FRASIER CRANE

'Dr. Frasier Winslow Crane' (b.March 10, 1952) is a fictional character on American television sitcoms ''Frasier'' and ''Cheers''. He was played by Kelsey Grammer for twenty years, tying the record for the longest running character on prime-time American television with James Arness as Marshal Matt Dillon on the show ''Gunsmoke''. Grammer received Emmy Award nominations for portraying Crane on three different NBC shows, including a 1992 guest appearance on ''Wings''.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Life on ''Frasier''

Character Changes

Personality

Intellectual Pursuits: Education and Career

Romance

Crossovers

Biography

Many of the details of his early life are introduced or elaborated on in ''Frasier''.

Early life

It is established in ''Frasier'' that Frasier Crane was born in Seattle in March 1952 to Hester Rose Crane (nee Palmer) (a psychiatrist) and Martin Crane (a police detective). The Crane family background is Russian and British.
In the episode "Back Talk" it is revealed that Frasier shares a birthday with one of Queen Elizabeth's children. As Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex (born 10 March 1964) is the only one of Queen Elizabeth's children born in March, Frasier's birthday is March 10, 1952. However the episode "The Fight Before Christmas" takes place a few days after "Back Talk" (according to the storyline) which contradicts a March birthday. In the episode "Are You Being Served?" it is revealed that he was named after one of his mother's lab rats. Frasier has one younger brother named Niles.

As a child, Frasier was unusually sensitive, and as such was a frequent target for bullies. His closest companion when growing up was his even more sensitive brother, with whom he was intensely close yet fiercely competitive. In High School, he played the Pirate King in his School's production of ''Pirates of Penzance''.
While the rest of the family stayed in Seattle, Frasier settled in Boston, most likely because of his attendence at Harvard University, a time in his life that corresponds to the show ''Cheers''. According to the ''Cheers'' storyline, Frasier's first wife, whom he married while still quite young, was Nanette Guzman, later a well-known children's entertainer who appears both on ''Cheers'' (played by Emma Thompson) and on ''Frasier'' (played by Laurie Metcalf and Dina Spybey). The marriage lasted nine months.
Soon after Frasier's first appearance on ''Cheers'' it is revealed that he is dating Diane. They ultimately get engaged, but this relationship ends when Diane abandons him at the altar. Frasier nevertheless becomes a regular fixture at the bar, and would eventually marry again, this time to Lilith Sternin, a fellow psychiatrist. Together, they have a son, Frederick, but this marriage too ends in heartbreak when Lilith cheats on Frasier with a colleague. Following their divorce, Lilith gains primary custody of Frederick. At one point during the divorce he considered suicide, but the thought of his son stopped him from completing the act.

Life on ''Frasier''

The strained relationship with his father and brother continues on Frasier's return to Seattle. In the episode "You Can Go Home Again," which depicts Frasier's recent arrival in Seattle, his father bitterly comments that his son's visits became remarkably infrequent following his mother's death, and neither Martin nor Niles seem particularly welcoming to him. Frasier gets a job at KACL radio as a radio psychiatrist.
Soon after his return to Seattle, Frasier invites his father, who has become unable to live alone, to live with him. To help out, he hires his father a physical therapist, Daphne Moon. Although frequently at loggerheads and retaining drastically different personalities, the next eleven years see the two men's relationship growing stronger and stronger. Frasier also develops a much closer relationship with his brother, as well as with Daphne and with the producer of his radio show, Roz Doyle.
During this period, although Frasier's radio career, intellectual pursuits and reputation are quite strong, his romantic life is frequently disastrous. The final episode ends with Frasier flying to Chicago to pursue a relationship with Charlotte, which had ended prematurely when circumstances forced Charlotte to move back to Chicago.
Frasier, when driving or in scenes with his vehicle, has had three BMW's - a BMW E34 5-Series, a later version of the 5-Series, the E39 which was black with grey leather interior and possibly with the M Sports Package, and then later in the series a BMW 7 Series pre-update which was dark blue.

Character Changes

Frasier's lifestyle as depicted on ''Cheers'' differs, sometimes greatly, from what is seen of him on ''Frasier''. While on the former he is a member of the upper middle class and sees no issue with brushing shoulders with the blue collar patrons of Cheers, on the latter he is shown to be an upper class snob. On ''Cheers'' Frasier often watches professional sports and drinks beer, activities he often looks down upon on his own series. On the reverse, on ''Frasier'' the character has many stereotypically upper class interests, such as wine collecting and opera, he almost never shows such inclinations on the former series. Even his abodes are vastly different: in Boston he lived in a rather plain, sparsely decorated brownstone while in Seattle he has a lavishly decorated condominium filled with pricey art and furniture. This can of course be attributed to the change in writing staff and also to the increased focus on the single character, which led to deeper character development that was impossible in a show with a cast as large as ''Cheers''. This in turn created a situation where fans of one series often have little to no interest in the other. Indeed, episodes of ''Frasier'' incorporating ''Cheers'' characters have often proved unpopular amongst the fanbase with possible exception of Lilith Sternin, who in turn became a recurring character.
Additionally, on Cheers his character was somewhat incompetent with women; whereas on Frasier he dated numerous attractive women (and often a new one per episode).

