Woody Boyd - Biography

Biography

Woody was born on July 23 (like the actor who played him) and hails from Hanover, Indiana, where he was voted the smartest student in school. He and his childhood sweetheart, Beth Curtis, were also voted "Couple Most Likely to Explode," as they were both obese at the time. It was later revealed that they always ate, to excess, around one another due to their palpable sexual tension.

Woody followed in Coach's footsteps in many ways, failing to understand the most obvious jokes, concepts, and situations. Woody was essentially a straight man for all of the other characters at Cheers, though his humor stemmed from his misunderstandings. Woody once told Dr. Crane he was the smartest man he knew, apart from Cliff Clavin.

Woody seemed to have an off-center mentality, misunderstanding others' comments much as Coach had done. For example, when Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers appears and starts singing "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", Woody asks him, "How come you changed your name from Righteous?" With the exception of Carla and Sam, Woody always addresses other characters by their honorific. Sometimes this leads to awkward phrasing such as referring to Lilith as Mrs. Dr. Sternin-Crane.

Woody arrived at Cheers expecting to meet his "pen pal" Coach, with whom he exchanged pens instead of letters. Upon learning of Coach's death, he filled the open bartender position, and was quickly accepted by the staff and regulars. He also developed a "big brother/little brother" relationship with Sam Malone, the owner of Cheers. In the coming years, he filled the void left by Coach and eventually married the wealthy Kelly Gaines (Jackie Swanson), overcoming her father's objections to Woody's lowly station in life.

In the final season, Frasier Crane orchestrated an experiment that went awry and resulted in Woody's election to the Boston City Council. He and Kelly were expecting their first child when Cheers ended. Frasier extrapolates on Woody's interest in a political career to the point that Woody becomes President of the United States and shows his displeasure with another country by using "The Bomb" (illustrated twice in Frasier's imagination as a mushroom cloud).