16 Things ‘Frasier’ Fans Never Knew

4. That Time Daphne Gained Weight

Jane Leeves who played “Daphne Moon,” Martin’s health-care worker on the show, had an interesting bout with weight gain during her season 7 arc. It got so bad that Daphne was eventually sent away to a treatment spa so she could get to the bottom of her issues and find out why she couldn’t stop eating and kept packing on the pounds. What was actually happening was that Leeves was pregnant. On the show, her triumphant return from the treatment spa coincided with the fact that her daughter Isabella had been born. Little extra: The character “Roz Doyle” played by Peri Gilpin was pregnant in season 5, but the actress was not pregnant in real life, though many of Gilpin’s family and friends thought she was.

5. Nothing’s Wrong With My Accent

John Mahoney’s character “Martin Crane” had a standard, run-of-the mill American accent, though he grew up in Manchester, England. Mahoney moved to the USA when he was nineteen and to “blend in” chose to drop his British accent when he settled in Illinois. The character Daphne was supposed to be from Manchester and as such, Leeves chose a heavy Mancunian accent, though she was raised just north of London. However, fans in England didn’t quite take to the affected accent when the show aired in the U.K. and she later worked with a voice coach to ensure American viewers could understand her. By the way, sassy latina Rosie Perez was almost cast in the Daphne role.

6. Rehab Changed Everything

While “Niles Crane” was hosting his older brother Frasier’s popular radio show when he was away at a convention, in real life Grammer had checked into the Betty Ford Clinic. The actor’s gift from NBC—a Dodge Viper, had capsized on September 21, 1996, and resulted in a DUI arrest, which led him to seek rehab. Timing was everything however, as due to the Major League Baseball playoffs, Frasier was on hiatus for three weeks and the episode “Head Games” was rewritten, Grammer’s intro part filmed later on and added before broadcast, and all was well in TV land.