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Kirstie Alley

Highest Rated: 100% Deadly Pursuit (1988)

Lowest Rated: 0% Look Who's Talking Now (1993)

Birthday: Jan 12, 1951

Birthplace: Wichita, Kansas, USA

Kirstie Louise Alley was born January 12, 1951, in Wichita, KS. She lived a typical Middle American childhood. Her father Robert owned a lumber company, and her mother Lillian was a homemaker to her and her two siblings. After finding her niche as cheerleader while in high school, she tried college, but decided what she really wanted to do was act. She moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s, working as an interior decorator, while at the same time, going out on auditions. Her social life was another story. Alley ran with a fast Hollywood crowd and found salvation in the Church of Scientology, the religion based on the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard, a former science fiction author. Wanting to get noticed and hoping to raise extra cash, she auditioned for game shows. She appeared on "Match Game" (CBS, 1973-1982) in 1979 and "Password Plus" (NBC, 1979-1982) in 1980, impressing producers and the audience with her quick wit and dark girl-next-door good looks. She got her first big break, playing Lieutenant Saavik in the feature film, "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." The movie did well - to the point that Trekkies would consider it the best of the "Star Trek" films - and Kirstie Alley could now legitimately call herself a Hollywood actress. Following her promising breakout role as Saavik, Alley worked steadily in projects through the mid-1980s. She starred in the acclaimed Civil War-era TV miniseries "North and South" (ABC, 1985), and later was cast as the new bar owner and love interest in "Cheers," following the departure of the beloved Shelley Long and her character, Diane Chambers. At the time Alley joined the show, "Cheers" was one of the best and most popular sitcoms in television history. The show centered around Sam Malone (Ted Danson), an alcoholic ex-Red Sox pitcher, and the eccentric patrons and staff at Cheers, the bar owned and run by Sam. The rocky romantic chemistry generated between Sam and one of his waitresses, Diane Chambers, drove the show to primetime supremacy and Long to leave for a career in movies. Replacing Long was, well, a long shot, but the show did not miss a beat when Alley assumed the role of Rebecca Howe, the bar's new owner and Sam's eventual love interest, until it went off the air in 1993. She won an Emmy as the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for 1991 and won the Golden Globe as well that same year. The motto at Cheers was "Everybody knows your name" and now everybody knew who Kirstie Alley was. She used her TV success as a launching pad into features, starring in the comedy "Look Who's Talking" (1989) with friend and fellow Scientologist John Travolta. The movie grossed over $100 million, ensuring two sequels - "Look Who's Talking Too" (1990) and "Look Who's Talking Now" (1993). Alley won another Emmy for her role as the mother of an autistic boy in the made-for-TV movie, "David's Mother" (CBS, 1994). She played a social worker in "It Takes Two" (1995), the movie debut of Ashley and Mary-Kate Olson, then moved on to more prestigious fare, earning excellent reviews as a psychiatrist married to Woody Allen's writer character in the film "Deconstructing Harry" (1997). After a few unmemorable TV movies, she hooked up with the powerhouse producing team of Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane, the creators of the TV sitcom smash "Friends" (NBC, 1994-2004). The show they created for Alley was "Veronica's Closet" (NBC, 1997-2000), in which the star played Veronica Chase, the divorced owner of a lingerie company called (surprise!) Veronica's Closet. "Veronica's Closet" stayed open for business for three seasons. She did a beauty pageant movie, "Drop Dead Gorgeous" (1999), then spent more time on the cover of the tabloids than on TV or movie screens because of weight gain. The ever- savvy Alley worked it to her advantage. She published her memoirs, How to Lose Your Ass and Regain Your Life (2005), in which she chronicled how her depression over her miscarriages and infertility led to binge eating. She played herself in "Fat Actress," which, while not a hit, won her new fans for its self-deprecating tone. And then landed a spokeswoman gig for Jenny Craig. During the 2007-08 season, she made guest appearances on the comedy series "Ugly Betty" (ABC, 2006-2010), and turned up as a celebrity judge on the Jerry Seinfeld-produced matrimonial reality/game show "The Marriage Ref" (NBC, 2010-11). In a move that was sure to endear her to even more fans, as well as burn many a calorie, in February 2011 Alley joined the celebrity cast as a contestant on the 12th season of "Dancing with the Stars" (ABC, 2005- ). Kirstie Alley died on December 5, 2022 at the age of 71.

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Highest-Rated Movies

100% 64% Deadly Pursuit
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86% 90% Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Watchlist
74% 82% Deconstructing Harry
Watchlist
57% 58% Summer School
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56% 47% Look Who's Talking
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50% 56% Loverboy
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47% 75% Drop Dead Gorgeous Watchlist
46% 33% Runaway
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28% 28% Village of the Damned
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25% 32% Sibling Rivalry
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Filmography

Movies TV Shows
You Can't Take My Daughter 57% 2020 Suzanne Actor Accidental Love 9% 15% 2015 Aunt Rita Actor Baby Sellers 25% 2013 Carla Huxley Actor Write & Wrong 33% 2007 Byrdie Langdon Actor, Executive Producer While I Was Gone 2004 Jo Beckett Actor Family Sins 65% 2004 Brenda Geck Actor Profoundly Normal 100% 2003 Donna Lee Shelby Thornton Actor, Executive Producer Salem Witch Trials 46% 2003 Actor Back by Midnight 45% 2002 Gloria Beaumont Actor Drop Dead Gorgeous 47% 75% 1999 Gladys Leeman Actor The Mao Game 1999 Diane Highland Actor Nevada 22% 1997 McGill Actor For Richer or Poorer 17% 46% 1997 Caroline Sexton Actor Toothless 51% 1997 Dr. Katherine Lewis Actor Deconstructing Harry 74% 82% 1997 Joan Actor The Last Don 81% 1997 Rose Marie Clericuzio Actor Peter and the Wolf 75% 1996 Annie / Bird / Duck / Cat Voice Sticks and Stones 81% 1996 Joey's Mom Actor Radiant City 1996 Gloria Goodman Actor Suddenly 1996 Marty Doyle Actor, Executive Producer Village of the Damned 28% 28% 1995 Dr. Susan Verner Actor It Takes Two 8% 60% 1995 Diane Barrows Actor David's Mother 62% 1994 Sally Goodson Actor David 1994 Sally Goodson Actor Look Who's Talking Now 0% 29% 1993 Mollie Ubriacco Actor
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