Kirstie Alley, Emmy-winning ‘Cheers’ star, passes away at age of 71

Kirstie Alley, a two-time Emmy winner who became one of the biggest performers in American comedy in the late 1980s and early 1990s because to her appearances on the TV phenomenon “Cheers” and in the “Look Who’s Talking” movies, passed away on Monday. She was 71.

Alley’s children True and Lillie Parker wrote on Twitter that she passed away from cancer that had only recently been identified. The death was verified by Donovan Daughtry, manager of Alley, in an email to The Associated Press.

According to a statement from her daughters, “as iconic as she was on television, she was an even more great mother and grandmother.”

Kirstie Alley

From 1987 through 1993, she played Rebecca Howe alongside Ted Danson in the popular NBC sitcom “Cheers,” which was set in a Boston bar. When the original star Shelley Long left the show, it was at its peak of popularity.

For the part in 1991, Alley would receive an Emmy for best lead actress in a comedy series.

Alley said in her acceptance speech, “I only thank God I didn’t have to wait as long as Ted,” poking fun at Danson, who had received his eighth nomination for his Emmy-winning performance in “Cheers” as Sam Malone the year before.

For portraying the title character in the CBS TV film “David’s Mother,” she would win a second Emmy in 1993 for best lead actress in a miniseries or television movie.

From 1997 to 2000, she had her own sitcom on the network called “Veronica’s Closet.”

She portrayed the mother of a baby whose inner thoughts were narrated by Bruce Willis in the 1989 comedy “Look Who’s Talking,” which provided her a significant career boost.

She would also make an appearance in the sequels “Look Who’s Talking Too” (1990) and “Look Who’s Talking Now” (1993).

Her trilogy co-star John Travolta paid her respect in a message on Instagram.

The 2010 A&E reality series “Kirstie Alley’s Big Life,” which followed her quest to slim down and start a weight-loss programme while working as a single mother in an unorthodox home with pet lemurs, dealt with the same subject matter.

Alley claimed that one of the reasons for agreeing to join the show was the false material that had become a tabloid staple about her.

Then, Alley told the AP, “Anything terrible you can say about me, they say. I’ve never lost consciousness, collapsed, or fainted. Basically, I never agreed with anything they stated. Only my weight gain is real.