"But I wanted to get rid of the barriers keeping me from what I wanted, to be an actress. It’s just part of my life."
Said Kirstie Alley, in 1992, when asked why she became a Scientologist, quoted in "Kirstie Alley, Emmy-Winning ‘Cheers’ Actress, Dies at 71 She also starred in the NBC sitcom 'Veronica’s Closet,' which aired from 1997 to 2000" (NYT).
She was born on January 12, 1951 — also the date of my birth. And Rush Limbaugh's.
ADDED: From Rolling Stone, "How Kirstie Alley Lost Herself in Scientology The late Cheers actress rose up the ranks to become a top Scientologist who lashed out at the controversial religion’s critics":
Short for “Operating Thetan Level Eight,” OT VIII is the pinnacle of achievement for any Scientologist, and reaching it requires advanced courses, interrogations, counseling sessions, going “Clear” (or conquering the “reactive mind”), and other steps that can add up to $1 million or more.
“Now here I stand a new OT VIII shiny, fresh, and calm…I now fully have the confront that puts me right up that damn confront scale with other Scientology Freedom Fighters!” Alley told the magazine. Scientologists are told that if they can reach OT VIII, they will be “cause over matter, energy, space, and time,” which translates to various superhuman abilities, including being impervious to disease....
Alley was one of Scientology’s most well known celebrities since joining in 1979 after she credited its drug rehab program with helping her kick a cocaine habit....
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34 comments:
I've always seen "Alley" as the correct spelling.
Her big break was Star Trek II.
"Alley" is correct.
I had it wrong. Something about the first name spelling made me imagine a different last name spelling.
She's dieting with Xenu now. Warp speed.
I wasn’t looking for something like that. But I wanted to get rid of the barriers keeping me from what I wanted, to be an actress.
That's what Jane Doe said about the experience of looking up and seeing buzzards wheeling over Harvey Weinstein's putrefying nut sack.
January 12, 1951 — my birthday too. And Rush Limbaugh's
There's a rule of threes you're probably not interested in.
I actually read Dianetics. 35 years ago, so my memories are vaugue. It started off making sense. Then the wheels came off. It was all about what happened to us while we are in the womb.
It seemed that attempted abortions with coat hangars happened often. There were a lot of references to fetuses getting pushed and poked in the womb during the gestation months by men who had penises. Yes, back in the day ALL men had penises. Weird.
“There's a rule of threes you're probably not interested in.”
Some rules need to be terminated.
And Howard Stern.
"There were a lot of references to fetuses getting pushed and poked in the womb during the gestation months by men who had penises."
Those are psychological repressed memories from the days when humans were guinea pigs for the Helatrobus. The penises are archetypes for the zax of fringu, a type of Helatroban gynecological instrument.
Things could have turned out very differently if it hadn't been for the intervention of the Marcab Conferederacy. We owe them more than we'll ever know, but their azlaxian avatar remains with us in the form of Tom Cruise. Messages of well being, thanks, and offerings can be left with him for storage in the vault of the vanguard of the great journey, rumored to be under his house.
Goodness gracious she was hilarious. When she came onto cheers it just went crazy funny.
"And Howard Stern."
But he's a different year.
I tweaked the wording a little to make it clear: I'm talking about the date in history, not the day of the year, the literal birthday, not the thing that would be more accurately called the anniversary of one's birth.
"Goodness gracious she was hilarious. When she came onto cheers it just went crazy funny."
From the obituary:
"Critics noted how Ms. Alley had brought a refreshing new dynamic to the character, with scripts giving her a more fun arc that helped create a “denser joke machine,” as one writer noted. At times, Rebecca, who managed the bar in the show, appeared to be a hapless and gold-digging mess. In other moments, Ms. Alley portrayed Rebecca with a faux-bravado, and with an attitude of indifference to others romantic advances."
"an attitude of indifference to others romantic advances."
I note the attitude of indifference to apostrophes.
Some rules need to be terminated.
I see Trump is walking back his statement just a bit.
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/109462304115605769
A bit of misdirection. It took me a moment to realize this was an obituary post.
