Dr. Frasier Crane Show Callers
Voices for callers who phone in to the Dr. Frasier Crane Show were provided, in many cases, by famous actors and other personalities. Very often, they would literally call in to the studio to record their parts, without having to appear in person.
Since these voices were added in post-production, callers' lines were spoken during live studio filming by crewpersons or other actors—including, very often, Arleen Sorkin, the wife of executive producer Christopher Lloyd. Sorkin appeared in a live cameo during the series finale, "Goodnight, Seattle."
Some performers would later appear on the show as unrelated characters. For instance, Linda Hamilton played the final caller during the pilot episode, "The Good Son," and later appeared in the Season Four finale.
The only performer to make a call into the show and appear later is Lilith Sternin, Frasier's ex-wife, in the episode 'The Show Where Lilith Comes Back' when she calls in to make a criticism of his advice to a previous caller. He then makes plans to meet her after Roz, knowing all about Frasier's tumultuous relationship with his ex, suggests taking her out for dinner live on air so that he has no choice but to accept.
Occasionally, the problem mentioned by a caller served as the main plot for the show, such as Gretchen (Glenne Headly), who worried that her husband was having an affair with a woman whom Frasier suspected of being Niles's wife, Maris. In a similar episode ('A Word to the Wiseguy'), Frasier receives a call from Brandy, the girlfriend of a shady businessman saying she wants to leave him after Frasier promised he would counsel the woman into marrying her boyfriend.
Very often, the caller's problem is a deliberate joke on that actor's real-life. For instance, Melissa Etheridge, who is openly lesbian, played a woman unable to choose among her three boyfriends.
| Caller name | Season and Episode | Portrayed by | Call Information | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russell | 1.01 | Griffin Dunne | the first caller featured in the pilot episode, who feels his life is going nowhere | Dunne later appeared in the series as Bob, a wheelchair-using photographer interested in becoming Frasier's friend. |
| Claire | 1.01 | Linda Hamilton | broken-hearted about the loss of her boyfriend | Played Sarah Connor in the Terminator films, her character's boyfriend dies in the first one. She later appeared in season 4 episode 'Odd Man Out' as a Cello player who left messages on Frasier's machine by accident. |
| Leonard | 1.02 | Christopher Reeve | an extreme agoraphobe with a terror of wide, open spaces | Reeve portrayed Superman in a series of films. |
| Pam | 1.03 | Patti LuPone | calls in asking how to deal with her in-laws who drop by unannounced | Later appeared as Aunt Zora in the season 5 episode 'Beware of Greeks' |
| Lorraine | 1.04 | Judith Ivey | calls in but keeps getting interrupted with other calls on her line | |
| Derek Mann | 1.04 | Joe Mantegna | A newspaper critic. After being attacked by Frasier on his radio show, he calls in to berate him and to arrange a fist fight | Like Grammer, Mantegna plays one of The Simpsons most recognizable guest characters, Springfield mob boss Fat Tony |
| Doug | 1.05 | Jeff Daniels | is getting fed up with his layabout mother | |
| Gary | 1.06 | Robert Klein | his wife wants to go to Italy but he thinks the money should be spent on a sump pump | |
| Hank | 1.07 | Eddie Van Halen | unsure if he's on the show due to feedback issues | |
| Marco | 1.07 | Bruno Kirby | complains about his girlfriend pressing him for a commitment, saying he wants to keep his options open "in case somebody better comes along" | |
| Danielle | 1.08 | JoBeth Williams | is having a problem with her monsieur | Williams later appeared as Madeline Marshall in "Adventures and Paradise" Parts 1 and 2. |
| Roger | 1.09 | Carl Reiner | arguing with his wife about what to name his brand-new cabin cruiser; Frasier responds that he couldn't locate his interest in Roger's problem with the aid of an electron microscope | |
| Don | 1.10 | Jay Leno | complains about his inability to lose weight, when another voice cuts in and reveals that he's at a drive-through window | |
| Barry | 1.12 | Ben Stiller | calls in on Christmas Day and cannot stop crying | Ben Stiller is actually Jewish |
| Don | 1.12 | Eric Stoltz | calls in to share a feeling which put him in the spirit of Christmas | |
| Tom | 1.12 | Mel Brooks | a man traumatized as a child when his parents' Christmas present, a puppy, "wouldn't wake up" | Brooks is Jewish |
