Shelley Long

Actor · Producer

Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA

August 23, 1949

Biography

Shelley Long (born August 23, 1949) is an American retired actress, singer, and comedian. For her role as Diane Chambers on the hit sitcom Cheers, she received five Emmy nominations, winning in 1983 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She also won two Golden Globe Awards for the role. She reprised her role as Diane Chambers in three episodes of the spin-off Frasier, for which she received an additional guest star Emmy nomination. She has starred in several films including Night Shift (1982), Irreconcilable Differences (1984), The Money Pit (1986), Outrageous Fortune (1987), Hello Again (1987), Troop Beverly Hills (1989), The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), A Very Brady Sequel (1996), and Dr. T & the Women (2000). While working on Cheers, she continued to appear in motion pictures. In 1984, she was nominated for a Best Leading Actress Golden Globe for her performance in Irreconcilable Differences. She also starred in the comedies The Money Pit and Outrageous Fortune. She was offered lead roles in Working Girl, Jumpin' Jack Flash, and My Stepmother Is an Alien but did not accept them. She was also offered the role of Mary, the mother in Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, but turned it down because she had already signed on to appear in Night Shift. She left the series Cheers in 1987, but returned for the 200th Anniversary Special in 1990. She then returned as Diane in the last season (1992-1993), for which she picked up another Emmy nomination. She later reprise her role as Diane in several episodes of the Kelsey Grammer spinoff series Frasier, for which she was nominated for another Emmy Award. She appeared as Carol Brady in the 1995 hit film The Brady Bunch Movie which is a campy take of the popular television show. In 1996, she reprised the role in A Very Brady Sequel which had modest success, and again in the 2002 television film sequel—The Brady Bunch in the White House. She had a recurring role on the popular ABC sitcom Modern Family as DeDe Pritchett, the ex-wife of Jay Pritchett.