Martin Crane

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Martin "Marty" Crane is a character on the Americal television show Frasier. He is played by Lancashire-born actor John Mahoney. Martin is the father of Frasier and Niles Crane, and has a pet dog, a Jack Russell terrier named Eddie.

[edit] Biography

Although Martin is first mentioned in an episode of the sitcom Cheers, his life history is mainly expanded on in the spinoff Frasier; in an eighth season Cheers episode ("Two Girls For Every Boyd"), Frasier claims that his father is dead and was a scientist in life. Both claims are refuted in Frasier (in which Martin is an ex-police officer who is very much alive), and this comment is retconned in the later show as being the result of bad feelings between Martin and Frasier at the time (John Mahoney, the actor that played Martin in Frasier also appeared in Cheers as a piano player).

Martin was born in Seattle and is a life-long resident of the city. He was married to Hester Rose Crane until her death. He was a career police officer, achieving the position of homicide detective during his time with the Seattle Police Department, and is also a Korean War veteran. He remains close to both the members of his army unit (meeting them for frequent reunions) and the police officers he worked with.

Martin has one sibling, a brother named Walt (who is married to a Greek woman named Zora), and one nephew, Walt and Zora's son Nikos. Martin and Walt are estranged, thanks to Zora's hostility towards Frasier's meddling in Nikos' life. While they reconcile in an episode of Frasier, it is unclear how long the reconciliation lasts, and Walt appears in only one episode.

Hester rejected his first marriage proposal, but the two married when she became pregnant with Frasier. The marriage was mostly a happy and loving one, but there were numerous issues; in particular, it is revealed that Hester had an affair with a family friend (apparently following a particularly rocky period in the marriage). Martin later blamed himself for his wife's infidelity, and was willing to allow people (including his own sons) to believe that he had been the adulterous party in the affair; the two later reconciled. Ironically, this event would later help bring Martin and Frasier (whose own wife also cheated on him) closer together. They remained together until Hester's death (some six years before the start of Frasier). Martin was greatly affected by Hester's death, an event that seems to have increased his estrangement from Niles and Frasier, and certainly contributed to his reluctance to engage in relationships with other women. For much of their adult lives, Martin, Frasier and Niles seem to have had a rather distant and estranged relationship with each other.

At some unclear point before Frasier begins, Martin was injured in the line of duty when he was shot after interrupting a robbery attempt in a convenience store. The injury damaged his hip, forcing him to walk with a cane and to retire from the police force. Around this point, he also presumably acquires Eddie, his pet dog and (later) his closest companion.

Ultimately, his injury forces him to accept Frasier's invitation to live with him on Frasier's return to Seattle. Martin soon grows close to his physical therapist Daphne Moon and Frasier's radio show producer Roz Doyle, and steadily becomes closer to both his sons, despite their different tastes and personalities. Although initially reluctant to start dating, Martin also has several relationships with other women during Frasier. Ultimately he develops a relationship with and eventually marries Ronee Lawrence, who used to babysit Niles and Frasier but had since lost touch with the Cranes.

Politically, Martin seems to be conservative. He once referred to a Senator as a "bleeding heart soft on crime" and backed an extremely conservative (probably Republican) candidate for Congress whom Frasier called a "fascist." However, since this election took place in 1994 when many Americans voted Republican, and since the candidate focused largely on crime prevention (a topic that Martin, being a former police officer, would be interested in) he may be an independent. He has shown concern for global warming, a supposedly liberal topic. He also has shown sympathy with former (Democratic) presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, both of whom are generally held to be icons of the left in American politics. In one episode, Niles asks Martin for his gun, and Martin replies that he would rather not arm a civilian, seeming to imply that he supports the normally left-wing policy of gun control. Of course, being a police officer who was shot by a civilian-owned handgun might have contributed to that view.

