Frasier : Celebrity Callers

Dr. Frasier Crane Show Celebrity Callers

Voices for callers who phone in to the Dr. Frasier Crane Show were provided, in many cases, by famous actors and other personalities. Very often, they would literally call in to the studio to record their parts, without having to appear in person.

Since these voices were added in post-production, callers' lines were spoken during live studio filming by crew persons or other actors—including, very often, Arleen Sorkin, the wife of executive producer Christopher Lloyd. Sorkin appeared in a live cameo during the series finale, Goodnight, Seattle.

Some performers would later appear on the show as unrelated characters. For instance, Linda Hamilton played the final caller during the pilot episode, The Good Son, and later appeared in the Season Four finale.

There were only three performers to make a call into the show and appear later in the episode. Lilith Sternin, Frasier's ex-wife, in the episode The Show Where Lilith Comes Back when she calls in to make a criticism of his advice to a previous caller. He then makes plans to meet her after Roz, knowing all about Frasier's tumultuous relationship with his ex, suggests taking her out for dinner live on air so that he has no choice but to accept. The second was Renée Lippin, who played Kari in the episode Someone to Watch Over Me. Kari is Frasier's stalker who calls into the show and is seen at the SeaBea awards. Woody Boyd, the bartender at Cheers, calls in to the show because he is stuck driving in circles at the airport. He and Frasier reminisce on their Cheers days later in the show.

Occasionally, the problem mentioned by a caller served as the main plot for the show, such as Gretchen (Glenne Headly), who worried that her husband was having an affair with a woman whom Frasier suspected of being Niles's wife, Maris. In a similar episode A Word to the Wiseguy, Frasier receives a call from Brandy, the girlfriend of a shady businessman saying she wants to leave him after Frasier promised he would counsel the woman into marrying her boyfriend.

Very often, the caller's problem is a deliberate joke on that actor's real-life. For instance, Cindy Crawford, a model and spokeswoman for a make-up company, played a manicurist.

Caller name	Season and Episode	Portrayed by	Call Information	Notes
Russell	1.01	Griffin Dunne	the first caller featured in the pilot episode, who feels his life is going nowhere	Dunne later appeared in the series as Bob, a wheelchair-using photographer interested in becoming Frasier's friend.
Claire	1.01	Linda Hamilton	broken-hearted about the loss of her boyfriend	Played Sarah Connor in the Terminator films, her character experiences a break-up which she can't get over emotionally in her call. She later appeared in season 4 episode Odd Man Out as a Cello player who left messages on Frasier's machine by accident.
Leonard	1.02	Christopher Reeve	an extreme agoraphobe with a terror of wide, open spaces	Reeve portrayed Superman in a series of films.
Pam	1.03	Patti LuPone	calls in asking how to deal with her in-laws who drop by unannounced	Later appeared as Aunt Zora in the season 5 episode Beware of Greeks
Lorraine	1.04	Judith Ivey	calls in but keeps getting interrupted with other calls on her line
Derek Mann	1.04	Joe Mantegna	A newspaper critic. After being attacked by Frasier on his radio show, he calls in to berate him and to arrange a fist fight	Like Grammer, Mantegna plays one of The Simpsons most recognizable guest characters, Springfield mob boss Fat Tony
Doug	1.05	Jeff Daniels	is getting fed up with his layabout mother
Gary	1.06	Robert Klein	his wife wants to go to Italy but he thinks the money should be spent on a sump pump
Hank	1.07	Eddie Van Halen	unsure if he's on the show due to feedback issues
Marco	1.07	Bruno Kirby	complains about his girlfriend pressing him for a commitment, saying he wants to keep his options open "in case somebody better comes along"
Danielle	1.08	JoBeth Williams	is having a problem with her monsieur	Williams later appeared as Madeline Marshall in Adventures and Paradise Parts 1 and 2.
Roger	1.09	Carl Reiner	arguing with his wife about what to name his brand-new cabin cruiser; Frasier responds that he couldn't locate his interest in Roger's problem with the aid of an electron microscope
Don	1.10	Jay Leno	complains about his inability to lose weight, when another voice cuts in and reveals that he's at a drive-through window	Actually known for having hundreds of cars and is often seen cruising in them
Barry	1.12	Ben Stiller	calls in on Christmas Day and cannot stop crying	Ben Stiller is actually Jewish
Don	1.12	Eric Stoltz	calls in to share a feeling which put him in the spirit of Christmas
Tom	1.12	Mel Brooks	a man traumatized as a child when his parents' Christmas present, a puppy, "wouldn't wake up"	Brooks is Jewish
Jeff	1.12	Dominick Dunne	says he always relieves his Christmas depression watching The Sound of Music (at a time when Frasier has had to give up a visit with his son, Frederick, so he can take a theatre tour of Salzburg).
