Kirstie Alley Biography Quotes 32 Report mistakes

Early Life and Family
Kirstie Louise Alley was born on January 12, 1951, in Wichita, Kansas, to Robert Deal Alley and Lillian "Mickie" Alley. She grew up with siblings and attended Wichita Southeast High School, where she developed an early flair for performance and humor. After a brief stint at Kansas State University, she left college and moved west, determined to shape a life that blended creativity and independence. In Los Angeles she supported herself as an interior designer and appeared on television game shows, including Match Game and Password Plus, a period that introduced her to the rhythms of television production.

In 1981, tragedy struck when her mother was killed and her father seriously injured in a car accident, a loss Alley often described as formative. Around the same era she grappled with cocaine addiction, later crediting the Church of Scientology, which she joined in the late 1970s, with helping her achieve sobriety. The friendships she built there, notably with John Travolta, would endure throughout her life.

Early Career and Breakthrough
Alley began landing roles in the early 1980s, breaking through as the Vulcan-Romulan officer Saavik in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). The film's success gave her visibility and led to a steady stream of parts, from the techno-thriller Runaway (1984) to the TV miniseries North and South (1985, 1986), in which she shared the screen with Patrick Swayze. Her charisma, comedic timing, and a distinctively forthright presence made her difficult to categorize yet easy to remember.

Television Stardom with Cheers
In 1987, Alley joined Cheers, replacing Shelley Long and taking on the role of Rebecca Howe, the ambitious, beleaguered manager of the Boston bar opposite Ted Danson's Sam Malone. Working with a veteran ensemble that included Rhea Perlman, Kelsey Grammer, Woody Harrelson, George Wendt, and John Ratzenberger, she refined a character that balanced brittle professionalism with romantic chaos. The collaboration with creators Glen and Les Charles and director James Burrows sharpened her comedic sensibilities. Alley won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and a Golden Globe in 1991 for her work on the show, cementing Rebecca Howe as one of television's iconic characters.

Film Success and Versatility
While dominating Thursday nights on NBC, Alley built a parallel film career. She co-starred with Mark Harmon in Summer School (1987), traded suspense with Sidney Poitier and Tom Berenger in Shoot to Kill (1988), and reached a new audience in the hit comedy Look Who's Talking (1989) opposite John Travolta, continuing with two sequels. She expanded her range with Village of the Damned (1995) and the dark pageant satire Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999). In television movies, she won a second Emmy for David's Mother (1994), playing a fiercely protective parent, demonstrating dramatic depth beyond her comedic persona.

Headlining Series and Later Television
After Cheers, Alley led Veronica's Closet (1997, 2000), earning further award nominations and extending her partnership with NBC. She later embraced self-parody and candor about fame with Fat Actress (2005), and opened her personal life to viewers in the reality series Kirstie Alley's Big Life (2010). She returned to scripted sitcoms with Kirstie (2013, 2014), reuniting onscreen with Rhea Perlman and working alongside Michael Richards. In 2016 she appeared in the anthology series Scream Queens, showing an ongoing appetite for genre-bending television.

Reality television brought another late-career spotlight. On Dancing with the Stars in 2011, she partnered with Maksim Chmerkovskiy and finished as the runner-up, and she returned for the all-star season in 2012. In 2018 she entered Celebrity Big Brother in the United Kingdom and reached the final, reflecting a rapport with audiences that crossed borders.

Personal Life and Relationships
Alley married her high school sweetheart, Bob Alley, in 1970; the marriage ended in 1977. In 1983 she married actor Parker Stevenson. Together they adopted two children, William True Stevenson and Lillie Price Stevenson, and for many years maintained a family home away from Hollywood's glare. Though her marriage to Stevenson ended in 1997, they co-parented and remained connected through their children.

Her close friendship with John Travolta was a constant through professional highs and personal trials. On the set of Cheers, she built lasting bonds with co-stars, especially Ted Danson and Rhea Perlman, relationships that carried beyond the shows themselves. Alley was outspoken about her beliefs and experiences, including her long association with Scientology, her struggles and successes with weight, and the demands of raising children while maintaining a high-profile career. She became a familiar face in advertising as well, fronting campaigns for Pier 1 Imports and serving as a spokesperson for Jenny Craig. She launched the weight-loss brand Organic Liaison, which later became part of the Jenny Craig portfolio.

Public Stances and Cultural Presence
Never shy with opinions, Alley used interviews and social media to weigh in on industry practices, body image, and politics. Her support for Donald Trump during the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections drew both admiration and criticism, emblematic of how her candor kept her at the center of public conversation. Two memoirs, How to Lose Your Ass and Regain Your Life (2005) and The Art of Men (I Prefer Mine al dente) (2012), blended humor with frank reflections on love, addiction, fame, and resilience.

Illness, Passing, and Tributes
Kirstie Alley died on December 5, 2022, at age 71, after a brief battle with cancer that her family later identified as colon cancer. Her children, William True and Lillie Price, announced her passing and remembered her boundless enthusiasm, motherhood, and zest for life. Tributes quickly followed from across the entertainment community. John Travolta called her one of the most special relationships of his life; Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammer, and Rhea Perlman each honored both her talent and her warmth.

Legacy
Alley's legacy is anchored by the indelible stamp she left on late twentieth-century American television. As Rebecca Howe, she reframed the image of a sitcom heroine, balancing ambition, vulnerability, and farce with precision. Her film career, from Star Trek II to Look Who's Talking and beyond, reflected versatility and a willingness to leap between genres. Offscreen, her unfiltered voice, public battles and victories around weight and health, and devotion to family kept her eminently relatable even as she courted controversy. For colleagues and fans, she was a performer who could command a punchline, carry a scene, and reveal a character's fault lines with empathy. The work she left behind continues to project the mixture of steel and softness that made her unmistakably Kirstie Alley.

Our collection contains 32 quotes who is written by Kirstie, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Mother - Parenting - Faith - Health.

Other people realated to Kirstie: Denise Richards (Actress), Steve Guttenberg (Actor), John Jakes (Writer), David Crane (American), Amy Heckerling (Director), Tom Berenger (Actor), Jonathan Frakes (Actor), Michael Patrick Jann (Actor), David Gallagher (Actor), Lesley-Anne Down (Actress)