Because both his sons share very little in common with him in terms of hobbies and personalities, he seems to be very close to Frasier's producer Roz. He invites her to his poker games on numerous occasions, and responds very warmly to her laid back, "one of the guys" personality. On one of his birthdays, she presents him with a six pack of beers, and this turns out to be the only gift he seems to genuinely enjoy that day. In many ways, because she shares so much of his own interests, he seems to view her as the child he should have had, and dotes on her very warmly. In turn, Roz seems to respond very well to his paternal feelings.

[edit] Personality

Unlike his sons, Martin Crane is very down-to-earth and unpretentious. His tastes are generally simpler than those of his sons and reflect popular culture to a greater degree - he prefers drinking beer (specifically Ballantine) to wine or spirits, for example, and prefers watching action movies and professional sports to the opera and theatre preferred by Frasier and Niles. In the earlier seasons especially, most of the comedy and drama of the series stems from the culture clashes between the refined sons and the blue-collar father (the sons frequently considering themselves superior in both taste and intellectual matters than their father), and the struggles between Frasier and Martin in sharing an apartment.

As a result, Martin has a complex and frequently difficult relationship with both his sons, both of whom take after their mother, and have little interest in the traditionally masculine pursuits that interest Martin, such as sports and outdoor activities, just as Martin himself finds little of interest in their pursuits, such as cooking, collecting antiques and opera. Martin also places little stock in (and is frequently and loudly dismissive of) established psychiatry, something which - as both of his sons are passionate psychiatrists - also undoubtedly contributed the rift between them. On a few occasions, however, he actually exhibits genuine psychological know-how and intellect, surprising Frasier and Niles (although Martin usually waves off these situations and thinks nothing of it; he can, at times, attribute this to his listening to Frasier's radio show). Martin also frequently clashed with and was vocally dismissive of both of his sons' romantic interests (in particular their wives, Maris, and Lilith), which also added to the bad feeling between the men.

A dramatic irony frequently shown in the series is that whilst Frasier and Niles may possess more intellectual knowledge and refinement than Martin, it is in fact Martin who is a wiser and more knowledgeable individual. Certainly, Martin possesses greater reserves of common sense and experience than his two sons, and whilst his sons may be trained in psychiatry, it is frequently Martin's advice in any scenario that is more sound. He is usually quick to foresee the catastrophes and crises that Frasier and Niles' various plans and actions will result in, and is capable of advising the best way to avoid this - however, their senses of superiority, stubbornness and neuroses frequently ensure that Frasier and Niles will disregard his advice and blunder into chaos anyway. This can lead to Martin at times taking an almost spiteful delight in the misfortunes and downfalls of his sons, and he is often quick to point out that he told them so.

Martin is a gruff and taciturn man who finds it difficult to express himself emotionally - in particular to his family and loved ones, with whom he can be quite withdrawn and remote. In the episode "Breaking the Ice", for example, he finds it easier to say the words "I love you" to both his dog Eddie and his best friend Duke than he does to either of his sons. He is certainly less comfortable with emotional exchanges than either of his sons, who find it much easier to express themselves in such a fashion. His blunt, open manner can make him seem tactless and insensitive. He is quite stubborn, and is given to holding grudges.

For all this, Martin is portrayed as an extremely likeable and caring person. Although he may find it difficult to express his feelings to his sons, he clearly loves them both, remaining proud of and devoted to them, and bitterly resenting any implication that this might not be the case. When Niles goes to a costume party as Martin and is asked to name his biggest disappointment in life. Niles (in character) turns this into a speech of his distaste for his and Frasier's lack of athletisism, before finally saying "if I had to choose my two biggest disappointments." Martin quickly cuts him off, angered at being portrayed "as a drunken jackass", and tells Niles that, while he and Frasier weren't what he was expecting, he's always been proud of them.

Frasier characters
Main characters: Frasier Crane | Niles Crane | Martin Crane | Daphne Moon | Roz Doyle | Eddie the dog Recurring characters: Maris Crane | Bob 'Bulldog' Briscoe | Lilith Sternin | Bebe Glazer List of minor characters