TV Guide 10-16 February 1996
STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART
Jane Leeves talks about life , work and the chances of love between Niles and Daphne
Daphne and Niles. Niles and Daphne. Talk about television’s potentially oddest couple. “I think Daphne has strong feelings for Niles,” says Jane Leeves , who plays the physical therapist for martin (John Mahoney) , Frasier and Niles Crane’s father on Frasier. “Niles [David Hyde Pierce] treats Daphne well , she can’t help but have strong feelings” Until recently though “she just pretended not to notice he had a huge crush on her. She’s too smart and intuitive not to recognize it , but the wisest course of action has been to just ignore it for everyone’s sake.”
That is changing somewhat this season . in fact , in the episode that was scheduled for Feb. 6 , “Daphne does something really extraordinary for him , and he confronts her with how he feels.” says Leeves “It’s a very romantic episode , but full of misunderstandings” It won’t destroy the basic Daphne/Niles friendship “because our writers aren’t going to go too far too fast,” says Leeves “but I do think it’s time she addresses the Niles situation a bit more. She should show a glimmer of something about him. A woman in a situation like that might be hopeful , but she’s also very doubtful about why a man with privileges would go for a working woman like her. So the writers are exploring that , but you have to be careful. Right now , it’s probably enough that they tangoed together.”
If Niles is lucky , he may succeed in busting up Daphne’s budding relationship with Joe , the Handyman, now that Niles’ invisible wife Maris - Daphne’s complete opposite - has bowed out of the scene.
The Daphne-Niles tension was something the two actors thought up at the beginning of the series. “The producers are always open to our ideas,” says Leeves of the same team that ran Cheers , where Kelsey Grammer’s Frasier character was introduced.
Leeves , 33 , who is a lithe 5-foot-10 but usually in a dressing gown in the sitcom . came to Frasier off a recurring role on Murphy Brown as Audrey , the girlfriend of Miles (Grant Shaud). Nine years ago leeves , with $1000 and high hopes came to the US from England where she’d done everything from the Benny Hill show to Monty Python’s Meaning of Life. The syndicated sitcom Throb was her first North American series she was on.
A part as Jerry’s possible love interest on Sienfeld - she played a virgin who was eventually deflowered by John F Kennedy JR - put her on the Hollywood map. Now that she’s into the third season of frasier , Leeves is comfortable with what is and isn’t similar about Daphne and herself. “She loves a good laugh and having fun , as do I. She can enjoy being one of the guys , as can i. I’m not as selfless as she is ; that’s sort of my sister that I’m playing ; bossy and nosey and sticking her two pennies in. Daphne will just jump in there and mix it up a bit, where I’m much more reserved.”
“Reserved ? Jane ? You’ve got to be kidding,” says John Mahoney “I don’t think of her as reserved at all. When you hear her true accent she sounds like royalty. She adjusts that accent to make Daphne a working woman.” And , says Mahoney “I don’t buy the idea of Jane herself not being selfless. She is so concerned about other cast members that she almost forgets about herself.”
On the show Daphne has voiced doubts about being merely a caretaker to “such demanding men” , but now says Leeves , “I think she feels it’s OK. Women today are often made to feel guilty about that role , but they shouldn’t and I think Daphne has come to terms with it.”
In real life - and boy do we have a happy endings for valentine’s or what - the single Leeves says “I have a very , very new relationship. As in romance. He’s not an actor he’s just a regular person. But he works in the entertainment business in another aspect. So he understands everything that goes with it and all the pressures , all the demands of my career. I’m in the first flush of a relationship as it where.”
Jane , Happy Valentines Day