"As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother": This is what True and Lillie Parker write of their mother, Kirstie Alley, as they announce the actress has passed away from cancer.
Alley was 71 years old.
A quick look back at her biggest and most famous roles:
"Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", 1982
Huh, who is this Vulcan?
And why is she sitting in the captain's chair?
For "Star Trek" fans, the second part of the series begins in an unusual way: They hope to see Kirk, Spock, Bones and the rest of the Enterprise crew again in 1982 - and then an alien commands the spaceship.
Played by a newcomer named Kirstie Alley, who doesn't list her under "Starring" in the opening credits, only under "Introducing."
After only five minutes, as Lieutenant Saavik, she flew the Enterprise into an unwinnable space battle - and won the hearts of the fans.
The space battle turns out to be a simulation (read more about the »Kobayashi Maru« test here), the Enterprise is not - yet - destroyed.
Alley plays Saavik with a distant look, raised eyebrow,
volcanic coolness in almost every sentence - and a tear at Spock's funeral.
It's her first big role, and she's going to be perhaps the most popular »Star Trek« sidekick ever.
Despite this, she does not appear again in the follow-up films;
the fee is obviously too low for her.
It won't hurt your career.
or
Cheers, 1987
It was actually an incredibly thankless job that Kirstie Alley took on in 1987.
The sitcom Cheers revolves around the relationship between bartender and ex-baseball player Sam (Ted Danson) and student waitress Diane.
Season after season, the sitcom, set in a Boston bar, grows in popularity - and then Diane actress Shelley Long leaves the show.
In her place is Alley, from the sixth season on.
Her Rebecca Howe starts out as a manager that Sam works his way through, but also desires.
With her power blazers, Rebecca doesn't really fit into the bar microcosm, but she's by no means as confident as she would like to be.
And the contrast helps the ratings remain reasonably stable - in 1990/91 it was even the most-watched show on US television ever.
In Germany, ZDF screwed up the dubbing of »Cheers« (»Prost Helmut«) in the 1980s;
In 1995/96 she also found German fans in RTL's night program, who then already knew Kirstie Alley from the cinema.
Feb
»Murderful Headstart«, 1988
At her side you can feel safe even in the deepest wilderness.
In the action thriller »Shoot to Kill« (1988), which bears the title »Mörderischer Vorsprung« in Germany, Alley plays a mountain guide who leads a group of men across the US-Canada border.
Most of the guys clearly tower over the actress and yet seem like civilization dwarfs who are stuck outside their comfort zone.
At some point the group has to cross a ravine on a rather shaky construction.
For me, as someone with a pronounced fear of heights, this scene is almost unbearable.
I can understand why one of the men almost pees his pants.
But Alley grins coolly and seems to enjoy the danger.
With her, you don't have to be afraid of looking into the abyss.
praise
»Look who's talking«, 1989
It is remarkable that from just one funny idea - namely to set the thoughts of a fetus and growing babies to music - despite a really narrow plot, three family comedies can arise.
Many viewers still remember the slapstick film Look Who's Talking (1989).
In 1990 and 1993 there are two more infusions, in the last part even dogs speak.
The success may be due to the child scheme, but above all the films live through Kirstie Alley as the lovable, chaotic mother and John Travolta as her partner.
cpa
Fat Actress, 2005 and Big Life, 2010
Her body weight is one of Alley's life issues.
She was already over 50 years old when she consciously made this part of her private life public.
In the mini-comedy series »Fat Actress« (2005) she plays herself: a lovesick actress who has become obese and tries diets for seven episodes in order to get a job again.
It's a concept with bitter humor, after all it's the ruthlessness of Hollywood and the tabloid press.
Things get even more intimate in the defiant reality show »Kirstie Alley's Big Life« (2010), which is less about counting calories and more about her life as a big woman.
You see her with her pets, her children, the paparazzi and ordering the staff around over the intercom.
cpa