| Jeff | 1.12 | Dominick Dunne | says he always relieves his Christmas depression watching The Sound of Music (at a time when Frasier has had to give up a visit with his son, Frederick, so he can take a theatre tour of Salzburg). | |
| Gladys | 1.12 | Rosemary Clooney | has fallen so many times in the shower that they can't fit any more pins in her hip | |
| Al | 1.13 | Henry Mancini | a man who can't stand the sound of his own voice | Shortly thereafter, Frasier plays Mancini's Moon River |
| Ethan | 1.13 | Elijah Wood | gets beat up at school for being too smart and non-athletic, and proceeds to complain about Frasier's condescending advice. | Because he was constantly appearing in films as a child, Wood was home-schooled until he enrolled in university |
| Marianne | 1.13 | Piper Laurie | had a fight with her grown-up daughter when she insisted that her daughter's boyfriend spend the night in a separate bedroom | Laurie later appeared in the episode "Dr. Nora." Also played the religious fanatic mother of the title character in the film Carrie. |
| Hank | 1.16 | Timothy Leary | complains about an overeating disorder | |
| Dr. Bruga | 1.19 | Malcolm McDowell | appears on Frasier's show to discuss his book as well as hit on Roz | |
| Rachel | 1.20 | Reba McEntire | married to a widower who insists on keeping his late wife's ashes on a shelf in their bedroom | |
| Laura | 1.22 | Christine Lahti | calls in to tell Frasier and Niles about her sisters and how she lost her hair | |
| Janice | 1.23 | Patricia Hearst | has a problem breaking through a barrier with her in-laws | |
| Robert | 1.23 | Tommy Hilfiger | calls in, but Frasier (who's high) disconnects him as they've already had a Robert on the show today | |
| Howard | 1.23 | Steve Lawrence | Niles (filling in for Frasier) is counseling Lois and her husband over the radio simultaneously | |
| Louis | 1.23 | Gary Trudeau | calls in to Frasier's show while Gil Chesterton is filling in for a sick Frasier to say he's forgotten his anniversary, and Gil arranges a private table at a five-star restaurant. | |
| Lois | 1.23 | Eydie Gorme | Niles (filling in for Frasier) is counseling Lois and her husband over the radio simultaneously | Eydie's singing partner and real-life husband also plays her 'radio' husband |
| Blake | 1.23 | Steve Young | crashes his car after Frasier, not realizing he was on a car phone, tells him to close his eyes and imagine he's on a tropical island | |
| Marjorie | 1.23 | Mary Tyler Moore | thinks her boss does not respect her and lacks courage to approach him | |
| Steven | 2.01 | James Spader | has doubts about his wife's decision to have their newborn baby share their bedroom. | |
| Rita | 2.02 | Lily Tomlin | an overworked housewife with seven children who's about to crack under the strain; Frasier, who's just been laden with a litter of puppies, suggests that she considers getting one. | |
| Maggie | 2.04 | Amy Madigan | is unsure what to do with her clingy boyfriend | |
| Edna | 2.06 | Alfre Woodard | gets depressed about living in rain-washed Seattle. | |
| Connie | 2.06 | Sandra Dee | angrily berates Frasier for claiming Seattle is depressing | |
| Holden Thorpe | 2.07 | Sydney Pollack | an obnoxious right-wing Congressional candidate who insults Frasier over the air, driving Frasier to film an endorsement for his opponent | |
| Chester | 2.08 | Art Garfunkel | a laconic man whose wife is criticizing him for his lack of ambition or drive | |
| Vic | 2.09 | Kevin Bacon | has trouble meeting women. | |
| Linda | 2.10 | Betty Comden | calls in asking for directions to an antique store | Comden was one-half of the musical-comedy duo Comden and Green |
| Walter | 2.10 | Adolph Green | proclaims that he isn't lost after his wife calls into the show asking for directions | Green was one-half of the musical-comedy duo Comden and Green |
| Elliott | 2.11 | Macaulay Culkin | plays an adolescent who calls in to the show saying the problem is that he is a salesman with a young voice, causing Frasier to apologize, and Culkin replies, "Ha Gotcha Dr. Doufus." | |
| Francesca | 2.12 | Rosie Perez | suffers a fear of abandonment - Frasier is cut off from her when his incompetent producer hits the wrong button | Perez later appeared during the Season Eleven episode, "Crock Tales" |
| Marie | 2.12 | Carly Simon | wants to ask out a forty year old man who's never been married | |
| Marjorie | 2.13 | Mary Steenburgen | an acrophobe who calls in to say that she's almost conquered her fears | In real life Steenburgen is married to actor Ted Danson who appears as his Cheers character, Sam Malone, later in the series |
