Linda Hamilton's First Frasier Guest Appearance Was Hidden From Viewers
The first season of "Frasier" is remarkable for having all the elements that made the show so beloved. Whereas you wouldn't begrudge "Friends" fans for skipping the first season on a rewatch, and even "The Simpsons" took a while to settle into its groove, "Frasier" seemingly had it all dialed in from the outset.
In fact, the show had things figured out in the pilot, "The Good Son," which first aired in 1993. In the inagural installment, the writing is as sharp as "Frasier" ever was. Meanwhile, star Kelsey Grammer, already adept at playing the finickity psychiatrist from his years portraying him on "Cheers," is effortlessly comfortable in the lead role. Even the supporting cast are all perfectly-pitched from the outset, making the pilot a truly impressive artifact as well as a brilliantly funny episode of the beloved sitcom.
The pilot itself showcases how Frasier Crane, who originated as a regular at the titular Boston bar in "Cheers," after moving back to his native Seattle, where he's very quickly forced to take in his elderly father Martin (John Mahoney), after his brother, Niles (David Hyde Pierce), reveals that Martin and his wife, Marris, don't get along. While the mismatch between Frasier's stuffiness and Martin's blue-collar everyman energy forms the bulk of the narrative in "The Good Son," we also get to see Frasier settling in to his new job hosting a call-in radio show on KACL, where he doles out advice to callers played by guest stars we never actually get to see. As it turns out, one of these callers in particular was a well-known actress who would return to the show for a full cameo some four years after she first called in.
A hidden cameo
In season four, episode 24, Frasier receives calls from a woman named Laura, who is evidently flying into Seattle to visit her sister, Molly, but she has dialed the wrong number. Feeling particularly lonesome at the time, Frasier decides to drive to the airport to meet Laura, who is played by none other than Linda Hamilton, who will soon be seen in the fifth season of "Stranger Things." The two chat for a while at the airport bar, before Laura reveals that she's married, and the pair go their separate ways. It's a sweet little moment between the doctor and a woman he thinks could be good match for him, even though it's a very brief appearance by Hamilton. Which is why it's quite nice to know that this wasn't the "Terminator" star's only role on "Frasier."
Hamilton actually had a cameo in the pilot episode as a guest caller named Claire, who dialed into Frasier's show towards the end of the episode. Hamilton made the most of her brief voiceover role, telling Dr. Crane in distraught tones that she's struggling to move on from her ex-boyfriend after eight months and adding that it's "almost like [she's] in mourning or something."
Casting director Jeff Greenberg told Vanity Fair about the genesis of Hamilton's voiceover role, saying, "I was friends with Linda Hamilton, and Chris [Lloyd, writer-producer] was friends with Griffin Dunne. They came in and recorded the callers for the pilot." Greenberg also explained to Entertainment Weekly that he was "hunting down people" during the first season of "Frasier," as the show had yet to establish itself as the mega hit sitcom it would become. Thankfully his friendship with Hamilton made her an easy get for Claire, the scorned lover. We're just glad she also came back later for a proper role on the show.