Diane Chambers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cheers character | |
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| Diane Chambers | |
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| Gender | Female |
| Hair color | Blonde |
| Eye color | Blue |
| Role in Cheers | Waitress |
| Portrayed by | Shelley Long |
Diane Chambers was a character on the American television show Cheers, portrayed by Shelley Long (1982–1987, 1993). Diane entered the show in the pilot episode, her fiancé leaving her waiting at Cheers while he goes back to recover his wedding ring from his ex-wife.
Diane spent most of her time at Cheers bemoaning her fate and generally acting superior to the rest of the Cheers staff and customers. Diane was also a persistent thorn in the side of her feisty barmaid peer Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman) who had little time for Diane's myriad pretensions, spending much of her shift bursting Diane's pomposity with rapier wit.
Diane's fiancé leaves her in the pilot episode, and she takes a job waitressing at Cheers to try to rebuild her life. In comparison to the bar's general clientele, Diane Chambers seems amusingly out of place, until she introduces intellectual psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane (played by Kelsey Grammer) into the mix. Diane and Frasier have a romance (ended when Diane leaves Frasier at the altar) sandwiched between Diane's romances with Sam Malone. Diane finds Sam's rugged and rather obvious charms, by turns, repulsive and magnetic. Driven by his insatiable lust (as always), Sam is both maddened and drawn by Diane's ambivalence toward him.
The character also suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, as stated in various episodes; Diane demands that the pencils and pens in her pocket be in very precise order. In the episode "Power Play" it is revealed that Diane obsessively hordes stuffed animals into her apartment. Among these are Mr. Jammers a Giraffe, Gary Gorilla (who hates Mr. Jammers), and Brian the Lion. Diane is outraged when she gives Brian the Lion to Sam, who uses it to mop the floor of Cheers. The character of Diane was later admitted to Goldenbrook Psychiatric Hospital, after Season 2, for extreme depression. It was here that she met Dr. Frasier Crane.
Long left the series in 1987 but reprised the character in a special appearance in the Cheers series finale in 1993.
Long also reprised the Chambers character in subsequent guest appearances on the Cheers spin-off series, Frasier. In "The Episode Where Diane Comes Back" she and Kelsey Grammer reconciled on and off the screen. On the screen, Frasier and Diane reconciled over the time she jilted him at the altar. Off screen, they reconciled over the fact that she wanted him written off "Cheers."
| Cheers characters |
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| Main characters: Woody Boyd | Diane Chambers | Cliff Clavin | Frasier Crane | Rebecca Howe | Sam Malone | "Coach" Pantusso | Norm Peterson | Lilith Sternin | Carla Tortelli Recurring characters: Robin Colcord | Evan Drake | Eddie LeBec | Loretta Tortelli | Nick Tortelli |
