I remember watching a documentary of the making of Cheers and how they found the cast. The creators were panicked when Shelley Long left the show, not sure if such a key character's absence would let the sitcom continue. They liked Alley's audition and wrote the supposedly strong-willed boss part for her, but they weren't happy with how it was working out initially. 

And then they wrote a script in which the tough Rebecca Howe starts to cry. One of the executive producers, Cheri Steinkellner, noted in the doc, "she cries funny!" and from thereon in, they wrote in more crying scenes, which became something of a trademark for the Howe character.  

Ms. Alley was originally a Interior Designer. She had moved from Kansas City to LA in the late 70s and appeared as a contestant on a couple of popular game shows of the time... Match Game and Password +

Here is her Match Game appearance from 1979..

Last edited by Glen Warren (December 6, 2022 10:12 pm)