Frasier Crane might have his name in the title, but this series was really about the three Crane men: Frasier, Niles, and Martin. The pilot episode of “Frasier” — which, incidentally, David Hyde Pierce thought was “terrible” at first — set up the fraught relationship between Dr. Crane and his father, with Niles refusing to take the declining old man into his home, forcing Frasier to fall on that sword. Over the course of the series, the relationship between these high-minded, fussy siblings and their everyman ex-cop father became much more affectionate, with the story of the show really being about the Crane men finding common ground and growing closer in their adult years.
It’s not surprising, then, that Frasier, Niles, and Martin actors Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, and John Mahoney are the only three performers to appear in all 263 episodes of “Frasier.” But surely Roz and Daphne were close? The two characters were there from the very start, after all, and became almost as integral to the series as the Crane boys. Well, in Roz actress Peri Gilpin’s case, she managed 261 out of the 263 installments, making her the performer with the second-highest number of appearances. Frasier’s producer did not appear in the final season episodes “The Babysitter” and “A Man, A Plan, A Gal: Julia,” though exactly why she was left out of these particular installments remains unclear.
Meanwhile, Daphne actress Jane Leeves, who Kelsey Grammer was initially hesitant to cast, appeared in 257 “Frasier” episodes, missing several due to her real-life first pregnancy, which coincided with the show’s eighth season. The writers simply ignored the pregnancy within the world of the show itself, with Leeves hiding her belly right up until she took maternity leave. During the show’s 11th season, however, Leeves’ second pregnancy was written into the series, with Niles and Daphne welcoming their first son, David, in the series finale, “Goodnight, Seattle.”
