‘Cheers’ award-winning star Kirstie Alley, 71
LOS ANGELES — Kirstie Alley, who stepped into Boston lore as the new owner of the famed bar “Cheers” in the hit sitcom from 1987 to the last show in 1993, winning an Emmy as bartender Sam Malone’s onagain, off-again love interest and foil, died Monday. She was 71.
Ms. Alley died of cancer that was only recently discovered, her children True and Lillie Parker said in a post on Twitter. Her manager Donovan Daughtry confirmed the death in an e-mail to the Associated Press.
She starred opposite Ted Danson as Rebecca Howe on “Cheers,” one of television’s most-beloved sitcoms, about a Boston bar modeled after the Bull & Finch Pub on Beacon Hill. She joined the show as the career minded owner at the height of its popularity after the departure of original star Shelley Long.
Critics noted how Ms. Alley brought a refreshing new dynamic with her character, as writers gave her a more fun arc that helped create a “denser joke machine,” as one writer noted. At times, Rebecca, who managed the bar in the show, appeared to be a hapless and golddigging mess. In other moments, Ms. Alley portrayed Rebecca with a faux-bravado, and an attitude of indifference to others’ romantic advances.
She would win a Golden Globe and an Emmy for best lead actress in a comedy series for the role in 1991.
“I only thank God I didn’t have to wait as long as Ted,” she said in her acceptance of the Emmy, gently ribbing Danson, who had finally won an Emmy in his eighth nomination the previous year.
“Cheers” made the Bull & Finch Pub one of Boston’s most popular tourist attractions. In its 11 seasons, it would garner 26 Emmy awards.
She would take a second Emmy for best lead actress in a miniseries or television movie in 1993 for playing the title role in the CBS TV movie “David’s Mother.”
She had her own successful sitcom for NBC, “Veronica’s Closet,” from 1997 to 2000. Her character was the head of a lingerie company.
Marta Kauffman, a creator and an executive producer of “Veronica’s Closet,” said of Ms. Alley in 1997: “She is crazy most of the time, and I mean that in the best sense of the word.”
In the 1989 comedy movie “Look Who’s Talking,” which gave her a major career boost, she played the mother of a baby who’s inner thoughts were voiced by Bruce Willis. She would also appear in a 1990 sequel “Look Who’s Talking Too,” and another in 1993, “Look Who’s Talking Now.”
John Travolta, her co-star in the trilogy, paid her tribute in an Instagram post: “Kirstie was one of the most special relationships I’ve ever had.”
She would play a fictionalized version of herself in the 2005 Showtime series “Fat Actress,” a show that drew comedy from her public and media treatment over her weight gain and loss.
She dealt with the same subject matter in the 2010 A&E reality series “Kirstie Alley’s Big Life,” which chronicled her attempt to lose weight and launch a weight-loss program while working as a single mother in an unconventional household that included pet lemurs.
Ms. Alley said she agreed to do the show in part because of the misinformation about her that had become a tabloid staple. “Anything bad you can say about me, they say,” she said at the time. “I’ve never collapsed, fainted, passed out. Basically, anything they’ve said, I never. The only true thing is I got fat.”
In recent years she appeared on several other reality shows, including a second-place finish on “Dancing With the Stars” in 2011. She appeared on the competition series “The Masked Singer” wearing a baby mammoth costume earlier this year.
She appeared in the Ryan Murphy black comedy series “Scream Queens” on Fox in 2015 and 2016.
Ms. Alley’s “Cheers” co-star Kelsey Grammar said in a statement that “I always believed grief for a public figure is a private matter, but I will say I loved her.”
Another “Cheers” co-star, Rhea Pearlman, recounted how she and Alley became friends almost instantly after she joined the show. She said Ms. Alley organized large Easter and Halloween parties and invited everyone. “She wanted everyone to feel included. She loved her children deeply. I’ve never met anyone remotely like her. I feel so thankful to have known her.”
A native of Wichita, Kan,, Ms. Alley attended Kansas State University before dropping out and moving to Los Angeles.
She made her film debut in 1982’s “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan.”
Other film roles included 1987's “Summer School,” 1995's “Village of the Damned,” and 1999's “Drop Dead Gorgeous.”
Like Travolta, she would become a longtime member of the Church of Scientology.
She was married to her high school sweetheart from 1970 to 1977 and to actor Parker Stevenson from 1983 until 1997.