Diane Chambers

Diane Chambers is a fictional character in the American television situation comedy show Cheers, portrayed by Shelley Long and created by Glen and Les Charles.

After her fiancé Sumner Sloan abandons her in the Cheers bar in the pilot episode, Diane works as a bar waitress.

She has an on-off relationship with the womanizing bartender Sam Malone (Ted Danson) and a one-year relationship with Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), who later becomes a main character of the series and Frasier.

When Long left the series during the fifth season, the producers wrote her character out.

After that, they added her permanent replacement Rebecca Howe, a businesswoman played by Kirstie Alley, in the sixth season.

Shelley Long made a special guest appearance as Diane in the series finale, as well as in Frasier as a one-time figment of Frasier's imagination, and as the actual Diane in the crossover episode "The Show Where Diane Comes Back".

Other actresses auditioned for the role of Diane Chambers.

Producers decided to give Long the role primarily for her scenes with Ted Danson as Sam.

Diane Chambers premiered in Cheers in 1982 as a former teaching assistant and graduate student who works as a cocktail waitress.

In the 1982 series pilot "Give Me a Ring Sometime", Diane arrived with her fiancé Professor Sumner Sloane (Michael McGuire).

When he abandoned Diane at Cheers, she realized that he would not return and took a job as a waitress at Cheers.

For her performance as Diane, Long won an Emmy Award in 1983 for an Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and two Golden Globe Awards in 1983 and 1985 for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film and Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Television Series, respectively.

Her mother Helen (Glynis Johns) appeared in one episode, "Someone Single, Someone Blue" (1983), and the narrative indicated that her father, Spencer, had died.

Diane was said to have attended Bennington College and pursued graduate studies at Boston University.

She was known for intellectually-minded, long-winded commentaries and academic interests (particularly poetry, psychology) which created tensions with her co-workers and in the bar culture, opening up many comedic possibilities.

Diane had on-and-off relationships with womanizing bartender Sam Malone, a former professional athlete and a foil to her intellectual persona.

When Sam and Diane ended one of their relationships at the end of the second season, Diane went to a psychiatric hospital in the following season and met psychiatrist Frasier Crane, and the two set off to marry in Europe at the end of that season.

The fourth season opened as Diane jilted Frasier at the wedding altar.

In the fifth season, after Sam ended his relationship with politician Janet Eldridge (Kate Mulgrew), Sam proposed to Diane, who repeatedly rejected his proposals until she finally agreed in "Chambers vs. Malone" (1987).

In the season finale, "I Do, Adieu" (1987), Diane was offered the chance to fulfill her dream of becoming a writer, causing Sam and Diane to halt their wedding.

Diane left Boston, promising Sam that she would return in six months.

In the series finale, "One for the Road" (1993), Diane returned as an award-winning cable television writer.

They tried to rekindle their romance and planned to leave Boston together for Los Angeles.

However, they reconsidered their relationship and then amicably broke it off.

Diane returned to Los Angeles without Sam.

Diane appeared three times in the Cheers spin-off, Frasier.

She appeared as a dream figure from Frasier's mind in "Adventures In Paradise (Part 2)" (1994) and later again in "Don Juan In Hell" (2001).

Diane visited Seattle in "The Show Where Diane Comes Back" (1996).

In Los Angeles, she lost her job by accidentally setting Jane Seymour's hair on fire on the set of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.

She also lost her friends, boyfriend, beach house, and financial support for her upcoming play, and traveled to Seattle to ask Frasier for help.

During a rehearsal of her play—inspired by her experiences at Cheers—Frasier became verbally angry with Diane's rose-tinted portrayal of herself and her inaccurate depiction of him.

After the rehearsal, Diane reconciled with Frasier about abandoning him in Europe and then decided to postpone the play and to move back to Los Angeles.

According to Shelley Long, Diane looks more intelligent than she really is.

She uses books and academics to communicate with others, usually unsuccessfully.

After a series of events which bring her scorn and ridicule, Diane realizes that she knows little about the real world and the bar, and must learn about the world without using books.

Wendie Malick auditioned for the role of Diane; she later appeared in Frasier as Ronny Lawrence.

Bess Armstrong was offered a role, but she turned it down.

Long was initially reluctant to audition, expecting to be offered the role straight out.

The producers took a meeting with her and were able to coax her into reading for the part; according to Glen Charles when Long read "that was it, we knew that we wanted her."

Before the final decision was made, the list of actresses was narrowed down to three: Long, Lisa Eichhorn, and Julia Duffy.