The Huge Sitcom Star Who Turned Down The Role Of Frasier In Cheers

Everyone's favorite sitcom psychiatrist is back on TV after almost two decades away. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) spent 19 years on NBC, beginning in 1984 during Season 3 of "Cheers." His character was first introduced as a love interest for Diane (Shelley Long), who recently broke up with her boyfriend, Sam (Ted Danson). After enjoying a nine-season run, Frasier got a spinoff with the network as the titular character in "Frasier," which lasted 11 seasons. Two decades of steady TV work is one of the best gigs an actor can get — unless you're John Lithgow, who was the show's first choice to play the character and who admitted he turned the part down.

When "Cheers" was casting the role of the super educated and pretentious Boston-based doctor, the show set their sights on Lithgow, but they appear to have aimed too high. Lithgow was basking in an Academy Award glow, having received nominations for Best Supporting Actor two years running. In 1983, he was nominated for his performance as Roberta Muldoon in the dramedy "The World According to Garp," and in 1984, he was recognized for his role as Sam Burns in the drama, "Terms of Endearment."

At the time, TV wasn't as prestigious as it is today, and for a movie actor, accepting television work would have been considered a step backwards career-wise. Lithgow admitted as much in a 2020 interview with The Guardian, saying "A TV comedy series was so beneath my dignity that I barely even remember being told that it had been offered to me."

After John Lithgow turned down the role of Frasier Crane on "Cheers," the part went to Kelsey Grammer. What was intended as a six-episode arc turned into consistent work as a series regular on the most beloved show on TV at the time. But it wasn't until Grammer was offered the leading role in his own series that he started raking in the big bucks and breaking financial records. During the final two seasons of "Frasier," Grammer made $1.6 million for each of the 24 episodes he shot per season, earning him the title of highest paid actor in TV history. And that total doesn't factor in the residuals the actor has earned from both shows over the last three decades.

Another actor might have regretted turning down such a lucrative gig, but Lithgow's career has been more than successful as it is. After passing on the Frasier role in the '80s, Lithgow proceeded to accept a different sitcom part in the '90s, portraying Dr. Dick Solomon on NBC's "3rd Rock From the Sun." 

Over the course of his 50 plus years as an actor, Lithgow has portrayed some of the world's most influential men, including Roger Ailes in 2019's "Bombshell" and Winston Churchill in Netflix's TV series, "The Crown." He is currently appearing in Martin Scorsese's most recent film "Killers of the Flower Moon," where he plays Prosecutor Peter Leaward. And he did end up lending his voice to a 1995 episode of "Frasier." It all comes full circle.