Things may have appeared cheerily and friendly on screen of the sitcom Frasier. But things weren't necessarily that way behind the scenes, at least not at first.
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Jane Leeves, who played Daphne Moon on the sitcom, recalls a tense first encounter with series star Kelsey Grammer. Appearing on the Still Hot in Cleveland podcast, Leeves said that Grammer was very cold to her during her audition.
"I remember I was sitting on the ... production company steps outside, and this red Corvette came flying in and out jumped, you know, this beach boy-looking guy and I thought, 'Oh my god, it's Kelsey Grammer,' you know, looking nothing like Frasier [in] flip-flops, the whole thing," Leeves recounted.
She continued: "And he marched in, and they called me in, and we were about to go in the room to read with the producers and everyone, and Kelsey went, 'Nope,' told the producers to stay outside, because he didn't want an English girl. He thought it would be [like 1970s sitcom] Nanny and the Professor. So he didn't want their influence."
Sitcom Audition
However, Leeves apparently won over Grammer during her audition. Still, he did it in a way that sounded very cold.
"So I went in, I read with him ... He said, 'Great. Can you just wait outside?'" Leeves recalled. "And he called the boys in, and I was sitting outside and then Kelsey came out, ran off, jumped back in his Corvette, and they called me back into the room and they said, 'Well, you know, welcome to the show.'"
By that point in time, Grammer was already a huge deal. He had starred on the Cheers sitcom for years. Now, he was set to lead his own sitcom as well. Fortunately, Grammer decided to go with Leeves for the role. She ended up playing a major role in why the spinoff was so successful. Her character quickly established a will-they-or-won't-they romance with Frasier's brother on the show.
While Frasier was the main character, Daphne arguably became its heart. It is hard to imagine anyone else playing that role.
