Which actress was originally cast as Roz Doyle before Peri Gilpin?

Lisa Kudrow was originally cast as Roz Doyle before Peri Gilpin took the role.

Kudrow was selected during the early casting of Frasier, but the producers reconsidered the choice during rehearsals. They wanted Roz to project enough authority to challenge Frasier Crane and control the radio station’s production room. In their view, Kudrow did not fit that more assertive interpretation of the character, so the role was recast with Gilpin.

Gilpin became the definitive Roz, playing her throughout the original series. Roz is Frasier’s producer at Seattle radio station KACL, and her bluntness, confidence, and practical judgment provide a strong counterweight to Frasier’s intellectual arrogance. The character’s chemistry with Kelsey Grammer helped make her central to the show’s ensemble.

Kudrow’s departure was hardly a career setback: she soon became widely known as Phoebe Buffay on Friends, which premiered in 1994. That later success is why the casting story is often remembered as one of television’s most intriguing near-misses.