"Thank you, thank you, thank you,� effuses Kelsey Grammer. I�ve just informed him I�ll refrain from posing the question he�s asked every time he�s interviewed; the one that will plague him for as long as he portrays the alter ego that has made him rich, famous, and currently TV�s biggest star - the endearingly neurotic Dr. Frasier Crane. The question about where Kelsey ends and Frasier begins. If they�re one and the same; if Kelsey is simply playing Kelsey. There�s even a lyrical harmony to �Kelsey Crane� and �Frasier Grammer� that the real names can�t boast of.

But I won�t ask him. Grammer laughs a villainous laugh and thanks me again. That�s four thank you�s, if you�re scoring at home.

It�s the voice you notice first. Grammer�s diction and enunciation are decidedly Frasier-esque; he tosses around words like �syllogism� and �travail� without blinking, and masterfully marries tricky adverbs with equally cumbersome adjectives. But the voice does not boom the way Frasier�s does. It doesn�t fill the impossibly resplendent Waldorf Astoria suite in which we sit the way it filled a certain Boston watering hole then, or the Seattle airwaves now. Though still very much a work-in-progress after 16 years, Frasier is so real, so believable, so dead-on, it�s hard to imagine that there�s any acting going on, that there�s a difference between the actor and the role. Yes, the voice - the reverberating, rumbling baritone, spewing overeducated philosophy, boundless frustration, and earnest angst and, in turn, making America feel better about itself every Thursday night - the voice sounds, well, normal. Later, I play the tape for friends. They don�t believe it�s Frasier. I tell them it�s not.

On a late January day, temperatures in the teens, after a morning that included appearances on �The Today Show,� �Good Housekeeping,� and �Pure Oxygen,� Grammer, recently 45, looks downright comfortable. Absent is Frasier�s ubiquitous stuffy attire - hell, Frasier Crane would mow the lawn in a suit - and in its place is J. Crew comfort and an easy grin. Sporting a cable knit sweater and blue jeans, in his stocking feet, beautiful wife Camille by his side, the bespectacled Grammer is in his element. Absent too is Dr. Crane�s frenzied side-to-side head wag, and the pop-eyed glare that announces to the world that his blood is rapidly approaching boil. The room service French fries are soggy, but Grammer is unbowed. If it�s possible to look at-home in a room that�s been lived in by thousands before you, Kelsey Grammer has pulled it off.

A promising theater career was scotched, or at least put on hold, when Kelsey Grammer, son of a musician father and vocalist mother, first met Frasier. The Juilliard-educated actor was earning a legitimate thespian�s living in New York when Frasier entered his life in 1984. His Broadway credits included Macbeth and Othello, and he was doing an Off-Broadway version of Sunday in the Park With George when Grammer�s co-star, Mandy Patinkin, introduced him to a casting director who was seeking a funny leading-man sort for a support role in �Cheers.� This unlikely Hollywood Type, whose previous TV credits included a few soap operas and a single appearance on �Kate and Allie,� had his foot in TV�s door.

�NBC gave me what�s called a �personality test,�� recalls Grammer, referring to the five-minute taped interview during which he was asked all sorts of odd personal questions. �I said something really dorky, and sort of chuckled,� he adds, breaking into a �Beavis and Butthead� laugh. �I thought I�d just embarrassed myself, but that�s apparently what sold them on me.�

�Cheers� executive producer Glen Charles would tell Grammer years later that, when the show�s execs saw that tape, they knew they had their man. Adds Grammer, �(Producer/director) Jimmy Burrows thought I was the funniest-looking man he�d ever seen.�

Alas, not everyone was as keen for their new barmate. Shelley Long, who we remember as Diane Chambers and, frankly, not much else, saw the needling psychiatrist as a threat to her character�s well-being. �Shelley made it very clear that she didn�t feel comfortable with Frasier around,� says Grammer. �That affected my livelihood in a very personal way, so I made it my mission in life to make sure Frasier stuck around.�

While Diane left the show following the 1987 season, Frasier stayed till last call. �Cheers� finally blinked the lights in 1993, and there were certainly more logical choices for a spinoff: jock lothario Sam, winsome hayseed Woody, lovably lethargic Norm, and dilettante postman Cliff all seemed like more ratings-friendly characters. Even Carla�s ex-husband Nick got a spinoff - remember �The Tortellis�? Me neither. But who would�ve expected Frasier to run with the ball? Well, Grammer, for one.

