Kelsey Grammer

When the final episode in the eleven-season run of Frasier aired in 2004, the NBC sitcom ended its run with the most Emmy awards for a television sitcom ever (the 37 trophies the show won is a record still held today). Yet, that prestigious run was not a given back in 1993 when the Cheers spin-off was getting ready to hit the airwaves. Of all the characters to come by Sam Malone's bar beneath Melville's, Kelsey Grammer's Dr. Frasier Crane was an anomaly. Hardly the blue-collar salt-of-the-earth character, Frasier was a great fit with the regulars because of how much he stuck out. Often pompous, insecure, but ultimately kind-hearted, the psychiatrist and former fiancé of Diane Chambers was great as a peanut in the gallery. The idea of making Frasier Crane and the centerpiece of a new series had to be carefully considered according to legendary television director James Burrows, in a conversation with Yahoo Entertainment. From 1980 to 2005, Burrows was nominated every single year (minus 1997, the slacker) for an Emmy in directing many of American television's most beloved comedies including Taxi, Cheers, Friends, and Will & Grace. His direction for the pilot episode for Frasier earned him an Emmy award in 1994.