What is Kelsey Grammer's Net Worth and Salary?
Kelsey Grammer is an actor, comedian, television producer, director, and writer who has a net worth of $80 million. Kelsey Grammer is best known for his two-decade portrayal of the character Frasier Crane on the show "Cheers" and the "Cheers" spin-off sitcom "Frasier." At the peak of "Frasier," Kelsey was earning $1.6 million per episode, roughly $38 million per season. That was a record salary for a TV actor up to that point and still stands as the fifth-highest per-episode salary ever earned by an actor. Kelsey has lost tens of millions over the course of multiple marriages and divorces. He paid his third wife Camille a reported $30 million in cash and real estate settlements.
Early Life
Allen Kelsey Grammer was born in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, on February 21, 1955, to Sally and Frank Allen Grammer, Jr. His mother was a singer and actress, and his father was a musician and restauranteur. Grammer was raised by his mother and maternal grandparents in New Jersey and Florida. He attended the private preparatory school Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was there that he first began dabbling in music and theater. He eventually earned a scholarship to study at the Julliard School but ultimately was expelled for failure to attend classes.
The reason why he suffered from poor academic performance at college was because his only sister, Karen, was kidnapped and murdered in 1975. Other personal tragedies in his family include the murder of his father in 1968 and the death of his two half-brothers in a scuba diving accident in 1980.
Acting Career
In the late 1970s, after he left Julliard, Grammer interned with the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego for three years. He then joined the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1980 before making his Broadway debut in 1981 in a production of "Macbeth." He continued acting on stage in various productions before joining the NBC sitcom "Cheers" in 1984 as the character Dr. Frasier Crane. He landed this spot on the television show after his former Julliard classmate and Broadway co-star Mandy Patinkin recommended him to one of the show's casting directors. His run on the show was originally only meant to be for six episodes but was eventually extended and he was made a regular cast member. Grammer would appear on "Cheers" from its third season all the way until the final season in 1993. The character of Frasier lived on after "Cheers" ended, though, with the spin-off show "Frasier."
"Frasier" followed the character of Frasier and aired from September 1993 to May 2004 for 11 seasons. In addition to starring as the title character, Grammer sang the show's closing theme song. For his role in "Frasier," Grammer received 11 consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won four times. In total, the show and cast won 37 Primetime Emmy Awards.
In 2005, Grammer produced an American adaptation of the British show "The Sketch Show", which he also appeared on. However, they only shot six episodes, of which only four were aired on Fox. In 2007, he starred alongside Patricia Heaton in the short-lived sitcom "Back to You," and in 2009, he starred in the similarly short-lived series "Hank," which was canceled after just five episodes. He has gone on to appear on shows like "30 Rock" (2010-2012), "Boss" (2011-2012), "Partners" (2014), "The Last Tycoon" (2016-2017), "Modern Family" (2017), "Porters" (2017), "Proven Innocent" (2019), and "Carol's Second Act" (2020). At the same time, Grammer has stayed active in the theater and has appeared in productions such as "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" at the Ahmanson Theatre in 2000; "My Fair Lady" at the Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in 2007; "La Cage aux Folles" at the Longacre Theatre from 2010 – 2011; and "Man of La Mancha" at the London Coliseum in 2019, among others.
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In addition to his television and stage work, Grammer has appeared in many films over the years. Some of these films include "Down Periscope" (1996), "A Christmas Carol" (2004), "X-Men: The Last Stand" (2006), "Swing Vote" (2008), "Fame" (2009), "The Expendables 3" (2014), "Transformers: Age of Extinction" (2014), "Best of Enemies" (2015), "Killing Jesus" (2015), and "Like Father" (2019). He has also worked as a voice actor on many projects. He voiced characters in the critically acclaimed films "Anastasia" (1997) and "Toy Story 2" (1999) and received an Emmy Award for his work voicing the character Sideshow Bob on the show "The Simpsons". Other shows he has provided his voice on include "The Troop" (2010), "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" (2016), "Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia" (2016-2018), "3Below: Tales of Arcadia" (2018-2019), and "You're Not a Monster" (2019). He has also provided narration for many commercials, including for brands like Honey Nut Cheerios, Hyundai, and Dr Pepper.
Frasier Salary/Highest Paid Actor
For the final two seasons, Kelsey earned $1.6 million per episode of Frasier. That's roughly $38 million per season or $76 million for the last two seasons alone. At the time, the deal made him the highest-paid actor in television history. Today, that's the fifth-highest salary earned by a TV actor on a per-episode basis. After adjusting for inflation, he earned the equivalent of $2.2 million per episode.
Producing Career
Grammer is the owner of the production company Grammnet Production. The company produced shows like "Medium" (2005-2011), "Girlfriends" (2000-2008), and "The Game" (2006-2015). He has also served as executive producer for shows like "Gary the Rat" (2003), "Back to You" (2007-2008), "Hank" (2009-2010), "Boss" (2011-2012), "Partners" (2012), and "Light as a Feather" (2018), among others.
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Personal Life
Grammer has been married four times and, as of this writing, has seven children. His first wife was Doreen Alderman, and they were married from 1982 to 1990. They have one child together. Then, Grammer was in a relationship with Barrie Buckner, and they had one child together, although they never married. His second marriage, to Leigh-Anne Csuhany, lasted less than a year between 1992 and 1993. In 1994, he became engaged to Tammi Baliszewski (a.k.a. Tammi Alexander), and they announced their engagement. However, they did not marry.
His third marriage was to Camille Donatacci, and they were married from 1997 to 2011. They have two children together. Two weeks after the finalization of his third divorce, Grammer married Kayte Walsh, and they have three children together.
Kelsey and Camille Grammer Divorce Settlement
When Kelsey and Camille Grammer finalized their divorce, she received an estimated $30 million worth of cash and real estate assets, including an enormous house in Malibu, which she soon sold for $13 million.
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Real Estate
In 2002, Kelsey paid $5.35 million for a ski-in-ski-out mansion in Avon, Colorado. He sold this property in 2013 for $6.6 million.
In 2007, Kelsey paid $13.7 million for a large mansion in Holmby Hills, California. He listed this property for sale a year later for $19.9 million. Real estate records seem to indicate that he still owns this property today. He lowered the offering price to $18 million in 2012, further reducing it to $14.99 million in April 2013 before taking it off the market. This was inadvertently a good move because today, the home is easily worth at least $25 million. Grammer's Holmby Hills home sits on 1 acre of property. The home is 10,567 square feet, with seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms. The home features parquet floors, French doors, heavy beamed ceilings, a gourmet kitchen opening to a family room, gym, and media room with built-in bookshelves and a built-in bar. The master suite has duo dressing rooms and bathrooms. Outdoors, there is a large motor court, stone patios, a vine-covered terrace, and a pool.
In 2010, Kelsey paid $6.4 million for a 3,000-square-foot condo in New York City. He listed this property for sale in 2016 for $9.75 million. About a year later, he accepted a $7.95 million offer for the unit.
In 2012, he bought a Beverly Hills mansion for $6.5 million. He sold this property just a year later for $6.6 million.
He previously owned a large mansion in Kailua, Hawaii on a golf course within a gated community. He sold this property in 2014 for $10.2 million.