| Sid | 2.18 | Gary Sinise | is incapable of talking on the phone with strangers unless he writes out everything he wants to say in advance | |
| Madman Martinez | 2.19 | John Lithgow | pretends to be depressed, as a means of plugging his car dealership | |
| Gretchen | 2.21 | Glenne Headley | an Austrian woman who suspects that her husband, a fencing instructor, is having an affair with his student (whom Frasier suspects is Maris) | |
| Caroline | 2.24 | Shelley Duvall | feels like she's not making any progress with her therapist (who, unbeknownst to Frasier, turns out to be Niles) | |
| Mark | 3.01 | Matthew Broderick | a clerk in an all-night convenience store whose "camera self" is doing things Mark doesn't approve of | |
| Phyllis | 3.01 | Carrie Fisher | has incurable insomnia | |
| Keith | 3.01 | Tom Hulce | disagrees with the last two callers and says that his job is very important before leaving to go powder jelly donuts | |
| Nancy | 3.01 | Teri Garr | calls in proclaiming she's naked and that she'd prefer to be the spanker | |
| Jill | 3.02 | Blair Brown | has a recurring dream that Frasier finds fascinating | |
| Eileen | 3.03 | Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio | fantasizes about Frasier when she is having sex with her husband | |
| Rob | 3.04 | Ed Harris | calls in to Bulldog's show to congratulate him on "getting" Frasier with pranks | Looks remarkably like Dan Butler, who plays Bulldog. Both actors also played NASA flight director Gene Kranz, (Harris in Apollo 13 (film) and Butler in the mini series From the Earth to the Moon (TV miniseries)). |
| Jack | 3.04 | Billy Crystal | on Bulldog's show talking about sport and congratulate him on "getting" Frasier with pranks | |
| Marylin | 3.05 | Brooke Adams | homesick for her little hometown in Wisconsin | Adams was born in New York City, but is married to actor Tony Shalhoub, who was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin. |
| June | 3.06 | Laura Dern | her husband gets mad at her for eavesdropping on other diners in restaurants | |
| Polly | 3.07 | Cyd Charisse | says she's "lacking a certain spice," not knowing Frasier is filling in for "The Happy Chef" | |
| Vinnie | 3.08 | Paul Mazursky | a womanizer who calls in trying to locate a pinky ring he left in his latest conquest's house | |
| Bob | 3.09 | Ray Liotta | calls from the airport during Christmas, unsure whether he wants to fly home, or hop on an open flight to Hawaii, after Frasier counsels him, Bob says he has reached a decision, to which Frasier replies darkly "Mele Kalikimaka, Bob" | |
| Gerard | 3.11 | Armistead Maupin | "Called in for a different reason" when Frasier talked about the apprehension of meeting new friends, Gerard was inspired and offered to comb Frasier's hair. | |
| Marlene | 3.13 | Jodie Foster | an over-worked housewife who announced that, if her husband and she didn't find a time to themselves to have sex, she would go to a department store and pick up a stranger | |
| Brandy | 3.15 | Faith Prince | after being told to do so by her boyfriend Jerome, she calls in to ask Frasier if she should marry him. This is pay back for Jerome helping with Maris' ticket problem and part of his plan to get Brandy to marry him | |
| Steve | 3.15 | Randy Travis | trying to lose weight | |
| Chris | 3.17 | Billy Barty | takes revenge on a neighbor by shoving a pound of rotten shrimp into the man's air conditioner. | |
| Lydia | 3.17 | Joan Allen | being tormented by obscene phone calls. | Frasier enters the booth as Roz hurriedly moves away to let Frasier sit down, he is late because somebody took his parking space, and on top of it all, just after Lydia has finished stating her problem, Frasier starts breathing heavily into the mic. |
| Chuck | 3.17 | Eric Idle | takes revenge on an enemy by sending him 100 scorpions in a FedEx parcel | |
| Mitch | 3.17 | Jerry Orbach | takes revenge on an offending neighbor by smashing the man's offending leaf blower against a tree | |
| Rochelle | 3.17 | Jane Pauley | takes revenge on her neighbor for failing to curb her dogs, by setting the woman's lawn on fire | |
| Brenda | 3.17 | Katarina Witt | starts to tell Frasier about a dispute with her sister, but puts Frasier on hold to answer her other line. | |
| Tom | 3.22 | David Duchovny | has sex with his girlfriend of six years every morning, every night, and three times a day on weekends, but isn't sure they really have anything else in common | Coincidentally, David Duchovny had a sex addiction problem later in life. |
| Angela | 3.24 | Sherry Lansing | calls in about a problem relating to her dead husband | |