Personality

Crane is well-to-do, with upper class, intellectual tastes and a snobbish, uptight demeanor. He is something of an epicure, and enjoys the finer things in life, such as wine, good food, and expensive tailoring. He is also an aficionado of the arts, including opera, classical music, theatre, and antiquities, and possesses some esoteric and obscure interests, such as Mongolian throat singing and African artifacts. His large ego, coupled with his Harvard and Oxford education, make him extremely confident in the advice he gives on his radio show. He is also somewhat self-absorbed and narcissistic, a consequence of his lonely childhood. He is extremely pompous and verbose, prone to making grand, melodramatic declarations regarding his intentions and making the most of every opportunity to make a speech. Frequently, his pomposity and snobbery is undercut and belittled by the other characters he encounters, and is often the cause of many of the misfortunes and crises that occur in his life. Although he shares many traits with Niles, he does not have as many allergies, is more realistic and easy going, and appears somewhat more athletic.
Frasier is passionate about psychiatry. A staunch Freudian, he strongly believes that "there are no accidents" and that every action (and dream) carries with it a meaningful and unconscious subtext. This frequently leads him to obsessively overanalyze and fret about minor details regarding his life and relationships, which frequently creates problems in his life. When obsessing so, he is frequently prone to ignore the (usually wise and appropriate) advice given to him by his family and friends (in particular his father, Martin) and pursue his own course of action, which more often than not leads to disaster. His habit to overanalyze is so severe, that he once spent an entire episode fretting about a dream with homo-erotic implications, only later realizing (with Martin's help) that the dream did not possess any significant implications regarding his life; it was merely a consequence of his subconscious attempting to give himself a challenging patient (himself) following a dearth of them on his show.
Whilst rarely heeding the advice given to him by others, Frasier himself is full of advice to impart, and offers the benefit of his counsel to the extent that he frequently meddles in the affairs and relationships of others, much to the chagrin of his family and friends. Although this approach can be beneficial (such as his influence in bringing together his brother Niles and Daphne Moon) and forms the basis of his successful career, his advice and plans can frequently backfire on him, and can frequently lead to complicated, tangled, embarrassing scenarios. For example, in the above situation of bringing Niles and Daphne together, he is targeted by Daphne's fiancée for a lawsuit because of his actions. Frasier's meddling - and the adverse consequences it frequently leads to - is not intended maliciously, however; he is extremely well-meaning and eager to please, and desires nothing more than to be liked and popular (again a result of his lonely childhood, in which he had been frequently alienated by his peers).

Intellectual Pursuits: Education and Career

During his school years, Frasier developed interests in - and frequently excelled at - the fine arts, cooking, and other intellectual pursuits. He was keen on and drawn to the theatre, appearing in several amateur school productions, and seems to have considered acting as a future vocation, but inspired by his mother, he developed a fascination for psychiatry. This may also have been partially inspired by his father being a police detective. Frasier stated he became a student of human behavior when at age 8 he was tormented by bullies. His mother explained to him why the children were acting that way, thus leading to his distancing himself from the pain of rejection by analyzing others rather than reacting to them on an emotional level. He studied at Harvard and Oxford University, and speaks French, German, Italian, and Spanish, though he apparently learned German and French after the first two seasons; for example, in one early episode, Frasier could not speak German, and had to use Niles' maid Marta to translate. In another early episode a caller with a French accent is misunderstood by Frasier even though she uses a common French word for "mister." In a later episode both Frasier and Niles, despite being wine lovers and able to speak French, fail to pronounce the name of Chateau Petrus, often considered the world's best wine. Frasier's hobbies and talents include playing the piano, composing music, singing, gourmet cooking, chess, collecting fine art, antiquing, home decorating, reading, writing short stories and plays, enjoying fine dining, and his wine club.

Romance

The first girl Frasier kissed apparently punched him, as he later told Freddy the kiss was worth it as he was, "smiling all the way to the nurse's office." During high school Frasier had a crush on Lorna Langly, a cheerleader. He meets up with her years later and they date for a short while. His first serious girlfriend was his music teacher, and much older woman, Clarisse, whom he left to go off to college. A former drinking buddy of Frasier’s writes about the experience, naming his book Slow Tango in South Seattle. In Mama Mia, Frasier dates a woman who is identical to his mother, and in another series of episodes Frasier dates a career woman. In that relationship Frasier takes the less than dominant role, as he is lavished with gifts and pouts when he is not given enough attention. In the episodes Don Juan in Hell I and II, Frasier is confronted by all his past female relationships including that of his ex-wives, his mother and Diane. He realizes that he is pushing women away, and decides to commit to a lasting relationship.

Crossovers

In the third season of the TV show ''Wings'', Frasier and Lilith visit Nantucket so Frasier can host a seminar. In these two episodes Frasier shows little resemblance to his character on Cheers or Frasier. He is enamored with Freddy's nanny which leads to his getting punched by Lilith. His commercial side shows as he hawks t-shirts and videos dealing with his short seminar. Freddy is a toddler in these two episodes, though he does not appear. Lilith and Frasier do not seem to be in love, and it's easy to see how divorce followed soon after.