This is a list of characters from the American television sitcom, Cheers.
Original main characters Before the Cheers pilot, "Give Me a Ring Sometime", was finalized and then aired in 1982, the series originally consisted of four employees of Cheers, the bar, in the original script. There was neither Norm Peterson nor Cliff Clavin, regular customers of Cheers; later revisions added them as part of the series.Wendt 2009, pp. 112–114.
Sam Malone
Samuel "Mayday" MaloneBjorklund e-Book, p. 141. (Ted Danson) is a bartender and owner of Cheers. Sam is also a ladies' man. Before the series began, he was a relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox when he became (and still is) a friend of Coach, but then he became alcoholic, which took a toll on his baseball career. He has on-again, off-again relationships with Diane Chambers, his opposite, in the first five seasons (1982–1987). During the breaks in their relationship, Sam has flings with many not-so-bright "sexy women" but generally doesn't pursue relationships and fails to seduce some intellectual women.
After Diane leaves Boston, he pursues Rebecca Howe, largely unsuccessfully. In the end, he is still unmarried, recovering from sexual addiction with help from Dr. Robert Sutton's (Gilbert Lewis) group meetings, advised by Frasier, in the penultimate episode "The Guy Can't Help It" (1993). Sam Malone was originally written as a former football player, but the casting of Ted Danson led writers to change Sam into an ex-baseball player.
Diane Chambers
Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) is a highly academic, sophisticated college student. In the pilot, Diane is abandoned by her fiancé Sumner Sloan (Michael McGuire), for whom she'd worked as an assistant, as he returns to his ex-wife. Without a job, money, or man, she reluctantly becomes a cocktail waitress. Over time, she becomes a close friend of Coach. She has an on-and-off relationship with bartender Sam Malone. When not involved with Sam, Diane dates men who fit her upper-class ideals, such as Frasier Crane. Later in the fifth season, she leaves Boston behind for a writing career and in the eleventh and final season lives in Los Angeles.
Coach
Ernie "Coach" PantussoBjorklund e-Book, p. 265. (or Pantuso) (Nicholas Colasanto) is a "senile" co-bartender, widower, and retired baseball coach. Coach is also a friend of Sam and a close friend of Diane. He had a daughter, Lisa. Coach was often easily tricked, particularly into situations that put the bar at stake. Nevertheless, he listened to people's problems and offered them advice and analyses. In the fourth season, Coach died without explicit explanation while the actor Colasanto himself died of a heart attack in February 1985.
Carla Tortelli
Carla Maria Victoria Angelina Teresa Apollonia LozuponeBjorklund e-Book, p. 199. (Rhea Perlman) is a "wisecracking, cynical" cocktail waitress, who abuses customers. At the series premiere, she was the mother of four children and divorced from Nick Tortelli (Dan Hedaya). She believes in superstitions and flirts with men, including ones who are not interested in her, but secretly carries the torch for Sam. She is both highly fertile and matrimonially inept.
Carla's last husband, Eddie LeBec, a washed-up ice hockey goalie whom she married during the run of the show, eventually died in an ice show accident involving a Zamboni. Carla later discovered that Eddie had cheated on her, committing bigamy with another woman whom he had gotten pregnant. Carla's sleazy first husband, Nick Tortelli (Dan Hedaya), also made appearances, variously challenging Carla with a custody battle or a legal scam stemming from their divorce. Carla's eight children, four of whom were born during the show's run, were notoriously ill-behaved, except for Ludlow, whose father was a prominent academic. Perlman's real-life pregnancies were written into the series as Carla's pregnancies."Top 10 Pregnant Performers: Where Everybody Knows You're Pregnant (or Not)." Time. Web. 2 June 2012.
Norm Peterson
Hilary Norman Peterson (George Wendt) is a bar regular and semi-unemployed accountant, whose common name "Norm" is often shouted whenever he enters the bar. Outside the bar, he frequently changes jobs and has a troubled marriage with (but is still in love with and married to) Vera, an unseen character. Later in the series, he becomes a house painter, especially for Rebecca's bar office. (Despite a few fleeting appearances and vocal cameos, Vera's body is seen in the fifth-season episode "Thanksgiving Orphans" (1986), but her face is covered with a pumpkin pie. In this appearance, she is played by Bernadette Birkett, the real-life wife of George Wendt.Wendt 2009, p. 1.)
Originally, there was no Norm Peterson. Wendt auditioned for a minor role ("George") for the pilot episode, who was Diane Chambers' first customer and had only one word in one line: "Beer!"Wendt 2009, p. 112. After he was cast as George, Wendt's role was rewritten into Norm.Wendt 2009, p. 113.
Cliff Clavin
Clifford C. Clavin, Jr.Bjorklund e-Book, p. 241. (John Ratzenberger) is a know-it-all bar regular and postman. He mostly lives with his mother, Esther Clavin (Frances Sternhagen), in the family house (until its on-screen destruction in season 6) and then in a condo, although he first purchases the condo as a bachelor pad for himself. He is ridiculed by friends and enemies alike, including Norm and Carla, for his know-it-all attitude. Cliff is mostly hopeless with women. His longest relationship is with fellow postal worker Margaret O'Keefe (Annie Golden), which begins during Cheers' seventh season (1988–89). When Margaret becomes pregnant with another man's child in 1993's "Do Not Forsake Me O My Postman", Cliff stays by her side as the baby's stepfather before Margaret returns to the child's biological father.
