glover appeared in another mini-series, George Washington, along with Ron Canada, Megan Gallagher, Harry Groener, Richard Kiley, Stephen Macht, Clive Revill, and Anthony Zerbe. After spending a year as a regular on the soap opera Another World, Grammer appeared in yet another mini-series, 1986's Crossings, co-starring Christopher Plummer, Zach Galligan, and Herta Ware. Since then, Grammer has starred in such TV movies as Beyond Suspicion (with Corbin Bernsen and John Putch) and The Pentagon Wars (with Bruce French, Randy Oglesby, Richard Riehle, and Tom Wright). He guest-starred on Medium (playing the "Angel of Death"), a show which he also executive produced. Other shows which he produced include UPN's Girlfriends (starring Golden Brooks) and his own Frasier.
In addition to his television work, Grammer has acted in a number of films. In 1996 he played the brash and cocky Lt. Commander Tom Dodge in the submarine comedy Down Periscope. He went on to co-star with Avery Brooks and Kim Cattrall in the 2001 movie 15 Minutes. In 2006 Grammer played Beast in X-Men: The Last Stand alongside his TNG co-star Patrick Stewart and fellow TNG guest star Famke Janssen.
Grammer is also a prolific voice actor, with perhaps his most recognizable voice role being Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons, whom he reprised in The Simpsons Movie, however the scenes were cut from the final film. He has supplied voices for such animated films as Anastasia (along with Christopher Lloyd, Kirsten Dunst and Andrea Martin), Toy Story 2 (with Wallace Shawn), and Teacher's Pet (also with Shawn, as well as David Ogden Stiers). In the 1999 TV movie version of George Orwell's Animal Farm, Grammer supplied the voice of Snowball the Pig, while Patrick Stewart voiced the hog Napoleon. Additionally, Grammer voiced the title character of the short-lived Spike TV series Gary the Rat.
Grammer currently co-stars with Everybody Loves Raymond star Patricia Heaton in the FOX series Back to You, which premieres in September 2007.
[edit] Trivia
The set of Cheers and later Frasier were next to the sets of Star Trek: The Next Generation on the Paramount Studios lot in Hollywood.
In the hit BBC-3 series Little Britain, the high school is called "Kelsey Grammar School", with the actor's last name misspelled to further the pun on Grammar School, an English school type where entrants have to pass an examination and/or pay fees in order to attend.
In Frasier, Rene Auberjonois played Frasier Crane's mentor from Harvard. Other Star Trek stars who have appeared on Frasier include Vaughn Armstrong, Penny Johnson, Scott MacDonald, Anthony Montgomery, Natalia Nogulich, Robert Picardo, Brent Spiner, David Ogden Stiers, Patrick Stewart, and Nana Visitor.
Grammer's appearance in "Cause and Effect" made him the third Cheers regular to enter the Trek world - after Kirstie Alley in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Bebe Neuwirth in TNG: "First Contact".