�That Frasier got his own show never seemed unlikely to me,� says Grammer as he sips that familiar demitasse. �They realized that the other characters weren�t really going anywhere, while Frasier had always been changing.�

Originally, the idea was to retire Frasier and star Grammer in a new sitcom about a TV mogul-type who�s suffered a horrible motorcycle accident, and runs the business from his bed.

�[Then-Paramount president] John Pike looked at me after reading the pilot,� recalls Grammer. �He shook his head and said, �I think sitcoms should be funny.�� There would be no show about a bedridden TV mogul. But relocating a familiar shrink to Seattle, and giving him a call-in radio show and a lively supporting cast... NBC green-lighted the project, and it turned out to be one of TV�s most inventive, clever, and successful shows, one that seamlessly melds vaudevillian slapstick with high-brow wit. Quarterbacking his eponymous show was the inimitable Dr. Frasier Crane, hypertension personified, whom Grammer alternately refers to as a �poor bastard� and a �brave soldier,� one who is �saddled with a hellish overeducation problem.�

�Frasier� exists as proof of casting genius. Martin Crane, father to Frasier and Niles, is played by John Mahoney, who once had a guest role on �Cheers.� Grammer thought Mahoney perfect for the part and asked him to come on board. There�s the sexy and sassy maid named Daphne, played by Jane Leeves, and a mischievous Jack Russell terrier named Eddie. Then there�s David Hyde Pierce, who plays Niles, Frasier�s effete little brother, with whom he shares an uncommon on-screen chemistry.

A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, David Hyde Pierce has followed a career path strikingly similar to Grammer�s. Both appeared at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven in 1982, in different productions. Grammer vaguely remembers an introduction, perhaps a lunch together, but nothing more. When Pierce came to New York, he was constantly haunted by Grammer, whom he resembles both in looks and mannerisms. Theater colleagues repeatedly told him, �Ya know, you should do a show with Kelsey Grammer.�

It was sage advice. Years later, Pierce paid it heed.

�From the moment we met,� muses Grammer, �we connected, as I imagine you would connect with a real brother. I�ve been able to live the brother experience vicariously through Frasier and Niles. Sometimes I look at a picture of John, David, and myself, and think, Geez, this is getting really spooky.�

It�s this rapport that makes the show so credible, so entertaining. Grammer, who sometimes directs episodes of �Frasier,� says the brotherly banter kicked in immediately. �It took two seconds,� he relates. �It just clicked.�

While working on the show keeps Grammer and Pierce in near-constant contact, they still pal around occasionally off the set. Grammer mentions a mutual friend�s art exhibit opening they�ll attend next year in Munich, and their trips to the opera, and messing around on some impromptu piano duets. It�s all so ... well, so Crane, isn�t it?

After garnering three Emmies, a Golden Globe, a People�s Choice Award, and an American Comedy Award for his portrayal of Frasier, Grammer seems to have difficulty distancing himself from the role.

�There is the bugaboo of being Frasier,� he concedes, �and for a creative industry, it�s certainly a world full of people with no creativity. They often do not have a vision beyond what they know.�

Grammer is clearly disappointed about not receiving more film offers, and it�s hard to blame him. It�s almost surreal to think that, in a world where Paulie Shore gets starring roles, an actor of Grammer�s skill and breadth would not have his pick of parts. �I�ve always had a lot of belief in my talent as an actor,� he opines, �and I hope I�ll be given the opportunity to play some different characters.�

Continued on next page...

---