Rhea Perlman: Carla on “Cheers” and more

Rhea Perlman as waitress Carla Tortelli in the sitcom "Cheers".

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/cheers-rhea-perlman-carla-tortelli-annivesary-155624701.html

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She was the acid tongued, wise cracking waitress at the Boston bar known simply as Cheers. The woman married to a man who was killed by a zamboni.

She was Carla Tortelli, played by the indomitable Rhea Perlman.

Beyond her time on “Cheers”, Perlman had some other interesting projects and had a very interesting husband.

Today my spouse and I watched “Barbie” and there was Rhea Perlman playing the creator of Barbie, older, more laid back, and calmer, yet still very good.

It reminded me of her time as Carla Tortelli and more.

My boyfriend’s back
Rhea Perlman had some bit parts and TV movies in the 1970s. Her first notable role was in the sitcom “Taxi” where she played Zena Sherman, the mousey girlfriend of taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma, played by Danny De Vito. She appeared in five episodes of “Taxi” as Zena from 1979 until the series ended in 1982.

The year 1982 turned out to be big one for Rhea Perlman.

Not only did she marry Danny De Vito in real life, but she landed the role that would bring her into living rooms across North America for the next decade.

“Cheers” to you
Perlman landed the role of Carla Tortelli on “Cheers”, a new sitcom on NBC in 1982. Carla was a wisecracking barmaid. I read in “TV Guide” she was described as a female version of Louie De Palma.

Carla was an equal opportunity tormentor, mocking everyone, but saving her best for Diane Chambers, played by Shelley Long.

The show was not that popular in its first season, and did not appear on the peasant vision dial in the Fall of 1982 as it did on cable. I actually only could read one or two-sentence episode descriptions of it in “TV Guide”. Eventually it appeared on Channel 7 and, once it gained popularity in subsequent seasons, was scooped up by CTV Channel 13.

Rhea Perlman played Carla Tortelli for 11 seasons on “Cheers” from 1982 to 1993. For her efforts, she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy 10 of the 11 seasons, only missing out in 1992. She won it four times – in 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1989.

She was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress six times – 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1992.

Perlman also played the role of Carla Tortelli on episodes of “St. Elsewhere”; “The Tortellis”, which was a “Cheers” spin-off centring on Carla’s greasy ex-husband; “The Simpsons”; and “Frasier”, which was another spin-off of “Cheers”.

Wikipedia reveals that, in 2011, Carla Tortelli was named by NBC as one of the greatest TV characters of all time.

The years after
Perlman had another interesting role in the ‘80s, starring in an episode of “Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories” with Danny De Vito as her character’s husband.

In the 1990s and beyond, she continued to act in movies such as “Canadian Bacon”; “Matilda”; and “Barbie”. She was also in a lot of television shows such as “Blossom”; “Sesame Street”; “The Critic”; “Pearl”, where she played the title character for 22 episodes; “”Mad About You”; “Ally McBeal”; “Becker”, where she played opposite Ted Danson, her “Cheers” co-star; “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”; “Hung” for four episodes; “Hot in Cleveland”; “Mom”; “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”; “The Goldbergs”; “Harley Quinn”; and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, opposite Danny De Vito.

Parting thoughts
It had been a long time since I had seen Rhea Perlman, when I saw her in “Barbie”. It was good to see she was not playing some knock-off or variation of Carla Tortelli. It showed she hasn’t been typecast, which is a great thing.

Still, she will forever be connected to Carla Tortelli, because that is the signature role of her career.

And NBC got it right – it is one of the greatest TV characters of all time.