Niles Crane
Encyclopedia : N : NI : NIL : Niles Crane
Dr. Niles Crane is a character on the American sitcom Frasier, a spin-off of the popular show Cheers. He is played by David Hyde Pierce. Niles is the younger brother of Frasier Crane and the son of Martin Crane.
While it had originally been intended that Frasier be an only child, David Hyde Pierce was hired because Frasier producers saw his headshot and commented on how much he looked like a young Kelsey Grammer. Unlike Frasier, much of whose background comes from the Cheers series, Niles' background is established over the course of Frasier (with additional retcons made where necessary if Niles' existence clashes with previous revelations made on Cheers).
Background
Born in Seattle, Washington, to Hester Crane, a psychiatrist, and Martin Crane, a police detective, the exact date of Niles' birth and the age difference between the two brothers is never revealed. Like Frasier, Niles was named for one of his mother's lab rats.
Niles was an unusually sensitive child when growing up, and a frequent target for bullies. As a result, he was quite close to his older brother, and at the same time fiercely competitive with him. Like Frasier, Niles also preferred fine arts, music, and intellectual pursuits to boyhood activities like sports.
Niles attended Yale and then Cambridge for his tertiary education and psychiatric training, and describes his profession as "the saving grace of my life." (in episode "IQ")[[Citing sources citation needed]] Interestingly, Hyde Pierce also attended Yale. Greatly respected professionally, he runs his own Jungian practice and has had his research published in several psychiatric journals.
Personality
Niles is fastidious, snobby and fussy, and has gourmet tastes. Like Frasier, he is an admirer of the fine arts including opera, theatre and classical music, drinks fine wine and enjoys high culture and exclusive social gatherings, and frequently obsesses about knowing the right people and climbing the social ladder.
Physically weak and very uncoordinated, Niles has a long list of phobias and medical conditions, many of which are clearly psychosomatic. Most prominently, he is quite mysophobic, given to wiping his hands after human contact and wiping down chairs in public places before sitting on them. His nose bleeds when he tells a direct lie. When extremely stressed, he is prone to panic attacks and fits of hyperventilation which have, on more than one occasion, seen him lose consciousness. He also suffers from a long list of allergies, some exceedingly rare. He is hopeless at sports, barely able to catch objects even after simple throws. Accompanying Martin on the shooting range one day, Niles discovered that he is an excellent marksman.
He drives a Mercedes-Benz with the licence plate SHRINK.
Role in the series
Niles is Frasier's constant companion and rival, and his secret love for their father's physical therapist Daphne Moon is both a source of tension and comedy in the show.
Niles' first wife is Maris, the selfish, haughty, highly-strung daughter of a wealthy Seattle family who is never seen on the show, despite being referred to frequently. After fifteen years of marriage, the two separate. Numerous attempts at reconciliation (mainly initiated by Niles), are followed by a bitter and protracted divorce.
Niles then marries Mel Karnofsky, Maris' plastic surgeon, whom he starts dating following his divorce. The two elope, but the marriage falls apart after only two days when Niles confesses his love for Daphne.
By far, Niles' most significant relationship on the show is with Daphne, an unlikely attraction given the significant differences in their tastes, temperament and social standing. For numerous reasons during the first six seasons of the show, Niles is unable to confess his feelings for Daphne, who remains unaware of his love for her.
Niles' feelings for Daphne start are the basis for many gags on the show, including the numerous ways he demonstrates how besotted he is with her (such as being entranced by the smell of her hair or staring at her rear end when she bends over), but develops over the course of the series into an important plotline. He is frequently jealous of Daphne's boyfriends (and even his own nephew, Frederick, who nurses a crush on Daphne during his childhood).
Ultimately Niles and Daphne marry in Reno, Nevada, and the series ends with the birth of their son, David. David is named after Frasier co-creator David Angell who was killed, along with his wife Lynn, in the crash of American Airlines Flight 11 in the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Niles Quotes from Frasier
- "Her lips said 'No', but her eyes said 'Read my lips.'"
- "While you were over there mixing metaphors like a Cuisinart, I had a breakthrough."
- "How strange - I usually get some sign when Lilith is in town: dogs forming into packs, blood weeping from the walls."
- "I thought all one had to do was draw a pentagram on the floor and chant 'I summon thee' three times" [upon finding out that Frasier cannot find Bebe Glazer, his ruthless agent]
- "Oh dear, look at the time. I have a session with my multiple personality. Well, not to worry. If I'm late, he can just talk amongst himself."
- "And I stormed out and slammed the door! Of course, it was that fourteenth century Bavarian cathedral door, so I had to get two of the servants to help me, but what it lacked in spontaneity it made up for in resonance."
- "She's managed to have her urinal cake and eat it too." [upon Niles' discovery that Maris' family business is based in urinal cakes and not timber as she always claimed]
- "He had a heart attack when he was out trimming Maris's elaborate hedge maze. The paramedics never had a chance." [reflecting on the passing of Maris' gardener Yoshi]
- "Float like a Lepidopteran, sting like a Hymenopteran!" [Describing his boxing technique, Latinizing Muhammed Ali's famous catchphrase]
| Frasier characters |
| Main characters: Frasier Crane | Niles Crane | Martin Crane | Daphne Moon | Roz Doyle Eddie the dog Recurring characters: Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe | Gil Chesterton | Maris Crane | Lilith Sternin | Bebe Glazer | Gertrude Moon | Noel Shempsky | Kenny Daley Other characters Minor characters on Frasier |
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.