Ted Danson Remembers ‘Cheers’ Co-Star Kirstie Alley

Ted Danson is looking back on all the laughs he had with Cheers co-star Kirstie Alley prior to her death Monday from cancer at the age of 71. Danson, who played Sam Malone on the hit NBC sitcom, revealed he had actually relived one of Alley’s finest comedic moments on the show shortly before learning the actress had passed away following a private battle with cancer.

“I was on a plane today and did something I rarely do. I watched an old episode of Cheers,” Danson said in a statement to Deadline. “It was the episode where Tom Berenger proposes to Kirstie, who keeps saying no, even though she desperately wants to say yes. Kirstie was truly brilliant in it. Her ability to play a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown was both moving and hysterically funny. She made me laugh 30 years ago when she shot that scene, and she made me laugh today just as hard.”

“As I got off the plane, I heard that Kirstie had died,” Danson continued. “I am so sad and so grateful for all the times she made me laugh. I send my love to her children. As they well know, their mother had a heart of gold. I will miss her.” The Good Place star wasn’t the only Cheers alum to share their memories of Alley, who played Rebecca Howe on the sitcom. Kelsey Grammer, who played Dr. Frasier Crane, and Rhea Perlman, who played Carla Tortelli, also shared their thoughts following Alley’s death.

“I always believed grief for a public figure is a private matter, but I will say I loved her,” Grammer told Variety. Perlman recalled in her own statement the “unique and wonderful person and friend” Alley was and how her “joy of being was boundless.” The Matilda star remembered becoming friends with Alley “almost instantly” when the late actress joined Cheers in 1987 following Shelley Long’s exit.

“She loved kids and my kids loved her too. We had sleepovers at her house, with treasure hunts that she created,” Perlman continued. “She had massive Halloween and Easter parties and invited the entire crew of the show and their families. 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. I’m going to miss her very, very much.”