Kirstie Alley, the two-time Emmy Award winner and one of the few undisputed queens of the sitcom format, has died at the age of 71 cheers and Veronica’s closet The star’s surprising death came “after a battle with cancer that was only recently discovered.”
A Kansan native, she discovered Scientology in 1979 at the age of 28 after emerging from a divorce from her high school sweetheart and a cocaine addiction. After going through a Scientology-affiliated rehab program, she landed her first major role in the 1982s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. A moderately successful film career eventually blossomed into a big sitcom career when Alley landed a role on the NBC smash sitcom cheers 1987 after Shelley Long left the program in search of a film career that ultimately never blossomed. Alley’s wayward Rebecca Howe proved an impressive match for Ted Danson’s Sam Malone, and her “Will they or won’t they?” Energy and clear onscreen chemistry played a major role in this show’s rise in broadcast history. For her work, Alley earned five Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, eventually taking home the award at the 1991 Emmy Awards.
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