Gladys	1.12	Rosemary Clooney	has fallen so many times in the shower that they can't fit any more pins in her hip
Al	1.13	Henry Mancini	a man who can't stand the sound of his own voice	Shortly thereafter, Frasier plays Mancini's Moon River
Ethan	1.13	Elijah Wood	gets beat up at school for being too smart and non-athletic, and proceeds to complain about Frasier's condescending advice.	Because he was constantly appearing in films as a child, Wood was home-schooled until he enrolled in university
Marianne	1.13	Piper Laurie	had a fight with her grown-up daughter when she insisted that her daughter's boyfriend spend the night in a separate bedroom	Laurie later appeared in the episode Dr. Nora. Also played the religious fanatic mother of the title character in the film Carrie.
Hank	1.16	Timothy Leary	complains about an overeating disorder
Dr. Bruga	1.19	Malcolm McDowell	appears on Frasier's show to discuss his book as well as hit on Roz
Rachel	1.20	Reba McEntire	married to a widower who insists on keeping his late wife's ashes on a shelf in their bedroom
Laura	1.22	Christine Lahti	calls in to tell Frasier and Niles about her sisters and how she lost her hair
Janice	1.23	Patricia Hearst	has a problem breaking through a barrier with her in-laws, Frasier (who's high) then dismisses this problem as "boring"
Robert	1.23	Tommy Hilfiger	calls in, but Frasier (who's high) disconnects him as they've already had a Robert on the show today
Howard	1.23	Steve Lawrence	Niles (filling in for Frasier) is counseling Howard and his wife over the radio simultaneously	Lawrence's singing partner and real-life wife also plays his 'radio' wife
Louis	1.23	Garry Trudeau	calls in to Frasier's show while Gil Chesterton is filling in for a sick Frasier to say he's forgotten his anniversary, and Gil arranges a private table at a five-star restaurant.
Lois	1.23	Eydie Gormé	Niles (filling in for Frasier) is counseling Lois and her husband over the radio simultaneously	Eydie's singing partner and real-life husband also plays her 'radio' husband
Blake	1.23	Steve Young	crashes his car after Frasier, not realizing he was on a car phone, tells him to close his eyes and imagine he's on a tropical island
Marjorie	1.23	Mary Tyler Moore	thinks her boss does not respect her and lacks courage to approach him
Steven	2.01	James Spader	has doubts about his wife's decision to have their newborn baby share their bedroom.
Rita	2.02	Lily Tomlin	an overworked housewife with four children who's about to crack under the strain; Frasier, who's just been laden with a litter of puppies, suggests that she consider getting one.
Maggie	2.04	Amy Madigan	is unsure what to do with her clingy boyfriend
Edna	2.06	Alfre Woodard	gets depressed about living in rain-washed Seattle.
Connie	2.06	Sandra Dee	angrily berates Frasier for claiming Seattle is depressing
Holden Thorpe	2.07	Sydney Pollack	an obnoxious right-wing Congressional candidate who insults Frasier over the air, driving Frasier to film an endorsement for his opponent
Chester	2.08	Art Garfunkel	a laconic man whose wife is criticizing him for his lack of ambition or drive
Vic	2.09	Kevin Bacon	has trouble meeting women.
