Why Kelsey Grammer Was Hesitant To Cast Jane Leeves In Frasier
What would "Frasier" be without its supporting cast? Well, now we know. The "Frasier" revival has finally hit Paramount+ with only Kelsey Grammer returning, and the result is something that's neither disappointing nor remarkable. The original sitcom ran for 11 seasons from 1993 to 2004, and featured a cast of beloved characters that helped ground the often insufferably pompous Frasier Crane as he went about trying to build a new life for himself in Seattle.
Whether it was John Mahoney as Frasier's blue collar cop father, Martin, or Peri Gilpin as his straight-talking producer, Roz, the titular shrink always had people around him that helped to highlight his own pretentiousness when he most needed it. David Hyde Pierce as Frasier's Brother Niles would often encourage the ego-driven pomposity, but much like star Kelsey Grammer, the actor brought such a likable quality to the role that Niles remained as endearing as everyone else in the show.
Then, of course, there was Daphne Moon, Martin's physical therapist and Frasier's live-in housekeeper who quickly became the object of Niles' affection. The Manchester-born Daphne was played by English actress Jane Leeves, who brought a quirky yet down-to-earth energy to proceedings that perfectly balanced out the supporting cast. But prior to the show's debut, Kelsey Grammer seemingly had a totally different vision for the character.
'She's in'
Vanity Fair's 2018 oral history of "Frasier" revealed that Kelsey Grammer was initially hesitant to cast Jane Leeves as Daphne. As the "Frasier" star put it, "I was nervous about a British-accented housekeeper turning us into a dreadful 'Nanny and the Professor.' So, I asked to read with her." A Mary Poppins-inspired sitcom from the 1970s, "Nanny and the Professor" ran for three seasons on ABC and starred Juliet Mills as Nanny Phoebe Figalilly — an English housekeeper tasked with looking after Professor Harold Everett's (Richard Long) family. Throughout the show, it's implied that Nanny Figalily has some sort of supernatural ability, including psychic powers, though it's never officially confirmed.
All of which Grammer seemed keen to stay away from with "Frasier." After all, as the Vanity Fair piece put it, "The show's creators, David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee, followed a simple mantra: no stupid jokes, no stupid characters. Deliver smart, heartfelt content framed within awkward situations." Hardly the kind of thing that needed a clichéd British nanny character who may or may not have psychic powers.
However, Peter Casey went on to reveal how Grammer brought Leeves into Angell's office and refused to let anyone but he and the actress in. He continued, "The door closes, and we're left standing there sweating. About a minute later, the door swings open. Kelsey blows right by us and without turning around says, 'She's in.'"
To hear Leeves tell it, however, you wouldn't know there was any hesitation on the part of Grammer. As the actress told the BBC back in 2011, "The producers didn't know who I was and I went in and I literally read with Kelsey and they hired me on the spot. It was the easiest job I ever got."
Daphne was more than the nanny
Interestingly enough, once the show did get underway, Daphne the character quickly revealed herself to possess many of the qualities Kelsey Grammer seemed so worried about. Not only was she British, but throughout the show's 11 seasons Daphne would make much of her "psychic" abilities, which were often shown to be oddly accurate. But much like the other characters on the show, she also emitted an endearing and warm aura — a "sort of earthiness and honesty," as Jane Leeves told Vanity Fair. That aspect of her personality prevented Daphne from coming across as one-dimensional and the show itself from seeming like a "dreadful 'Nanny and the Professor.'"
What's more, as eccentric as Daphne and her psychic "abilities" could be, it actually proved an ingenious way of highlighting just how absurd Frasier and Niles' posturing as upper-class elites was. It was essentially Daphne's job to, as Jane Leeves once put it, "burst their pompous balloon," which she did not only by providing that "earthiness and honesty," but by being the quirky psychic and still seeming more down to earth than Frasier and Niles.
In that sense, Daphne proved to be an inspired addition to the show, and one that Grammer needn't have worried so much about. If only the revival series had managed to bring her back somehow. Even British comedy legend Nicholas Lyndhurst as Frasier's old college buddy Alan has yet to provide anything like the kind of charm that Daphne brought to the original series. At the very least let's hope for a Daphne cameo in the near future.
New episodes of the "Frasier" revival premiere every Thursday on Paramount+.