Kelsey Grammer began to get emotional while talking about John Mahoney, who is known for playing his on-camera father from “Frasier,” Martin Crane, during an interview with “The Talk.”
Grammer previously told TheWrap that he met and hit it off with Mahoney when he guest starred on “Cheers” as Sy Flembeck. The appearance would lead to the pair teaming up again for “Frasier,” which ran for 11 seasons from 1993 until 2004 on NBC.
Mahoney died in 2018 from throat cancer. The recent Paramount+ revival of the show pays tribute to the actor and the character of Martin Crane.
“The whole idea always was that we had to deal with the fact that he was gone,” the actor explained. “So the right thing is Frasier has just gone to his funeral and is now an orphan, like we all are at some point in our lives, and he has to come to terms with the fact that his dad’s gone.”
The continuation of “Frasier” on Paramount+ sees him step into the role of his father as he looks to reconnect with his own son, Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott).
“The idea was that he always saw an image of his father and thought I have to do this,” Grammer added while holding back tears in video you can watch above. “So that’s why he’s decided he’s going to stay in Boston.”
In addition to playing his father figure on-screen, Grammer said he and Mahoney had a similar relationship off-screen.
“I miss him madly and we got along really well. We would do some different things together,” Grammer said. “I did some charity stuff for him in Chicago because he loved Chicago. That was his first home and he loved Steppenwolf, his real creative energy came from there – he sort of kind of did Frasier on the side – he was such a lovely man.”
Grammer said he received a sign from Mahoney following his death while producing a show called “Medium.”
“Most every medium in the world would like to have their own TV show, and so they would contact me and I did make several friends in that community and a few of them are still friends,” he said. “And one in particular contacted me one time a few months before we finally started casting in earnest and she said ‘By the way, John is very happy about you doing this show.’”
Check out the full interview in the video above.
