Which actor was originally chosen for Frasier Crane but turned down the role?

“Which actor was originally chosen for Frasier Crane but turned down the role?” — John Lithgow was originally chosen for Frasier Crane but turned down the role.

Cheers producers initially selected Lithgow to play the psychiatrist who would become Diane Chambers's romantic partner. Lithgow declined because he believed television work at that time might diminish his professional standing. The role was subsequently offered to Kelsey Grammer, whose audition performance won over the producers even though he thought the audition had gone poorly.

Grammer's version of Frasier was intended to be temporary. The character was created for the third season of Cheers as part of the Sam-and-Diane storyline, but Grammer's performance led the producers to expand his role. Frasier eventually became a regular character and the star of a long-running spin-off.

A common mix-up is to confuse the actor who was first selected with the actor who actually played Frasier. Lithgow was never the television Frasier; Grammer portrayed him throughout Cheers and the later Frasier series.