So what are you saying… that he wasn’t really British and wasn’t really gay?
Or, more that, neither being British, nor being gay, were particularly significant parts of his public persona.
Sort of. 
American citizen with American accent born in England.
Rumored to be gay and probably was but he was a private person who never talked about his private life and to my knowledge never publicly acknowledged his sexuality one way or the other.
I think he was also in The American President as the Annette Bening character’s boss.
My favorite episode of his was the one in which he told a guy he’d been an astronaut.
Sad to hear, especially because he was so young. He basically seemed 75 when he was still on Frasier.
Outside of ‘Frazier’ the thing I most remember him for was a SNL short (1987) where he played the manager of a goofy bowling prodigy (Ben Stiller). (It was a parody of “The Color of Money” with bowling instead of pool. Mahoney in the Newman role and Ben Stiller was the Cruise role.)
He was.
“There’s never an egg timer around when you need one.”
Was Grammer the only straight guy on the show? (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)
“I’m incarcerated, Lloyd!” Perfect delivery.
The best thing about that is, he has to completely nail the over-dinner-and-drinks monologue as The Guy — The Guy who gets called if there’s a thing with a building contractor or if there’s a riot downtown or if there’s a problem with the city’s water pipes, and The Guy who is now going to amiably transition to a conversational chat about whether your client is honoring the terms of an agreement — and we also have to believe it when Richard Gere then casually shrugs it off upon noting that he’s heard that exact speech from him one too many times before.
Like, you have to believe that it would’ve worked, if you’d been in the other guy’s shoes; and you also have to believe that it’s actually falling flat.
He seemed to be the go-to actor whenever a show called for a police sergeant, and it’s mostly how I remember him. Even in Frasier, he was a retired police sergeant.
He was also one of Michael Westen’s handlers in Burn Notice. I remember that scene where Michael dives out of the helicopter into the bay.
Of the male, primary cast I believe he was.
The primary cast was Frasier, Niles, Martin, Roz and Daphne. They were in all 263 episodes. I was surprised to see that Bulldog was in only 53 episodes and many of those were a line or two. I don’t think that low a percentage of appearances could bump him up to primary cast. And he was the most frequent reoccurring guest. So only 3 males in the primary cast.
Frasier is one of my favorite shows and I also liked him in Say Anything. He started acting at 37 because he was miserable in his day job. It’s never too late to do what you love if you have the opportunity.
He definitely sounds different in this interview bit I found. Not that different a voice (though less gruff), but definitely more thoughtful and less cranky.
Brilliant supporting role in Barton Fink has a Faulkneresque writer on an alcoholic decline. I didn’t know that was him until today.
Yes! This is what I came in to mention.
Frasier only said that because they had had a fight.
