What Happened To The Cast Of Wings?

It was the first dramatic movie to ever win the Best Picture Oscar, and... wait, no. Wrong "Wings." For '90s TV viewers, the name conjures up not a silent war classic that serves as the template for all subsequent wartime buddy movies, but a sitcom mainstay that ran for eight seasons on NBC, and, like many NBC sitcoms with longevity, led to bigger and better things for many of its cast. At its peak, "Wings" felt like it was on TV nearly all the time, not just on NBC, but also in constant reruns on the network's cable sister-station, USA.

"Wings" was a workplace comedy set at a small, two-airline airport in Nantucket, focusing predominantly on the Hackett brothers, who run the fictional Sandpiper Airlines, which has all of one plane. The show was create by former "Cheers" writers David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee, with a similar neighborhood hangout vibe — in the decade before 9-11 and the TSA, it was actually possible to convince viewers that an airport could be a comfy place where everybody knows your name. "Cheers" characters would occasionally cameo, including not just Frasier Crane, Rebecca Howe, and Cliff and Norm, but many of the same extras, if one looks closely enough. The producers would later create the "Cheers" spinoff series "Frasier."

As with "Cheers," many of the cast went on to further success. Here's what happened to the cast of "Wings."

With leading-man charisma and comic timing, Tim Daly became best-known post-"Wings" for taking to the air in a whole new way: as the official voice of Superman in the Bruce Timm animated series set in the same universe as his popular Batman cartoon (Daly didn't initially understand the significance). Daly, whose sister Tyne shot to fame as the costar of "Cagney & Lacey," had been an actor for a while before sitcom stardom, having debuted in "Diner," and starred in "Spellbinder," one of the best cult-based horror movies of all time.

Immediately after "Wings," he played astronaut Jim Lovell in HBO's "From the Earth to the Moon," and Dr. Richard Kimble in a short-lived remake of "The Fugitive." His appearances on "The Sopranos" as recovering alcoholic J.T. Dolan led to an Emmy nomination, and he later landed a lead role on the "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff "Private Practice," as ER doctor and alternative medicine practitioner Pete Wilder. From 2014 to 2019, he played Henry McCord, husband to Tea Leoni's title character in "Madam Secretary"; they married for real after the show went off the air.

The veteran actor continues to voice the Man of Steel in various animated projects — though Daly has a funny story about possibly being banned from voicing Superman – and regularly appears on TV, most recently in the Leanne Morgan Netflix sitcom "Leanne" (above). He'll next be seen onscreen in the drama "Dust to Malibu," in which he plays the lead, an estranged father who tries to reunite with his daughter.

Following "Wings," Daly's onscreen brother scored perhaps one of the most thankless — yet challenging — roles an actor could get: that of Jack Torrance in Mick Garris' TV remake of "The Shining." Original author Stephen King, who had never liked Stanley Kubrick's famous adaptation nor Jack Nicholson's performance in it, approved; viewers and cinephiles who (correctly) consider Nicholson's performance iconic had a hard time accepting anyone different, especially the guy from "Wings" (though it definitely has its supporters). Fortunately for Weber, he is more than just a comedy guy, having been a child actor in commercials, a youthful soap actor opposite Julianne Moore on "As the World Turns" in the '80s, and following "Wings," a successful Broadway stint, in which, among other shows, he succeeded Matthew Broderick in "The Producers."

Weber worked steadily in movies throughout the '80s and '90s, even while still on "Wings." Beginning in such films as "The Flamingo Kid" an "Hamburger Hill," his peak career included dramas like "Leaving Las Vegas" and comedies like "Jeffrey," in which he played the eponymous lead. Like Daly, he also worked in DC animation, doing his best Alan Napier as Alfred for two direct-to-video Batman movies starring Adam West and Burt Ward (he reprised the role on "Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?"). For Marvel, he voiced multiple villains in "Ultimate Spider-Man.," and dog Charlie B. Barkin on "All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series." He currently plays trauma surgeon Dean Archer on "Chicago Med."

