Bebe Neuwirth

As Lilith Sternin in Cheers (1982), Bebe Neuwirth takes a psychiatrist’s self-control seriously enough to make it funny. Her delivery is dry, with little effort spent on making the character more agreeable. We laughed at Lilith’s severity because Neuwirth lets the psychiatrist remain so insistently serious. The programme sometimes repeats its quarrels, but its cast understands how funny a bruised ego can be. Neuwirth fits that company by making composure seem like something a person has to work at.

She joined Cheers in 1986 and reprised Lilith in Frasier, alongside Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane. That was also the year she played Nickie in the stage revival of Sweet Charity. Her dance background helps explain the tautness of her acting: she is precise about movement as well as speech. Velma Kelly in the 1996 revival of Chicago put that physical discipline to more conspicuous use. It is worth remembering the dancer when a screen part asks her chiefly to be stern.

In Barry Levinson’s Bugsy (1991), she plays Countess di Frasso. We recommend that gangster romance for its acting, while finding it too forgiving of its hero; it is not where we would begin an evening devoted to Neuwirth. Nora Shepherd in Jumanji (1995) is another of the supporting roles that have occupied much of her film work. Such parts can use her comic precision without giving her much space to develop a character. Lilith remains the fuller introduction.

The limitation is often the job: sharp, capable, cool, and useful to someone else’s story. We would welcome a screen lead that gave her more to do than establish authority. The stage has continued to offer substantial parts, including Morticia Addams in The Addams Family (2010) and Fräulein Schneider in Cabaret (2024). That continuing work matters when considering an actor whose screen reputation rests so heavily on deadpan comedy. Start with Cheers, where her severity has other stubborn people to work against.