Lilith Sternin

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Lilith Sternin Lilith Sternin-Crane
Cheers character
Lilith in her usual suit in Cheers
Gender	Female
Hair color	Black
Eye color	Brown
Role in Cheers	Customer
Portrayed by	Bebe Neuwirth

Lilith Sternin is a character on the American television sitcom Cheers and its spinoff Frasier. She is played by Bebe Neuwirth. Lilith has also appeared on Wings.

[edit] Background and role in the series

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Very little is known about Lilith's background. A remarkably unemotional and restrained woman, her hair always tightly pulled back in a severe bun, she has extremely pale skin and a monotonous voice, and dresses exclusively in drab, conservative clothing. Her body is intensely cold to the touch; Niles, after a much regretted night with her, claimed that "When you kiss her, you get an ice-cream headache." A recurring joke is that beneath the cold exterior simmers a wild, passionate sexual appetite that bursts out on occasion.

Her temperament is such that she considers Zeppo to be the funniest of the Marx Brothers. (Zeppo, in fact, was the straight man in the movies he appeared in.)

Some background into her childhood and to the reason for Lilith's appearance was brought up when her mother forced her & Frasier to get remarried because she had missed the original wedding. Her mother wasn't satisfied with the wedding alone, but also had her dress up as the beautiful make-up laden bride her mother envisioned her to be. After initially going along with the idea, Lilith screamed at her mother to stop controlling her life, this caused her mother to cry "That's exactly what I told my mother at my wedding!"

Lilith is tremendously intellectual, and takes her chosen profession, psychiatry, very seriously. She enjoys forming elaborate psychological profiles to explain even the most ordinary events.

She first appeared in a single episode during the fourth season of Cheers, and later falls in love with and marries fellow psychiatrist Frasier Crane, becoming Dr. Lilith Sternin-Crane. Lilith and Frasier would go on to have a son, Frederick Crane. Lilith did not approve of Frasier bringing their baby son into Cheers, and her feelings appeared to be justified when little Frederick's first word was "NORM!" A Jewish woman, Lilith raised Frederick Jewish as well. It was clear that Lilith's approach to parenting was as cold and calculating as her scientific research, although she has shown great compassion towards Frederick, for example when she took singing lessons so she could sing to her son, much to Frasier's dismay. This caused several jokes in the bar at her expense. Lilith in an attempt to prove them wrong, sang to Frederick, which moved the entire bar to tears, and Cliff running to the phone to call his Ma.

Lilith would not stay faithful to Fraiser, however, and late in Cheers she would have an affair with a coworker and temporarily leave Frasier to go and live with her lover in an underground eco-pod. After a short reconciliation, she and Frasier divorced, with Lilith gaining full custody of Frederick. Frasier moved to Seattle (at the beginning of Frasier), while she and Frederick remained in Boston. Despite the separation, Frasier and Lilith continue to have a cordial relationship, and often visit. Frasier's father, Martin Crane despises Lilith, however, and does not enjoy such get-togethers.

Lilith appeared on Frasier several times, as did Frederick.

During the course of Frasier Lilith remarries, but this ends quickly once her husband, seeking a more feminine partner, comes out of the closet and leaves her for their interior decorator, Stanley. Subsequently, in one episode she attempts to seduce Frasier but ends up sleeping with his brother, Niles Crane. In her final appearance on the show Frasier and Lilith achieve their most peaceful reconciliation to date.

[edit] Trivia

Her name may be a humorous reference to Lilith, a night-demon and the first wife of Adam in Jewish folklore. Characters on the show often speak of her in demonic or witchlike terms. Niles once commented, "How strange - I usually get some sign when Lilith is in town: dogs forming into packs, blood weeping from the walls." Towards the end of Fraiser's run, the connection was actually referenced; guest star Brent Spiner asks if she is anything like the demoness, to which she replies, "I make her look like a vacillating cream puff."
Bebe appears on the sitcom Will & Grace, and Jack and Karen are happy to meet the actress that plays Lilith, despite the fact she rarely plays the character anymore. Bebe at first appears annoyed at being personified as Lilith, then admits to loving the character and "wanting to play that bitch forever".

Cheers characters
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