Kirstie Alley got her start in Hollywood the same way multiple others before and after her got theirs: by slogging it out in low-profile roles and hoping for the big break. Alley, who had scored small roles in TV shows and movies throughout the early and middle 1980s, caught her big break when she was cast on the popular sitcom, "Cheers." Specifically, as the Hallmark Channel notes, after lead actress Shelley Long left to pursue a movie career, Alley was brought on as Rebecca Howe, the tough-as-nails corporate executive who served as foil to star Sam Malone's (Ted Danson) schemes.
The role made Alley a household name and a bankable star. Prior to 1991, she was nominated for an Emmy Award twice for the role, according to the Emmy's website: Once in 1988 and again in 1990, but she didn't win either time. She did win in 1991, however, and at the award ceremony, described by Decider as "not as prestigious as the Oscars, not as performative as the Grammys, not nearly as drunk as the Golden Globes," Alley gave her fans a glimpse of her penchant for saying exactly what was on her mind, consequences be damned. And as she took the award, she famously thanked her then-husband, Parker Stevenson, for being "the man who has given me the big one for the last eight years."
