Actress Kirstie Alley dies at 71 from cancer

Kirstie Alley attends the premiere of the HBO series 'Girls' in January 2015. Evan Agostini (Invision)

Kirstie Alley has passed away this Monday at the age of 71, the family of the actress from series like

and

has confirmed .

The interpreter, who reaped many television successes in the eighties and nineties, died as a result of a "recently discovered" cancer, according to a statement from her children, William True and Lillie Parker, published on social networks.

The family claims that Kirstie was surrounded in hers by her loved ones in her final hours and that she fought "with great force."

"She leaves us with the certainty because of her inexhaustible joy of living the adventures that always remain to come," says the text.

“The enormous enthusiasm and passion for his life, his children, grandchildren and animals, not to mention his undying joy to create, is unparalleled and leaves us so inspired to live life to the fullest,” added his children, whom Alley had during her marriage to fellow actor Parker Stevenson.

Her family thanked the doctors and health workers at the Moffit Cancer Center, a specialty hospital located in Florida, on Monday.

Alley rose to fame thanks to playing Rebecca Howe, the manager of the most famous bar on American television.

took over from

and became a comedy icon for the NBC television network long before Jerry Seinfeld reinvented the standards of TV sitcoms.

Alley became an undisputed star in a groundbreaking series that launched the careers of Ted Danson, George Wendt, Kelsey Grammer and Woody Harrelson.

pic.twitter.com/g4nAItrR5x

— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) December 6, 2022

Alley's character was introduced by the writers to gain oxygen in a series that lasted eleven seasons.

Howe appeared in the sixth, as the female replacement for Shelley Long, who was the bartender at the place.

In the story, Sam (Danson) sells his bar to a large corporation.

The writers decide to reverse the relationship of the protagonist, who went from commanding to obeying the orders of Alley, who is in charge of the transition after the operation.

She does it with the sternness expected of a business school graduate.

Thanks to her feline eyes and a very attractive voice, Alley received five Emmy nominations for this role.

She took it home with her in 1991 after winning the best actress category.

In 1994 she won another statuette for her participation in the miniseries

where she plays the mother of an autistic minor.

Cheers meant a before and after for Alley.

His start in the industry, however, was in the movies.

In 1982 she made her screen debut in one of the most renowned families in the world of American science fiction, Star Trek.

Alley gave life to a lieutenant from the planet Vulcan, whose beings have pointed ears.

The film in which she appears,

, is one of the best valued among the various adaptations that the saga has.

She also acted, for the big screen, along with idols of the time such as Tom Selleck, in

(Out of control, 1984) and John Hurt, in

(Champions), of the same year.

In 1988, she shared the screen with Sidney Poitier, in Shoot to kill.

Her big movie success back then came in the 1989 comedy

, where Alley played a single mother deciding whether or not to raise her baby (voiced by Bruce Willis) with James, starring John Travolta. .

Amy Heckerling's film was not well received by critics, who limited themselves to calling it cute and simple.

But it was a box office success.

It raised, only in the US, the impressive figure of 140 million dollars, a sufficient amount to launch two sequels that marked the commercial cinema of the early nineties.

Alley was born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1951, into a middle-class family.

She there she worked as an interior designer until she decided to leave the State of her, attracted by the glitter of Hollywood.

She arrived in 1981 without knowing anyone, thanks to what she called "an impulse."

Just six months after that she was dressed in the uniform of the Enterprise, aboard the Star Trek saga.

Although she moved to California, the actress did not espouse the West Coast ideology.

She was a conservative (although she said she had voted for Obama twice) and a fervent supporter of Donald Trump, whom she supported in 2016 to reach the White House.

In recent years, she claimed to have been blacklisted by Hollywood for her support of the former president.

In May 2021, Trump sent a message to the actress.

"She is very strong and intelligent ... Kirstie Alley must be supported," wrote the former president.

She appreciated the gesture and said that she missed the controversial businessman on Twitter.

She was also an actress known for her humor.

He wasn't afraid to laugh at herself.

In 2005 she appeared in

for the Showtime network.

There she played an actress who, like her, was trying to keep a career alive in an image-obsessed industry despite carrying several extra pounds.

This was a battle royale during the lifetime of Alley, who was for years a spokesperson for a company that sold weight-loss plans.