is a character on the
American Television Sitcom ''
Cheers '' and its spinoff ''
Frasier ''. She is played by
Bebe Neuwirth . Lilith has also
Appeared on ''
Wings ''.
Very little is known about Lilith's background. A remarkably unemotional and restrained woman, her hair usually tightly pulled back in a severe bun, she has extremely pale skin and a
Monotonous voice, and dresses exclusively in drab, conservative clothing. Her body is intensely cold to the touch;
Niles , after a much regretted night with her, claimed that "When you kiss her, you get an ice-cream headache." A recurring joke is that beneath the cold exterior simmers a wild, passionate sexual appetite that bursts out on occasion.
She is known to have at least one half-brother, a
Con-man named Blaine whom Frasier calls "the curse of the
{Link without Title} family! What does it say when Lilith is the ''good'' one?" He was played by
Michael Keaton in the episode ''
Wheels Of Fortune ''.
Her temperament is such that she considers
Zeppo to be the funniest of the
Marx Brothers . (Zeppo, in fact, was the straight man in the movies he appeared in.)
In early episodes of Frasier it was said that she was a
Psychologist , however in later episodes this changed to her being a
Psychiatrist , despite the fact that changing between the two requires extensive retraining and is very rarely seen.
Some background into her childhood and to the reason for Lilith's appearance was brought up when her mother forced her and Frasier to get remarried because she had missed the original wedding. Her mother wasn't satisfied with the wedding alone, but also had her dress up as the beautiful make-up laden bride her mother envisioned her to be. After initially going along with the idea, Lilith screamed at her mother to stop controlling her life, this caused her mother to cry "That's exactly what I told my mother at my wedding!"
Lilith is tremendously intellectual, and takes her chosen profession,
Psychiatry , very seriously. She enjoys (although she obviously doesn't show any signs of it) forming elaborate psychological profiles to explain even the most ordinary events.
She is obviously sexually repressed, and in one of her earliest encounters with Frasier the two will not leave each other alone--especially when she unties the chignon on the back of her head, allowing her hair to fall free. This is immensely attractive to Frasier. And when the two of them appear on a TV talk show, they are unable to avoid touching each other--Lilith runs her bare foot up Frasier's calf.
She first appeared in a single episode during the fourth season of ''Cheers'', and later falls in love with and marries fellow psychiatrist
Frasier Crane , becoming Dr. Lilith Sternin-Crane. Lilith and Frasier would go on to have a son, Frederick Crane. Lilith did not approve of Frasier bringing their baby son into Cheers, and her feelings appeared to be justified when little Frederick's first word was "
NORM !" A
Jew ish woman, Lilith raised Frederick Jewish as well. It was clear that Lilith's approach to parenting was as cold and calculating as her scientific research, although she has shown great compassion towards Frederick, for example when she took singing lessons so she could sing to her son, much to Frasier's dismay. This caused several jokes in the bar at her expense. Lilith in an attempt to prove them wrong, sang to Frederick, which moved the entire bar to tears, and Cliff running to the phone to call his Ma.
Lilith would not stay faithful to Frasier, however, and late in ''Cheers'' she would have an affair with a co-worker and temporarily leave Frasier to go and live with her lover in an underground
Eco-pod . After a short reconciliation, she and Frasier divorced, with Lilith gaining full custody of Frederick. Frasier moved back to his hometown of Seattle (at the beginning of ''Frasier''), while she and Frederick remained in
Boston . Despite the separation, Frasier and Lilith continue to have a cordial relationship, and often visit. Frasier's father,
Martin Crane and brother,
Niles Crane , despise Lilith for cheating on Frasier, however, and do not enjoy such get-togethers. Niles' attitude toward Lilith slowly improves, especially after he had a sexual encounter with her in a hotel room, to Frasier's horror.
Lilith appeared on ''Frasier'' several times, as did Frederick.
During the course of ''Frasier'', Lilith remarries, to an
MIT Seismologist named Brian, but this ends quickly once her husband, seeking a more feminine partner,
Comes Out Of The Closet and leaves her for their
Interior Decorator , Stanley. Subsequently, in one episode she attempts to seduce Frasier but ultimately ends up sleeping with Niles. In her final appearance on the show, Frasier and Lilith achieve their most peaceful reconciliation to date.
- Her name may be a humorous reference to asks if she is anything like the demoness, to which she replies, "I make her look like a vacillating cream puff."
- Bebe appears on the sitcom '' Will & Grace '', and Jack and Karen are happy to meet the actress who plays Lilith, despite the fact that the show is coming to an end. Bebe at first appears annoyed at being personified as Lilith, then admits to loving the character and "wanting to play that bitch forever".
