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‘Frasier’ Star Kelsey Grammer Says Religion Guides His Career

For years, Kelsey Grammer portrayed the self-important Dr. Frasier Crane on both “Cheers” and subsequently his own show – aptly titled “Frasier.”

The perplexing role, which revolved around providing talk therapy on his radio show, won Grammer countless Emmy Awards and Golden Globes until the sitcom concluded in 2004.

Playing the role of Pastor Chuck Smith in the movie “Jesus Revolution” struck a chord with Grammer for many reasons, but mainly due to his strong spiritual ties.

“It strikes me, you know, I probably have been preparing for [this role] all my life, honestly,” Grammer said. “It was a pretty seamless transition into playing Chuck.

“I’m kind of a Bible guy. I’ve been reading the Bible all my life. I turn to it for prayer, for reflection, for information, and I just always have. It’s just always been sort of at my fingertips throughout my life, ever since I was a boy.”

He added, “So I have a relationship with the Word of God, as they call it, that it was probably akin to what Chuck Smith’s relationship was with it.”

Drawing from a real-life narrative, Pastor Chuck risks the disapproval of his traditional congregation when he befriends an influential hippie reverend who is making waves in the ’70s cultural revolution.

“I lived it. I lived in that same time,” Grammer said. “I lived throughout that period in the ’70s and stuff and what he accomplished. I saw on some of the faces that I met in my life. I didn’t know it was, you know, his footsteps, but I was walking alongside him in many things. When this role came along, it was just … slipping into a nice suit.”

He wished audiences would be able to glean multiple lessons from the film.

“There might be something to it, might be something to this movement that happened then, and maybe it’s worthwhile to think about … the way we’re positioned in terms of faith and society,” he said. “A great society can embrace a great faith, and probably enhance both. That’s what I’d like to see happen.”

Grammer’s unwavering trust in humanity arises from his own life lessons.

“I’ve always been a bit of a prude, and people wouldn’t think that about me,” he said. “I’m also sort of famously … famously a wild man as well, you know, that’s been part of my life. So I’ve been out in the desert, let’s say, some of the time I made my way back in time.

“I think that my focus on my career has always been to sort of elevate the human experience, and I think my understanding of religion is supposed to be the same thing.”

While reading the script for the reboot of ‘Frasier’, Kelsey Grammer was overwhelmed with emotion, confessing that he “cried and cried”. The actor expressed his joy at this new project saying, “I’m happy”.

He added, “It doesn’t mean you’re going to have an easy time. It doesn’t mean you’re going to not have days when it’s hell, but it does give you something to point toward.”

Grammer noted that he was raised a Christian Scientist and paraphrased a passage, “Do not become a sluggard in the race. Don’t falter. Get back up. Stand up. Keep fighting. Because that’s where your reward is. Your reward is in the doing of it. Do not be weary. That’s it. That’s why I still believe that.”

Kelsey has faced countless trials in his faith journey; when he was just 13, his father was gunned down by an interloper on their property in St. Thomas. Then seven years later, Karen – Kelsey’s younger sister – became a victim of abduction and savagely killed afterwards: one of her perpetrators is even still imprisoned awaiting death penalty in Colorado to this day.

Tragically, Kelsey’s half brothers Billy and Stephen lost their lives to a presumed shark attack while scuba diving five years later. Grammer also endured years of battling the vicious cycle of addiction with alcohol and drugs.

“Well, honestly, there were times when I lost it. I mean, there were times when I didn’t hold up so well,” he admitted.

“I’m writing a book about that right now, about my sister and how to sort of navigate that kind of shock in your life, that kind of horror … that so many encounter, and they lose their faith and don’t know what to do and to climb back out is very hard.”

He is writing the book to “help people” with words of comfort and offer “insight into my own personal life.”

A wave of optimism is soon approaching with the arrival of “Frasier” reboot. After all, Dr. Frasier Crane will be back on air in no time at all to lend an ear and offer his guidance!

As of yet, there’s still no confirmed launch date for the new series. However, Kelsey Grammer recently verified that production is transitioning from Seattle to Boston – where his character first appeared on “Cheers” all the way back in 1984!

“We have no particular plans to revisit the bar. I mean, it has all sorts of ramifications of practicality, and of licensing and all kinds of stuff. But certainly a nod to the bar is already in the show in the first episode,” Grammer said. He’s got some things he didn’t finish up in Boston.”

The widely celebrated sitcom “Frasier” aired for 11 unforgettable seasons, garnering the prestigious Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in its first five consecutive seasons and culminating with 37 Emmys overall – including four specifically recognizing Kelsey Grammer’s acclaimed portrayal of Frasier Crane.

“As we were cracking the stories and trying to invent another place for all the cast to be together again, it suddenly became clear that wasn’t going to work out,” he said.

“We suddenly thought, well, I thought I was having a dream, and I just said, ‘Oh, Frasier has to go back to Boston. He has unfinished business there. He didn’t finish. He felt like whatever the reason, he left with his tail between his legs a little bit. He hadn’t quite won, hadn’t quite gotten that that vision of what he thought his life should be in Boston.’ So he’s going back to get it.”

The film “Jesus Revolution” is only in theaters on Feb. 24.

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