Linda	2.10	Betty Comden	calls in asking for directions to an antique store	Comden was one-half of the musical-comedy duo Comden and Green
Walter	2.10	Adolph Green	proclaims that he isn't lost after his wife calls into the show asking for directions	Green was one-half of the musical-comedy duo Comden and Green
Elliott	2.11	Macaulay Culkin	plays an adolescent who calls in to the show saying the problem is that he is a salesman with a young voice, causing Frasier to apologize, and Culkin replies, "Ha Gotcha Dr. Doufus".	brother Kieran calls in season 4
Francesca	2.12	Rosie Perez	suffers a fear of abandonment – Frasier is cut off from her when his incompetent producer hits the wrong button	Perez later appeared during the Season Eleven episode, Crock Tales. She was also the actress originally pitched by the show's creators for the role of Martin Crane's caretaker, the role ultimately given to Jane Leeves.[26]
Marie	2.12	Carly Simon	wants to ask out a forty-year-old man who's never been married
Marjorie	2.13	Mary Steenburgen	an acrophobe who calls in to say that she's almost conquered her fears	In real life Steenburgen is married to actor Ted Danson who appears as his Cheers character, Sam Malone, later in the series
Sid	2.18	Gary Sinise	is incapable of talking on the phone with strangers unless he writes out everything he wants to say in advance
Madman Martinez	2.19	John Lithgow	pretends to be depressed, as a means of plugging his car dealership
Gretchen	2.21	Glenne Headly	an Austrian woman who suspects that her husband, a fencing instructor, is having an affair with his student (whom Frasier suspects is Maris)
Caroline	2.24	Shelley Duvall	feels like she's not making any progress with her therapist (who, unbeknownst to Frasier, turns out to be Niles)
Mark	3.01	Matthew Broderick	a clerk in an all-night convenience store whose "camera self" is doing things Mark doesn't approve of
Phyllis	3.01	Carrie Fisher	has incurable insomnia
Keith	3.01	Tom Hulce	disagrees with the last two callers and says that his job is very important before leaving to go powder jelly donuts
Nancy	3.01	Teri Garr	calls in proclaiming she's naked and that she'd prefer to be the spanker
Jill	3.02	Blair Brown	has a recurring dream that Frasier finds fascinating
Eileen	3.03	Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio	fantasizes about Frasier when she is having sex with her husband
Rob	3.04	Ed Harris	calls in to Bulldog's show to congratulate him on "getting" Frasier with pranks	Looks remarkably like Dan Butler, who plays Bulldog. Both actors also played NASA flight director Gene Kranz, (Harris in Apollo 13 and Butler in the mini series From the Earth to the Moon').
Jack	3.04	Billy Crystal	on Bulldog's show talking about sport and congratulate him on "getting" Frasier with pranks
Marylin	3.05	Brooke Adams	homesick for her little hometown in Wisconsin	Adams was born in New York City, but is married to actor Tony Shalhoub, who was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
June	3.06	Laura Dern	her husband gets mad at her for eavesdropping on other diners in restaurants
Polly	3.07	Cyd Charisse	says she's "lacking a certain spice", not knowing Frasier is filling in for "The Happy Chef"
Vinnie	3.08	Paul Mazursky	a womanizer who calls in trying to locate a pinky ring he left in his latest conquest's house
Bob	3.09	Ray Liotta	calls from the airport during Christmas, unsure whether he wants to fly home, or hop on an open flight to Hawaii, after Frasier counsels him, Bob says he has reached a decision, to which Frasier replies darkly "Mele Kalikimaka, Bob"
Gerard	3.11	Armistead Maupin	"Called in for a different reason" when Frasier talked about the apprehension of meeting new friends, Gerard was inspired and offered to comb Frasier's hair.
Marlene	3.13	Jodie Foster	an over-worked housewife who announced that, if her husband and she didn't find a time to themselves to have sex, she would go to a department store and pick up a stranger
Brandy	3.15	Faith Prince	after being told to do so by her boyfriend Jerome, she calls in to ask Frasier if she should marry him. This is pay back for Jerome helping with Maris' ticket problem and part of his plan to get Brandy to marry him
Steve	3.15	Randy Travis	trying to lose weight
Chris	3.17	Billy Barty	takes revenge on a neighbor by shoving a pound of rotten shrimp into the man's air conditioner.
Lydia	3.17	Joan Allen	being tormented by obscene phone calls.	Frasier enters the booth as Roz hurriedly moves away to let Frasier sit down, he is late because somebody took his parking space, and on top of it all, just after Lydia has finished stating her problem, Frasier starts breathing heavily into the mic.
Chuck	3.17	Eric Idle	takes revenge on an enemy by sending him 100 scorpions in a FedEx parcel
Mitch	3.17	Jerry Orbach	takes revenge on an offending neighbor by smashing the man's offending leaf blower against a tree
Rochelle	3.17	Jane Pauley	takes revenge on her neighbor for failing to curb her dogs, by setting the woman's lawn on fire
Brenda	3.17	Katarina Witt	starts to tell Frasier about a dispute with her sister, but puts Frasier on hold to answer her other line.	[27]
Beth	3.19	Debbi Fields	is pretty sure her husband is having an affair. Frasier suspects that Roz is talking to his callers after he hangs up with them. Frasier catches Roz in the act of giving Beth advice. She assures him that it is the first and last time. After Frasier leaves, Roz then takes a call from Bill.
