Who guest-starred as Dr. Simon Finch-Royce and won an Emmy for it?

John Cleese guest-starred as Dr. Simon Finch-Royce and won an Emmy for the performance.

Cleese appears in the Cheers episode “Simon Says,” which aired during the show’s fifth season in 1987. His character is an imperious English psychiatrist and former schoolmate of Frasier Crane, creating an especially awkward clash with the bar’s resident psychiatrist.

The performance earned Cleese the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Performer in a Comedy Series in 1987. The win is notable because Cleese was already internationally famous as a member of Monty Python and as the co-creator and star of Fawlty Towers.

The character is sometimes confused with Frasier Crane, who was played by Kelsey Grammer and became a regular Cheers character. Dr. Finch-Royce is a guest character, while the Emmy recognition belongs to Cleese’s appearance rather than to Grammer’s continuing role.