Kirstie Alley: Emmy-winning Cheers actress dies of cancer at 71
Alley won an Emmy award and a Golden Globe for her role as bar manager Rebecca Howe on the popular TV series. The Kansas-born star also appeared in the Look Who’s Talking film franchise and the TV sitcom Veronica’s Closet.Her former castmates Ted Danson and John Travolta led the tributes, noting her warm heart and wicked humour. “We are sad to inform you that our incredible, fierce and loving mother has passed away,” her children wrote, in a statement that did not specify what cancer she had, but said it was “only recently discovered”. “As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother,” they continued, saying she had been surrounded by her family when she died.They also praised her “zest and passion for life, her children, grandchildren and her many animals, not to mention her eternal joy of creating”.