In "The Barstoolie" (1985) Cliff meets his father, Cliff Clavin Sr. (Dick O'Neill), who left Cliff and his mother years earlier when Cliff was still a child. Cliff later realizes that his father is a fraudster and a fugitive from justice, and will run off again. Cliff does not want to turn his father in; Cliff Sr. disappears, leaving his son devastated.
Ratzenberger auditioned for the Norm Peterson role but, sensing he would not get the role, Ratzenberger pitched the idea of a bar "know-it-all".Wendt 2009, pp. 113-114. The producers loved the idea so the security guard Cliff Clavin was added for the pilot. However, the producers changed his occupation into a postal worker because they perceived postal workers as more knowledgeable than security guards.
Subsequent main characters Woody Boyd replaced Coach, who died between the third and fourth seasons. Frasier Crane began as a recurring guest role and became a permanent character. Rebecca Howe replaced Diane Chambers, who left Boston for a writing career in 1987. Lilith Sternin started as a one-time character in the Season 4 episode, "Second Time Around" (1986), and became a recurring character in Season 5 (1986–87), and a regular character for Season 10 and the episodes that she appears in for Season 11 (1992–93).
Frasier Crane and Lilith Sternin
Frasier W. CraneBjorklund e-Book, p. 257. (Kelsey Grammer) and Lilith Sternin (formerly Sternin-Crane) (Bebe Neuwirth) — married psychiatrists and bar regulars, although Lilith rarely orders drinks. Frasier starts out as Diane Chambers' love interest. When she jilts him at the wedding altar in Europe, he ends up frequently going to Cheers pub for drinks and becomes everybody's bar friend. His first date with Lilith in "Second Time Around" (1986), Lilith's only episode of the fourth season, does not go well because they constantly argue. In the fifth season, Frasier and Lilith meet again when they are scheduled for a psychological talk show. With help from Diane, Frasier becomes aroused by Lilith's makeover, especially with her hair down, for the talk show. Frasier and Lilith flirt with each other on the talk show. Although they later feel guilty, Frasier and Lilith overcome their guilt with more help from Diane and begin their relationship.
They move in together, get married, and in the seventh season (1988–89), conceive a son, Frederick, who is born in the following season (1989–90). Their marriage is strained when Lilith has an affair with Dr. Louis Pascal (Peter Vogt). On the Cheers spin-off Frasier, Frasier divorces her, gives her custody of Frederick, and moves from Boston to Seattle. Lilith appears in the spin-off recurringly.
Woody Boyd
Woodrow Tiberius BoydBjorklund e-Book, p. 215. (Woody Harrelson) — a co-bartender, commonly called "Woody". When he arrived from his Midwest hometown to Boston, Woody wanted to meet his pen pal Coach. However, he finds out that Coach already died, and is hired to work at the bar. Later, he dates Kelly Gaines (Jackie Swanson), marries her and is elected to the Boston City Council. At the end, he and Kelly have a son and daughter as revealed in Frasier.
Rebecca Howe
Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) — a "voluptuously beautiful" manager and occasional waitress. Initially, she starts out a strong independent woman, but after several romantic failures with (mainly) rich men, she becomes "more neurotic, insecure, and sexually frustrated". At the start, Sam attempts to seduce Rebecca without success, but when her persona changes, he loses interest in her. In the series finale, she marries the plumber Don Santry (Tom Berenger). On Frasier, according to Sam, she divorces Don and then ends up visiting the bar without working there again.
Recurring characters Each of the following characters of Cheers may or may not be particularly significant to the story of the series; each was introduced in one season and would appear in subsequent seasons — unless introduced in season 11, which was the last season. However, even when a character appeared earlier, information is arranged based on a character's first appearance rather than an actor's, especially when a same actor portrays different characters. Moreover, uncredited appearances are disregarded.
Introduced in season 1
Sumner Sloan Sumner Sloan (Michael McGuire) is a college English literature professor for whom Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) worked as a teaching assistant. Divorced, Sumner became engaged to Diane, whom he left to return to his ex-wife, Barbara, flying to Barbados on the flight Diane had booked for them both.Season 1, Episode 1: Give Me a Ring Sometime Sumner secretly tries to win Diane back while she is seriously dating Sam Malone (Ted Danson), an attempt that ultimately fails. Diane ultimately states that it wasn't because Sam read War and Peace, but because he read it for her.Season 2, Episode 5: Sumner's Return
In "I Do, Adieu" (1987), where he last appears, Sumner returns after he hears the news about Sam and Diane's engagement. Sumner tells Diane that he sent one of her unfinished manuscripts to one of his colleagues, who had praised it. He warns her that writing both a novel and being a housewife to Sam simultaneously is impossible. Moreover, he warns her that choosing one would put an end to the other, either her marriage or her writing talents. Diane orders Sumner to leave the bar right away, but after talking with Sam, she decides to invest six months of her time into the endeavor of finishing the book, and they ultimately do not marry.Season 5, Episode 26: I Do, Adieu
Harry the Hat