The cast hit the bullseye with their welcoming gift to Kirstie Alley.
Actor George Wendt, 74, recalled the hilarious story when he and fellow cast member John Ratzenberger, 76, were tasked with getting a gift for the actress when she joined the show in Season 6 at the Cheers reunion at the ATX TV Festival in Austin.
“We were having dinner right before the show, and we said, ‘Oh jeez, we should have got her something, right?’ And ‘Yeah, like some flowers or something…’” Wendt said. “So, [ Ted Danson] says, ‘I can’t, I got a thing I got to do.’ And [ Rhea Perlman], ‘no.’”
He said he and Ratzenberger took up the job of finding a gift, and so they decided to drive through a very “trendy area” in Melrose in Hollywood.
“… Going past all these places and we go past Big 5 Sporting Goods and John goes, ‘you wanna buy her a shotgun?’, Wendt said, garnering laughs from the crowd.
“And, like you, I laughed for about five minutes,” he continued. “And then immediately pulled into the parking lot, and we bought her a freakin’ shotgun.”
He jokingly added, “John and I were never tasked with the gifts again.”
Ratzenberger said that Wendt also took the joke the extra mile.
“I think you even wrote on the card, ‘You’re gonna have to shoot your way out,’” he said.
Alley, who died of cancer at age 71 in December, rose to fame in 1987 when she starred as Rebecca Howe on the hit NBC sitcom. She earned a Golden Globe for best actress and an Emmy for outstanding lead actress for her part in the Boston-based series in 1991.
Several of the show’s cast members, including Kelsey Grammer Danson and Perlman, posted tributes to the late star after her death was announced.
“I was on a plane today and did something I rarely do,” Danson said in a statement to outlet. “I watched an old episode of Cheers.”
“It was the episode where Tom Berenger proposes to Kirstie, who keeps saying no, even though she desperately wants to say yes,” the actor continued. “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.”
In a statement to outlet, Grammer also shared his thoughts: “I always believed grief for a public figure is a private matter, but I will say I loved her.”
“Kirstie was a unique and wonderful person and friend,” Perlman said in a statement with outlet. “Her joy of being was boundless. We became friends almost instantly when she joined the cast of Cheers. 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.”
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