Kirstie Alley Dead at 71
Monday, December 5. "We are sad to inform you that our incredible, fierce and loving mother has passed away after a battle with cancer, only recently discovered," they wrote."She was surrounded by her closest family and fought with great strength, leaving us with a certainty of her never-ending joy of living and whatever adventures lie ahead," they continued. “As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother.”They also thanked the "incredible team of doctors and nurses" at Florida's Moffitt Cancer Center.This content can also be viewed on the site it from.Alley's longtime friend and fellow actor, , with whom she starred in 1989 comedy Look Who's Talking, Alley became a household name in 1987 for her role as Boston bar manager Rebecca Howe in NBC's long-running sitcom Cheers and has starred in dozens of movies and television shows since, including Veronica's Closet, It Takes Two, and Drop Dead Gorgeous. This content can also be viewed on the site it from.She earned a Golden Globe for best actress and an Emmy for outstanding lead actress for her role as Veronica “Ronnie” Chase, a lingerie company owner, in NBC sitcom Veronica's Closet in 1991, and received a second Emmy for her role of Sally Goodson, a mother raising an autistic son, in David's Mother in 1994.Kirstie Alley was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1951, and moved to Los Angeles in 1980, and worked as an interior designer and appeared on a number of American game shows before landing her first role in 1982's Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.