| Jerry | 4.02 | Marv Albert | calls in to Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe's Gonzo Sports Show with a question. | Albert is a professional sportscaster. |
| Jake | 4.02 | Bob Costas | calls into Bulldog's show with a sports question | Costas is a professional sportscaster. |
| Mike | 4.02 | Julius Erving | calls into Bulldog's show for his take on the Yankees this season | Erving was a former professional basketball player |
| Jimmy | 4.03 | Kieran Culkin | calls in claiming his parents are stupid and asks how long it'll last | |
| Rudy | 4.03 | Christopher Durang | on air telling the plot of a sad movie while crying | |
| Linda | 4.05 | Wendy Wasserstein | While Niles is sitting in for Frasier Linda calls in to have Niles talk with her cat to get it to eat. | |
| Greg | 4.08 | John Cusack | a first-year graduate student in psychology who has misdiagnosed himself with every disorder he's studying | |
| Alice | 4.12 | Patty Duke | calls in after thinking about sad things, to which Frasier tells her a story about Eddie | |
| Chet | 4.15 | Eric Roberts | a once-timid man who takes Frasier's advice about assertiveness too far and becomes an overbearing jerk | |
| Doug | 4.19 | David Benoit | explaining his unemployment situation | |
| Dorothy | 5.03 | Cindy Crawford | Roz's manicurist, whom Roz accidentally puts through to the show | Crawford later became a spokeswoman for Revlon cosmetics |
| Roger | 5.13 | John Waters | thinking of changing careers as he's kind of trapped. Roz forces him make the problem more interesting in order to get through by classifying "trapped" as a woman trapped inside of a man's body who's thinking of running for political office | |
| Bill | 5.13 | Rob Reiner | was a bed-wetter as a child and thinks the problem is coming back. Roz forces him to make the problem more interesting in order to get through asking him if he's wet the bed with anyone else in it (stripper, hooker, best friend's wife); he decides to pick the third option | |
| Betsy | 5.15 | Halle Berry | her husband wants to take her on an anniversary cruise, but she has recurring nightmares about being shipwrecked | |
| Marie | 5.17 | Jill Clayburgh | has a hard time getting out of bed every morning, and that she feels irritable when she does | |
| Patrick | 5.24 | John McEnroe | he thinks his wife is having an affair | |
| Ralph | 6.11 | William H. Macy | calls after Frasier has helped him change a tire, to complain about damage done to his car | Macy co-starred with Kelsey Grammer in Down Periscope. |
| Stephen | 6.11 | Ron Howard | believes a mysterious voice from his radio is telling him what to do | |
| Sophie | 6.12 | Marlo Thomas | arguing with her husband, Larry, about wanting to invite some of her girlfriends to his Super Bowl party | Larry is voiced by Thomas's real-life husband, Phil Donahue. |
| Larry | 6.12 | Phil Donahue | gets pulled onto the show after an argument with his wife, Sophie, about inviting some of her friends to his Super Bowl party | Sophie is voiced by Marlo Thomas, Donahue's real-life wife. |
| Audrey | 6.13 | Beverly D'Angelo | Seems to be discussing a serious relationship problem with her sister when Frasier states in a fed-up tone that she should just "fix the dress" that was accidentally ripped. | |
| Jenny | 6.20 | Gillian Anderson | worried about whether her boyfriend is afraid of commitment. | Anderson plays Dana Scully on The X-Files, an FBI agent in a close partnership with Fox Mulder; at the time of airing their relationship was still platonic. |
| Jill | 6.20 | Pia Zadora | her husband is homosexual, but Dr. Nora refuses to accept this as a reason for a divorce, telling her to "Make it work!" | |
| Tom | 6.20 | Yo-Yo Ma | calls in to Dr. Nora's show asking how he can deal with an annoying co-worker | |
| Denise | 6.20 | Bonnie Raitt | has a poisonous relationship with her overbearing mother | |
| Gave | 7.16 | Isaac Mizrahi | has an addiction to shopping | Mizrahi is a famous fashion designer |
| Maria | 7.16 | Gloria Estefan | her husband has been having affairs since they were newlyweds and wants to know how to change him | |
| Brian | 8.08 | Stephen King | Frasier tries to squeeze Brian in before the news, however he doesn't want that and claims that he would rather wait | |
| Tom | 8.08 | Wolfgang Puck | Frasier tries to squeeze Tom in before the news, however he doesn't want that and claims that he would rather wait | Later appears in season 9 episode 'The Proposal' as himself |
| Andy | 8.09 | Neil Simon | unsure if he's on | |