The role of Helen was originally quite different, with a specific actress in mind: Peri Gilpin, whom the producers would later cast on "Frasier," was going to play the part as the daughter of Greek immigrants, to contrast with Joe tracing his ancestry back to the pilgrims. NBC's Brandon Tartikoff, however, didn't think Gilpin was ready to carry a show, and instructed the writers to cast Bernard and rewrite the character around her. Helen Trionkis became Helen Chapel, perhaps a nod to Bernard's religious upbringing as the daughter of televangelist Jerry Wayne Bernard. As a child, she sang gospel along with her late sister Robyn, best known for playing Terry Brock on "General Hospital."

Bernard's acting career kicked of in 1982 when she was cast as K.C. Cunningham on "Happy Days," and appeared in the movie "Young Doctors in Love." She next played waitress Amy in the syndicated sitcom "It's a Living," but "Wings" remains her highest profile acting project. However, she has also maintained a separate career as a musician, recording adult-contemporary and country albums, and perhaps more famously, the Peter Cetera duet "(I Wanna Take) Forever Tonight" (above).

After "Wings," Bernard appeared in the feature films "Gideon," "Jackpot," and "Welcome to Paradise," but mostly worked in TV movies, notably playing Santa Claus' daughter-in-law opposite Steve Guttenberg as Nick Claus, in "Single Santa Meets Mrs. Claus" and its sequel "Meet the Santas." She has been out of the entertainment industry since 2008.

The actor behind the pompous, sexist, competing airline boss and designated heel Roy Biggins claimed he knew he had found his way into a lucrative role at the first table read. Mostly a stage actor, David Schramm never managed to find a TV or movie role to equal or top it, though he played original "Wizard of Oz" artist W.W. Denslow in the L. Frank Baum biopic, "The Dreamer of Oz."

Schramm was primarily a stage guy. Graduating from Juilliard on a full scholarship, he became a founding member of John Houseman's The Acting Company, a touring nonprofit that counts among its alumni Kevin Kline, Keith David, Rainn Wilson, and Jeffrey Wright. After "Wings," he returned to the New York stage, in productions ranging from "Twelve Angry Men" to "Candida" and "The Merry Wives of Windsor." His final stage performance was the lead role of the pompous acting teacher Marlowe in The York Theatre Company's "Enter Laughing: The Musical." He died a year later, in 2020, from a heart attack.

As of this writing, Rebecca Schull is 96 years old and still acting, most recently in Peacock's dark, time-loop rom-com "Meet Cute," starring Pete Davidson and Kaley Cuoco.

Born in 1929, Schull didn't start acting professionally until her late forties, starring in 1977's "Fefu and Her Friends" off-Broadway. Her TV career began with the TV movie "Yulya's Diary," followed by small roles on the soaps "Ryan's Hope," "St. Elsewhere," and "One Life to Live." On the big screen, she played Gregg Edelman's mother in Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors." Soon thereafter, she landed the "Wings" role of Fay, the multiple-widowed, slightly off-kilter, multitasking former flight attendant who serves as the Hacketts' only regular employee. It became her defining role.

After "Wings," she appeared in several movies including "That Darn Cat," "The Odd Couple II," "Analyze This," "United 93," and "Little Children." In the 20-teens, she returned regularly to TV, first as recurring character Edith Ross on "Suits," an then as Emma, grandmother to protagonist April, on "Chasing Life," the American remake of Mexican TV drama "Terminales," about a young reporter with cancer. Schull recently played the lead, and her actual age, in Jeff Lipsky's "The Last" (above), as an apparent Jewish matriarch who turns out to have the worst sort of long-hidden secrets.

Anyone watching "Wings" when it was on probably didn't expect that the guy playing Lowell, the slow-witted mechanic who was always convenient for a good "dumb guy" joke, would become the biggest star of the entire cast. We started to get an inkling when he left to be the lead in his own sitcom. "Ned & Stacey," put Church opposite Debra Messing, who'd go on to become pretty well-known herself. The two played a pretend couple, living in a fake marriage so that Ned could get a promotion at work and Stacey could have an affordable place to live. It was canceled after two seasons, but Church was already on his way to a decent movie career, having has significant roles in "Tombstone," "Tales From the Crypt Presents Demon Knight," and "George of the Jungle" (one of the best kids' movies of all time!). In 2000, he played a super-team leader name The Strobe in James Gunn's first produced superhero script, "The Specials."

