Kelsey Grammer supported ‘Frasier’ costar through cancer battle during filming: 'This is your family'
Kelsey Grammer's "Frasier" costar Toks Olagundoye recalled how the actor reassured her that she would not be fired while she was battling breast cancer during the filming of the revival series.
During an appearance on "The Kelly Clarkson Show," the 49-year-old actress recalled that she was diagnosed with stage 0 triple negative breast cancer at age 46 and the cancer had progressed to stage 1 by the time of her first surgery. Olagundoye underwent two additional surgeries and began working on "Frasier" two weeks after completing chemotherapy.
Shortly into production, Olagundoye's doctor insisted that she had to undergo a double mastectomy immediately and the actress feared that she would lose her job.
"I went to my showrunners and I said, ‘Listen, if you have to fire me, I’ve only been on three episodes so far, make me a guest star or whatever,’" Olagundoye remembered.
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She continued, "And they were like, 'No, we'll do whatever you need to do, you know, it's fine.' I was like, ‘Great.’"
However, Olagundoye remained doubtful and later told her husband, "I am sure I’m getting fired any second."
"Because, you know, they talk in Hollywood and say one thing, another thing happens," she told Clarkson.
Olagundoye recalled that she then received a call from Grammer, who works as executive producer on "Frasier" along with starring as the titular character.
"I see Kelsey’s calling and I was like, ‘Yep, this is it, getting fired, right this second,’" she remembered.
Olagundoye continued, "He was very emotional, he didn’t realize what I was going through, and he said, ‘I know how actors think, I want to let you know this is your family, you’re not getting fired, we’re going to do whatever we need to do to make you feel comfortable.’ I remember him so vividly saying, ‘You’re going to be so happy after this. Everything is going to be OK.'"
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Olagundoye was a member of the main cast of "Frasier" during the show's first season, which premiered in October 2023. She played Professor Olivia Finch, the chair of Harvard University's psychology department who convinces Dr. Frasier Crane (Grammer) to become a lecturer at Harvard in the series' first episode.
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The actress reprised her role in the second season of "Frasier," which debuted in September.
"I’ve never had a TV family quite like the ‘Frasier’ cast, they’re really amazing human beings," Olagundoye told Clarkson. "To be around them was really nice."
After Olagundoye shared her story, Clarkson surprised the actress by playing a video message that Grammer had previously recorded for her.
"I’m really proud of you for being on this show and I salute your efforts to raise awareness and money for breast cancer, and we’ve always loved you and loved being with you when you were going through your stint, and congratulations on coming out the other side," Grammer said in the video.
"I’m deeply, personally grateful that you did," he added.
Grammer first appeared as Frasier Crane on "Cheers" in 1984. He landed the spinoff series, "Frasier," in 1993 and starred for 11 seasons as the character before it ended in 2004.