| Cleo | 8.10 | Melissa Etheridge | unable to choose among her three gorgeous boyfriends | Etheridge is homosexual. |
| Rachel | 8.13 | Bernadette Peters | (while Frasier is listening to 'The Best of Crane' in his car) calls in to thank Frasier for a book recommendation and to try score a date with him | |
| Fred | 8.16 | Hal Prince | has a fear of intimacy | |
| Tom | 9.04 | Anthony Edwards | calls from his wedding to say he's having second thoughts | |
| Estelle | 9.08 | Jennifer Jason Leigh | calls in with a question for Bill Gates about multi-lingual user inferface add-ons | |
| Warren | 9.08 | Bobby Short | calls in with a question for Bill Gates asking if he needs to make a boot disk when installing XP as an upgrade | |
| Phyllis | 9.08 | Allison Janney | calls in with a description of her missing cat | Appears in the episode "Three Blind Dates". |
| Joe | 9.08 | Larry Gelbart | calls in explaining how he understands how Frasier feels losing his tape as he lost a gold cuff link a few years ago and that if anyone finds it, he'd love to have it back | |
| Garth | 9.10 | Pat Boone | calls in while Frasier and Kenny are arguing over the show's advertising budget after Dr. Zach's more sexually oriented show begins dominating the ratings. When Garth mentions he's part of a couple with problems, Kenny and Frasier get their hopes up for a juicy call, only to find out Garth has budget problems | Boone owned the Oakland Oaks, an ABA team with severe financial problems |
| Polly | 9.10 | Cherry Jones | complains about her boring sex life with her husband | Jones is homosexual. |
| Terrence | 9.11 | Andy Garcia | is sick of being single | |
| Mike | 9.14 | Freddie Prinze, Jr. | calls in while Frasier is a guest speaker on the program Teen Scene | |
| Lillian | 9.18 | Naomi Judd | has perfectionist tendencies | |
| Jeremy | 9.21 | Rufus Wainwright | teenager who has (unknown) problems | |
| Carl | 9.22 | Keith Carradine | after hearing Roz's heartbreak on air, he calls in believing that he's going to be dumped and is unsure what to do about it | |
| Unnamed Caller | 9.22 | Olympia Dukakis | called to berate Frasier over the phone, but changes her mind when she hears Roz unload her heartbreak over the air | |
| Unnamed Caller | 9.22 | Scott Hamilton | tells Frasier to go back to Seattle | |
| Unnamed Caller | 9.22 | Daryl Hannah | calls in to let Sully fans know they're boycotting KQZY | |
| Jerry | 10.02 | Billy Bean | wants to know what's going on with Dr. Crane (who's late) after Roz let it slip that they slept together | |
| Mark | 10.02 | Charles Busch | things are uncomfortable at work after he slept with his boss | |
| Sheila | 10.02 | Leelee Sobieski | originally wanted to ask something else, but questions Roz about this 'person she slept with' because it sounded like she still worked for him | |
| Stu | 10.04 | Bradley Whitford | his girlfriend wants him to move in | |
| Grant | 10.09 | John Turturro | calls in because his grandmother died two weeks ago and he never told her how much she meant to him | |
| Mindy | 10.17 | Laura Linney | calls in about her mother from work, causing her to pretend she's dealing with customers because of her boss | Later played Charlotte in the final season |
| Ernie | 10.23 | Bill Paxton | calls in because he's angry at his dog | |
| Kevin | 11.03 | Benjamin Bratt | Frasier claims that he's not honest, who then turns it back around by saying that Frasier also isn't honest after he was seen entering a homosexual bar | |
| Celeste's Mother | 11.12 | Estelle Parsons | picks up the phone saying they're all on the radio | |
| Britney | 11.12 | Hilary Duff | announces she's running away from home after the rest of her family have carried their latest argument onto the air | |
| Morrie | 11.12 | Stanley Tucci | a man whose wife suspects him of cheating on her, to the point where he's locked himself in his bathroom to make the call. | |
| Celeste | 11.12 | Penny Marshall | Morrie's wife, who picks up the phone, sure he's on the phone with his mistress | |
| Babette | 11.17 | Helen Mirren | a kleptomaniac | Mirren was the last guest caller of the series. |
Read more about this topic: Minor Characters On Frasier
Famous quotes containing the words crane and/or show:
“But the star-glistered salver of infinity,
The circle, blind crucible of endless space,
Is sluiced by motion,—subjugated never.”
—Hart Crane (1899–1932)
“Alas! The time is coming when man will no longer give birth to stars. Alas! The time of the most contemptible man is coming, one who can no longer despise himself. Behold! I show you the last man.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)