Frasier Had Some Major Guest Stars That We Never Actually Got To See
"Frasier" had a bevy of guest stars throughout its original eleven-season run, but you might not recognize some of them on first watch. That's because many of the most famous actors to appear on the beloved sitcom did so in voice only, calling into psychologist Frasier Crane's (Kelsey Grammer) Seattle radio show for all manner of life advice. Casting a celebrity who viewers never actually see felt like a new gimmick when the series first premiered, and it's frankly still a rarity now.
In an oral history of the series published by Vanity Fair in 2018, series co-creators Peter Casey and David Lee, casting director Jeff Greenberg, and director Jimmy Burrows talked about how the call-in guest stars idea originated, who showed up on the other end of the line, and which celebrities turned "Frasier" down. "Early on, someone suggested getting guest voices," Casey recalled. "Kelsey agreed, as long as they weren't goofy calls. He wanted Frasier to give realistic advice."
The earnestness of the callers sometimes made it difficult for audiences to recognize the guest stars behind the unseen patients, but there were plenty of A-listers who popped by "Frasier" for just one episode. "I was friends with ["Wonder Woman" star] Linda Hamilton, and Chris was friends with ["An American Werewolf in London" actor] Griffin Dunne," Greenberg recalled. "They came in and recorded the callers for the pilot." Burrows, he says, was able to get two legendary comedians, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks, to agree to a stint on the show that same year.
Everyone you've ever heard of called into Frasier's radio show
The "Frasier" guest cast list is extensive and impressive, and plenty of actors weren't afraid to be the butt of the joke when it came to their characters' peculiar psychological issues. In one episode, "Home Alone" star Macaulay Culkin called in playing a 43-year-old man who had insecurities surrounding his youthful voice. In another, Helen Mirren admitted to being a kleptomaniac. John Cusack talked about pulling his teeth out, Bill Paxton explained that his dog kept telling him to take off his tin foil helmet, and David Duchovny described his character's exhausting sex life.
Legends like Kevin Bacon, Mary Tyler Moore, Matthew Broderick, Carrie Fisher, Billy Crystal, and Ray Liotta all popped in, but the show didn't stop with just actors. Musician Art Garfunkel, author Stephen King, and tennis player John McEnroe were among the non-actor guests whose voices appeared on the show.
According to Lee and Greenberg, the guest spot was also an early example of a work-from-home acting gig. "You could literally be anywhere in the world and phone in," Lee told Vanity Fair. "We'd hire day players to run lines during filming and then replace their parts with celebrities. Once it caught on, people were dying to do it." Greenberg says the James Spader called in while "holding his baby at home," while "Scarface" actress Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio recorded her part "from a pay phone at Lincoln Center."
Well, almost everyone
Frankly, "Frasier" already had enough on-screen guest stars (James Earl Jones! Rosie Perez! Michael Keaton! Nathan Lane!) to make it look like sweeps week every week, but the phone gimmick gave the show an added sense of novelty. "That hadn't been done before on TV," Burrows explained. "It's a quirk, like Carlton the doorman [on 'Rhoda'], that worked well."
Of course, when it comes to sitcom casting, there are always stories of what could have been. According to Greenberg, a few legends of stage and screen passed on the chance to appear on the show. As he told Vanity Fair: "We did get turned down sometimes by people, like Jane Fonda, Sting, Stephen Sondheim, and Harrison Ford." So far, the new revival season of "Frasier" on Paramount+ hasn't put its titular character back in front of the microphone yet, but if it does, we'll keep our ears open for future surprise cameos — and start adding to our dream guest list in the meantime.