She made an excellent Vulcan. Star Trek III recasting her was one of the great mistakes.
People can feel a bond to celebrities or famous people born on or near their birthday.
I didn't love Kirstie Alley. I wasn't a big Cheers watcher, but I actually did kind of like Shelley Long, or may it was just that I didn't love Kirstie's looks.
Rest in Peace anyway.
I share a birthdate with a fairly well-known musician.......and I've always felt a weird kinship with that person.
Sad to hear it. She was great on Cheers. The writers did a great job of finding a replacement for Diane Chambers who had a different dynamic but was still funny and clever. She was at her funniest when she was the pathetic loser failing to land a rich husband.
She was cast in the first Star Trek movie too, where she played a Vulcan. She was good, but the part bored me. I went to Star Trek I to see Bones, McCoy, and Spock, not some chick vulcan.
Don't really care she was a scientologist. Wonder if that's just a way for an actor in Hollywood to advance her career.
I heard her on a podcast a year or 2 ago. What an articulate, grounded person!
Cancer sucks. My coaches Mom just passed from cancer in her mid 60's. A lot of it is how well your personal genetics protect you from your unique environmental exposure history. Good luck everybody. We all gotta go sometime.
I didn't love Kirstie Alley. I wasn't a big Cheers watcher, but I actually did kind of like Shelley Long, or may it was just that I didn't love Kirstie's looks.
Just the opposite of me, except we share a lukewarm attraction to Cheers. I couldn't stand Long* and her character was off-putting to me. When Bebe arrived I had a chick to like on the show, although Carla's character did grow on me over time. But Kirstie was great. She's just naturally funny and beautiful. Like the security officer on Third Rock from the Son, she had a strange something that said "I'm in charge" but oozed femininity.
*Long made one motion picture I recall seeing too during the Cheers years, and it sucked and that character had nothing for me either.
"Fat Actress" was funny, IIRC.
I met Alley in the early 1970s while visiting friends in Wichita. My friends knew her brother and we found our selves drinking in an 3.2 beer joint close to Wichita State U. Alley came in and had a beer with us. She was strikingly good looking and funny, I liked her. I believe she was attending Kansas State and home on break. She was a college student and not a star.
Over the decades on trips to Wichita I would drive by Buck Alley Lumber in Kechi, Kansas, just north of the Koch Indusrries Campus, and think of her.
I was sad to hear of her passing.
Relativity, conflation, and congruence in ethical religions. Everyone is entitled to their queer beliefs.
More than 3.75 million people were born in the US in 1951.
Although births are not distributed evenly across all days of the year (September always has the most births of any month), that means about 10,000 Americans were born on January 12, 1951.
That tall chick turned into a monstrously, demented FAT lesbian.
I saw her a couple years ago on a rerun of the Password game show. I wondered why they didn’t plug her TV show or latest movie and then I realized she was not yet a famous actress, just a regular contestant.
Scientology may be strange and fundamentally wrong. I don't know much about it except that it is big in Hollywood and not really anywhere else.
But why are people who defend their positions always described as "lashing out?" It seems like shorthand for "We don't like this person."
>>People can feel a bond to celebrities or famous people born on or near their birthday
The only one I've ever hit on (so to speak) over the years was Dorothy Lamour, born long before me but on my birthday. She and I (and my friend's dad and another commenter here a couple of days ago) coming up this Saturday. Just the day of the year, though, not the same actual date in history as per Althouse.
--gpm
To the extent I remember, I'm largely in accord with MJB WOLF at 12:44.
--gpm
Investigation reveals the only notable celebrity to share my birthdate is Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, NFLer and early practitioner of the lamentable but now nearly ubiquitous end zone histrionics.
I can claim ZaSu Pitts, also from my home state of Kansas.
(Better choice than Greta Thunberg.)
I was actually an extra in a movie that she was in in the early 1980s. It was before she was famous and she was a very nice person.
I heard her interview with Adam Carolla. She was so, human, and intelligent. She will be missed. For some reason, she upset the Hollywood crowd. I wonder why?
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