Kirstie Alley, ‘Cheers’ Sitcom Legend, Dead at 71 After a Cancer Diagnosis

Kirstie Alley, the two-time Emmy winning actress and one of a small handful of undisputed queens of the sitcom format, has died at the age of 71. According to Alley’s official Twitter account, the Cheers and Veronica’s Closet star’s surprise death came “after a battle with cancer, only recently discovered.”

The native Kansan discovered Scientology in the year 1979 at the age of 28, after emerging from a divorce from her high school sweetheart and an addiction to cocaine. After going through a Scientology-affiliated rehab program, she scored her first major role was in 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. A moderately successful film career ultimately blossomed into a major sitcom career when Alley landed a role on the NBC smash sitcom Cheers in 1987 after Shelley Long exited the program in search of a film career that never ultimately blossomed. Alley’s headstrong Rebecca Howe proved to be a formidable match for Ted Danson’s Sam Malone, and their “will they or won’t they?” energy and clear on-screen chemistry played a major role in that show’s ascent into broadcast history. For her work, Alley was awarded with five Emmy nominations for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, ultimately taking home the prize at the 1991 Emmy Awards.

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Cheers left the airwaves in 1993, but Alley’s career didn’t miss a beat. In addition to her work in the bizarro box office smash hit film franchise Look Who’s Talking (starring alongside fellow Scientology superstar John Travolta), Alley toplined the NBC Thursday night sitcom Veronica’s Closet, a sizable hit during the storied Must See TV era. She continued to work consistently, sometimes in leading roles (Showtime’s Fat Actress), sometimes in supporting (like her work on Ryan Murphy’s Scream Queens) — and even sometimes as herself, such as her stints on Dancing With The Stars and The Masked Singer.

Alley stayed firmly in the spotlight throughout most of her 40+ year showbiz career, serving as an inspiration to many, both an actress and a Jenny Craig spokesperson. She also waded into politics, trashing Hilary Clinton before the 2016 Presidential election, and outspokenly voting for and supporting Donald Trump (and catching some blowback along the way). She also led the conservative backlash to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences “inclusion requirements” for Best Picture nominees at the Oscars, describing it as “a disgrace to artists everywhere.”

Alley, according to a note posted to Twitter by her daughters with ex-husband Parker Stevenson, only “recently discovered” that she had cancer. She received treatment at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, not far away from her home in Clearwater, Florida (a prominent Scientology outpost). Alley was “surrounded by her closest family” during her final days, although it’s not immediately clear who that group consisted of.