Tom	3.22	David Duchovny	has sex with his girlfriend of six years every morning, every night, and three times a day on weekends, but isn't sure they really have anything else in common	Incidentally, David Duchovny had a sex addiction problem later in life.
Angela	3.24	Sherry Lansing	calls in about a problem relating to her dead husband
Jerry	4.02	Marv Albert	calls in to Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe's Gonzo Sports Show with a question.	Albert is a professional sportscaster.
Jake	4.02	Bob Costas	calls into Bulldog's show with a sports question	Costas is a professional sportscaster.
Mike	4.02	Julius Erving	calls into Bulldog's show for his take on the Yankees this season	Erving was a former professional basketball player
Jimmy	4.03	Kieran Culkin	calls in claiming his parents are stupid and asks how long it'll last	Plays a character with similar Problems in Igby Goes Down; brother Macaulay calls in season 2
Rudy	4.03	Christopher Durang	on air telling the plot of a sad movie while crying
Linda	4.05	Wendy Wasserstein	While Niles is sitting in for Frasier Linda calls in to have Niles talk with her cat to get it to eat.
Greg	4.08	John Cusack	a first-year graduate student in psychology who has misdiagnosed himself with every disorder he's studying
Alice	4.12	Patty Duke	calls in after thinking about sad things, to which Frasier tells her a story about Eddie
Chet	4.15	Eric Roberts	a once-timid man who takes Frasier's advice about assertiveness too far and becomes an overbearing jerk
Doug	4.19	David Benoit	explaining his unemployment situation
Dorothy	5.03	Cindy Crawford	Roz's manicurist, whom Roz accidentally puts through to the show	Crawford later became a spokeswoman for Revlon cosmetics
Roger	5.13	John Waters	thinking of changing careers as he's kind of trapped. Roz forces him make the problem more interesting in order to get through by classifying "trapped" as a woman trapped inside of a man's body who's thinking of running for political office
Bill	5.13	Rob Reiner	was a bed-wetter as a child and thinks the problem is coming back. Roz forces him to make the problem more interesting in order to get through asking him if he's wet the bed with anyone else in it (stripper, hooker, best friend's wife); he decides to pick the third option
Betsy	5.15	Halle Berry	her husband wants to take her on an anniversary cruise, but she has recurring nightmares about being shipwrecked
Marie	5.17	Jill Clayburgh	has a hard time getting out of bed every morning, and that she feels irritable when she does
Patrick	5.24	John McEnroe	he thinks his wife is having an affair
Ralph	6.11	William H. Macy	calls after Frasier has helped him change a tire, to complain about damage done to his car	Macy co-starred with Kelsey Grammer in Down Periscope and is also married to Felicity Huffman, who had a recurring role on the show as Julia Wilcox, a brief love interest and colleague to Frasier.
Stephen	6.11	Ron Howard	believes a mysterious voice from his radio is telling him what to do
Sophie	6.12	Marlo Thomas	arguing with her husband, Larry, about wanting to invite some of her girlfriends to his Super Bowl party	Larry is voiced by Thomas's real-life husband, Phil Donahue.
Larry	6.12	Phil Donahue	gets pulled onto the show after an argument with his wife, Sophie, about inviting some of her friends to his Super Bowl party	Sophie is voiced by Marlo Thomas, Donahue's real-life wife.
Audrey	6.13	Beverly D'Angelo	Seems to be discussing a serious relationship problem with her sister when Frasier states in a fed-up tone that she should just "fix the dress" that was accidentally ripped.
Jenny	6.20	Gillian Anderson	worried about whether her boyfriend is afraid of commitment.	Anderson plays Dana Scully on The X-Files, an FBI agent in a close partnership with Fox Mulder; at the time of airing their relationship was still platonic.
Jill	6.20	Pia Zadora	her husband is gay, but Dr. Nora refuses to accept this as a reason for a divorce, telling her to "Make it work!"
