Jane Leeves revealed she nearly lost out on her role in “Frasier” to “Sex and the City” star Cynthia Nixon.
Leeves recalled how the two actresses faced off for the part of Daphne Moon in the beloved sitcom on Valerie Bertinelli’s “Still Hot in Cleveland” podcast earlier this week.
“My agent said to me, ‘There’s some interest in you for this spin-off from Cheers,” Leeves, 65, said. “And I loved ‘Cheers’, so I was like, ‘Well, I’m not taking these two shows. I want to read for that.”
“So, it was sort of rushed because they said, ‘Well, you have to see her now if you’re interested because she’s got these two other offers,’” the actress remembered.
But Leeves said when she arrived at the audition, Nixon, 60, was already in the room reading for the part.
After Leeves’ turn, the producers had her wait outside and then returned to ask if she’d come back the next day to read with lead star Kelsey Grammer.
“And I was like, ‘Oh, let me check my calendar,’” Leeves quipped.
She continued, “The next day I went in and i remember sitting on the steps outside, and this red Corvette came flying in and out jumped this beach boy looking guy, and I [was like], ‘Oh my god, It’s Kelsey Grammer.”
Leeves said Grammer, 71, was wearing flip-flops and “looked nothing” like his psychiatrist character.
When it came time for the audition, Grammer exerted his power by making the producers wait outside the room.
“He didn’t want an English girl,” the British actress explained. “He thought it would be ‘Nanny and the Professor.’ He didn’t want their influence.”
Leeves said after the pair read the scene, Grammer told her to go outside and brought the producers back into the room.
Shortly after, Grammer “came out and ran off in his Corvette,” while Leeves was called back into the room and told by producers that she got the job.
“It was extraordinary,” Leeves said.
Leeves played Daphne, a live-in housekeeper and Frasier’s dad’s physical therapist, on all 11 seasons of the beloved sitcom, which aired from 1993 to 2004.
The cast also included John Mahoney, David Hyde Pierce, Peri Gilpin and Dan Butler.
Leeves did not return for the “Frasier” revival that aired for two seasons on Paramount+ from 2023 to 2024.
Nixon, meanwhile, was cast as lawyer Miranda Hobbes in “Sex and the City,” starring alongside Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis and Kim Cattrall.
The foursome appeared in all six seasons of the show from 1998 and 2004 and two films released in 2008 and 2010.
Nixon, Parker and Davis all reprised their roles in the sequel series “And Just Like That,” which was canceled last year after three seasons.
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