The opening of the series "Free at the Bar"/NBC
Those who watched the exciting reunion of the stars of "Free at the Bar" at the Emmy Awards held last week must have felt the absence of
Shelley Long
, who played the haughty waitress Diane Chambers in the first 5 seasons of the successful stickcom.
For unclear reasons, Long chose to skip the union but was spotted a day after the ceremony by the paparazzi, who expressed interest in her after she chose to leave the big event.
In photos obtained by The Post, the 74-year-old star was photographed on January 16 - the day after the Emmy Awards - walking her Chihuahua outside her home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California.
The network claims that she is almost "unrecognizable", when in the photos she appears in tennis shoes, large glasses and a blue turtleneck under a black jacket, in which she hid her hands while her puppy walked around without a leash.
Her former colleagues, Ted Denson, Rhea Perlman, Kelsey Grammer, John Ratzenberger and George Wendt, reunited on the stage of the Emmy Awards ceremony during the commemoration of the entertainers who are no longer with us, with producer and screenwriter Norman Lear and "Friends" actor Matthew Perry, "Free on the Bar" actress Kirsty Alley, who died in 2022 at the age of 71, was also mentioned.
Do you remember her like this?
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A post shared by Ralph Bernstein (@theolderactor).
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A post shared by Cheers Shelley Long! (@cheers_shelleylong).
As we mentioned, it is not clear why Long did not participate in the ceremony - but the network believes it has to do with the fact that in recent years she has not been seen at any documented event.
She also did not make it to the 40th celebration of the series "Free on the Bar" in 2022, when even then the paparazzi caught her a few weeks later walking with her Chihuahua.
Long has not officially retired from the world of acting, but her last significant role was in 2018, when she played Didi Pritcherat in the series "Modern Family", the ex-wife of Jay (Ed O'Neill) and the mother of Claire and Mitchell.
Earlier this month, Kelsey Grammer told TV host Kelly Clarkson that he would "like to see Diane come back" when talking about the Frasier sequel.
Grammer, 68, appeared on both "Free at the Bar" and its spinoff, "Frasier," as Dr. Frasier Crane. Long also appeared in three episodes of the "Frasier" spinoff. Grammer also said that he believes that something else can happen between Frasier and Diane in the sequel series, after the two were engaged for a moment in "Free at the Bar".
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This is how she looks today:
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A post shared by Cheers Shelley Long! (@cheers_shelleylong).
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A post shared by Cheers Shelley Long! (@cheers_shelleylong).
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At the same time, Woody Harrelson, who appeared in the fourth season of "Free at the Bar" as the bartender Woody Boyd, also skipped the meeting at the Emmy ceremony.
He, seemingly, already had a reason.
Jesse Collins, executive producer of the Emmys, later revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that Harrelson couldn't attend because "he's acting in a play."
He said: "So there were some people with whom we ran into logistical challenges, but we were lucky enough to get so many people who were willing to participate."
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