Tom	6.20	Yo-Yo Ma	calls in to Dr. Nora's show asking how he can deal with an annoying co-worker
Denise	6.20	Bonnie Raitt	has a poisonous relationship with her overbearing mother
Gave	7.16	Isaac Mizrahi	has an addiction to shopping	Mizrahi is a famous fashion designer
Maria	7.16	Gloria Estefan	her husband has been having affairs since they were newlyweds and wants to know how to change him
Brian	8.08	Stephen King	Frasier tries to squeeze Brian in before the news, however he doesn't want that and claims that he would rather wait
Tom	8.08	Wolfgang Puck	Frasier tries to squeeze Tom in before the news, however he doesn't want that and claims that he would rather wait	Later appears in season 9 episode The Proposal as himself
Andy	8.09	Neil Simon	unsure if he's on
Cleo	8.10	Melissa Etheridge	unable to choose among her three gorgeous boyfriends	Melissa Etheridge is a lesbian
Rachel	8.13	Bernadette Peters	(while Frasier is listening to 'The Best of Crane' in his car) calls in to thank Frasier for a book recommendation and to try score a date with him
Fred	8.16	Hal Prince	has a fear of intimacy
Tom	9.04	Anthony Edwards	calls from his wedding to say he's having second thoughts
Estelle	9.08	Jennifer Jason Leigh	calls in with a question for Bill Gates about multi-lingual user inferface add-ons
Warren	9.08	Bobby Short	calls in with a question for Bill Gates asking if he needs to make a boot disk when installing XP as an upgrade
Phyllis	9.08	Allison Janney	calls in with a description of her missing cat	Appears in the episode Three Blind Dates.
Joe	9.08	Larry Gelbart	calls in explaining how he understands how Frasier feels losing his tape as he lost a gold cuff link a few years ago and that if anyone finds it, he'd love to have it back
Garth	9.10	Pat Boone	calls in while Frasier and Kenny are arguing over the show's advertising budget after Dr. Zach's more sexually oriented show begins dominating the ratings. When Garth mentions he's part of a couple with problems, Kenny and Frasier get their hopes up for a juicy call, only to find out Garth has budget problems	Boone owned the Oakland Oaks, an ABA team with severe financial problems
Polly	9.10	Cherry Jones	complains about her boring sex life with her husband
Terrence	9.11	Andy García	is sick of being single
Mike	9.14	Freddie Prinze, Jr.	calls in while Frasier is a guest speaker on the program Teen Scene
Lillian	9.18	Naomi Judd	has perfectionist tendencies
Jeremy	9.21	Rufus Wainwright	teenager who has (unknown) problems
Carl	9.22	Keith Carradine	after hearing Roz's heartbreak on air, he calls in believing that he's going to be dumped and is unsure what to do about it
Unnamed Caller	9.22	Olympia Dukakis	called to berate Frasier over the phone, but changes her mind when she hears Roz unload her heartbreak over the air
Unnamed Caller	9.22	Scott Hamilton	tells Frasier to go back to Seattle
Unnamed Caller	9.22	Daryl Hannah	calls in to let Sully fans know they're boycotting KQZY
Jerry	10.02	Billy Bean	wants to know what's going on with Dr. Crane (who's late) after Roz let it slip that they slept together
Mark	10.02	Charles Busch	things are uncomfortable at work after he slept with his boss
Sheila	10.02	Leelee Sobieski	originally wanted to ask something else, but questions Roz about this 'person she slept with' because it sounded like she still worked for him
Stu	10.04	Bradley Whitford	his girlfriend wants him to move in
Grant	10.09	John Turturro	calls in because his grandmother died two weeks ago and he never told her how much she meant to him
Mindy	10.17	Laura Linney	calls in about her mother from work, causing her to pretend she's dealing with customers because of her boss	Later played Charlotte in the final season
Ernie	10.23	Bill Paxton	calls in because he's angry at his dog
Kevin	11.03	Benjamin Bratt	Frasier claims that he's not honest, who then turns it back around by saying that Frasier also isn't honest after he was seen entering a gay bar
Celeste's Mother	11.12	Estelle Parsons	picks up the phone saying they're all on the radio
Britney	11.12	Hilary Duff	announces she's running away from home after the rest of her family have carried their latest argument onto the air
Morrie	11.12	Stanley Tucci	a man whose wife suspects him of cheating on her, to the point where he's locked himself in his bathroom to make the call.
Celeste	11.12	Penny Marshall	Morrie's wife, who picks up the phone, sure he's on the phone with his mistress
Babette	11.17	Helen Mirren	a kleptomaniac	Mirren was the last guest caller of the series.