Church received an Academy Award nomination for his role as Jack in "Sideways." His highest profile part since then has been as Flint "Sandman" Marko in two "Spider-Man" films, initially opposite Tobey Maguire in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 3" (above), and later opposite Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland at the same time in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," though he was never physically on set for the latter.

He'll next appear in the third "Knives Out" film, "Wake Up Dead Man."

Tony Shalhoub followed "Wings" with the title role of horror writer Ian Stark in the sitcom "Stark Raving Mad" opposite Neil Patrick Harris, and won three Emmys for his role as OCD and multi-phobic detective Adrian Monk on USA Network's "Monk."

Shalhoub has also had a successful movie career, in acclaimed critical hits like "Barton Fink" and "Big Night," as well as blockbusters like "Men in Black" and "Addams Family Values." He has a recurring role as Alexander Minion in the original "Spy Kids" trilogy, and played stoner starship engineer actor Fred Kwan in "Galaxy Quest" (above). As a voice actor, he dubbed Splinter in the last two live-action "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movies, and returned to an Italian accent as Luigi in the "Cars" movies.

From 2017-2023, he played Rachel Brosnahan's father on "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," winning yet another Emmy. Last seen in the movies as Frito-Lay CEO Roger Enrico in the true-ish Richard Montanez biopic "Flamin' Hot," he'll next be seen in Shane Black's upcoming "Play Dirty," the latest film based on Donald E. Westlake's "Parker" novels.

After just one movie role, in the mostly forgotten "evil video game" sci-fi flick "Brain Twisters" (above), Farrah Forke really scored with the role of Alex, a helicopter pilot and Gulf War veteran, on "Wings." After recurring in season 4, she spent season 5 as Joe's love interest, broke up with him, and briefly returned in season 5 to resolve things.

Forke got quite a bit of work immediately thereafter, playing Mayson Drake in "Lois and Clark," getting roles in Michael Mann's "Heat" and Joseph Dougherty's "Abandoned and Deceived," and starring in the single-season sitcom "Dweebs," opposite Stephen Tobolowsky, Corey Feldman, and Peter Scolari. Both she and Tobolowsky went on to be in "Mr. Rhodes," a sitcom starring Tom Rhoes as a well-known writer forced to return to his hometown and teach at prep school.

Her last movies were the Eric Roberts crime film "Hitman's Run," and Billy Frolick's multi-character indie "It Is What It Is." She also joined Tim Daly in the DC animated universe, voicing Big Barda on "Batman Beyond" and "Justice League Unlimited." She formally retired shortly thereafter to raise her children, and sadly died of cancer in 2022, at the age of 54.

Though Amy Yasbeck had many small roles on multiple shows under her belt when she came to "Wings" in its sixth season, she was also a legit movie star, having played Jason Alexander's wife in "Pretty Woman," the social climbing mom in the "Problem Child" movies, Maid Marian in "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," and treacherous reporter Peggy Brandt in "The Mask." Equally expert at playing loving partners and not-so-nice women, she made a great foil for Brian, as viewers would never quite know if the pair were a solid match or not. (Ultimately, they settled into a friend zone, after trying everything else.)

Yasbeck married her "Problem Child" onscreen husband John Ritter in 1999, and filed a wrongful death lawsuit when he died four years later from an aortic dissection misdiagnosed as a heart attack. Some of the doctors settled out of court; the rest were found not liable. Thereafter, she mostly appeared in guest spots on TV shows ranging from "Bones" to "Modern Family" and "Pretty Little Liars." In 2012, she costarred in the two-part soccer mom dramedy "Little Women Big Cars" (above) alongside Kristy Swanson, Julie Warner, and Romy Rosemont.

Absent from acting since the mid-20-teens, she recently made an appearance in Jonathan Hammond's 2025 short film "Fireflies in the Dusk," about a time-traveling Victorian woman looking for love. Next, she'll be seen in Stephen Musumeci's deliberately uncomfortable sports comedy "The Big Game," along with Rhonda Shear and Jim Cummings (the younger one).