Ted Danson

Danson began his television career as a contract player on the daytime soap opera Somerset.[11] He played the role of Tom Conway from 1975 to 1976. In 1977, he played Dr. Mitchell Pierson on the daytime soap opera The Doctors, having also appeared earlier in 1975 as another character, Dr. Chuck Weldon.[12] He was also in a number of commercials, most notably as the "Aramis man".[13]

His guest appearances on television in the late 1970s and early 1980s include being on Laverne & Shirley, B. J. and the Bear, Family, Benson, Taxi, Magnum, P.I., The Amazing Spider-Man, Tucker's Witch, and Mrs. Columbo.

In 1982, Danson was cast in the role of Sam Malone, a former local-legend baseball player and bartender, for the NBC sitcom Cheers. On the show, he has an on-again-off-again relationship with the college-educated, sophisticated Diane Chambers. Although the show finished last in ratings in its first season, it was well-received by critics. Ratings gradually improved by 1983; by 1986, Cheers was among the top ten most-viewed shows on television. The series ran for 11 seasons (1982-1993), with the series finale (May 20, 1993) being watched by 80 million people, the second-most watched series finale in television history (in 1993). Cheers won four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, plus a Golden Globe for Best Series–Musical or Comedy. During his time on the show, Danson won two of his 11 consecutive Emmy nominations for the role of Sam Malone, and won two of his nine Golden Globe nominations. In 2002, TV Guide magazine named Cheers the 18th “Greatest Show of All Time”. It was included in Time's “100 Greatest Shows of All Time”.

Danson at the 42nd Emmy Awards in 1990

Danson reprised the role of Sam Malone in a second-season episode of Frasier, and did the voiceover for his character an episode of The Simpsons, "Fear of Flying".

Although he was best known for his work in comedy, he also appeared in a drama, Something About Amelia, about a family devastated by the repercussions of incest, which co-starred his later co-star on Damages, Glenn Close. He won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie and was nominated for an Emmy Award. In 1996, three years after Cheers concluded, Danson starred in the short-lived CBS sitcom Ink with his real-life wife Mary Steenburgen. In the same year, they starred as Lemuel Gulliver and his wife in an acclaimed television miniseries of Gulliver's Travels.

Danson went on to star in the successful CBS sitcom Becker (produced by Paramount Television which also produced Cheers), which ran from 1998 to 2004. Danson also plays a fictionalized version of himself on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

In 1999, Danson was presented with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

Danson returned to series television in the fall of 2006, playing a psychiatrist in the ABC sitcom Help Me Help You, which was canceled at midseason due to low ratings.

In 2006, Danson received a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries for his role in Knights of the South Bronx.

In 2007, Danson starred in the FX Network drama Damages as a corrupt billionaire, Arthur Frobisher. The role earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, but he lost to co-star Željko Ivanek. During the second season Danson became a recurring character instead of one of the principal cast. He received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series but lost to Michael J. Fox for Fox's guest appearance in Rescue Me. In 2011, Danson appeared in the music video for "Make Some Noise" by the Beastie Boys. He is also mentioned in the song's lyrics.

Danson starred in the HBO sitcom Bored to Death as George Christopher, the laconic and sometime downright infantile editor of Edition magazine. Critics often praised Danson as being the highlight of the program, calling his character a "scene stealer."[14][15]

In July 2011, CBS announced that Danson would star in its police drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He played D.B. Russell, a new graveyard-shift supervisor who previously headed a crime lab in Seattle. Tony Shalhoub, Robin Williams, and John Lithgow were also considered for the role.[2][3][16]

In March 2013, it was announced that Danson signed a deal to be on CSI for two more years.[17] It was planned for the character he played to move to the third CSI spin-off, CSI: Cyber in the show's second season. CSI:Cyber was canceled after two seasons.[18]

In 2015, Danson appeared in the second season of the TV show Fargo. He portrays Sheriff Hank Larsson.[19] From September 2016 to January 2020 Danson appeared opposite Kristen Bell as the character Michael in the NBC sitcom The Good Place.[20] He has both been nominated for and won numerous awards for his performance as Michael.

In July 2019, Danson was cast as one of the main lead roles for the situation comedy Mr. Mayor, in which he plays a wealthy businessman who runs for mayor of Los Angeles for all the wrong reasons. NBC added the show to the 2020–2021 television season.[21]

Danson has also been featured in numerous films. His most notable film appearances included Three Men and a Baby with Tom Selleck and Steve Guttenberg, its sequel Three Men and a Little Lady, and Cousins with Isabella Rossellini. He also appeared in The Onion Field (his first film, as the bagpipe-playing Officer Ian Campbell), Creepshow, Body Heat, Little Treasure, Just Between Friends (with Mary Tyler Moore), A Fine Mess, Dad, Made in America, Getting Even with Dad, Loch Ness, and Saving Private Ryan.

While a guest on The Arsenio Hall Show in late 1988, he met actress Whoopi Goldberg; he describes her as "a sexy, funny woman".[29] They became friends and were in Help Save Planet Earth in 1990 which is about saving the environment (Danson played himself, Goldberg portrayed Mother Earth).[30] While making Made in America in April 1992, the two became romantically involved—a pairing that was heavily featured in gossip tabloids like the National Enquirer. The couple also appeared on the Rock the Vote TV special in the same year;[31] they were set to star in a Paramount-produced version of Neal Barrett Jr.'s Pink Vodka Blues,[32] written by Marshall Brickman.

Danson received negative press attention October 8, 1993, after his appearance wearing blackface at a Friars Club comedy roast in honor of Goldberg, and for using many racist slurs. Later, Goldberg defended the sketch, explaining that she had helped write much of the material and referred Danson to the makeup artist who painted his face as a societal critique.[33]

Danson testifying at a United States House Committee on Natural Resources session about plastic in 2019

Danson's interest in environmental concerns began when he was 12 years old. Bill Breed, then curator of geology at the Museum of Northern Arizona, introduced Danson and their friend Marc Gaede to a "game" he referred to as "billboarding". Armed with axes and saws, Breed, Gaede, and Danson destroyed over 500 outdoor advertising signs.[34]

Danson's interest in environmentalism continued over the years, and he began to be concerned with the state of the world's oceans. He was a contributing founder of the American Oceans Campaigns in the 1980s; it merged with Oceana in 2001 and he is a board member.[35] His commitment to the environment led him to host the A&E television series "Challenge of the Seas" in 1991, filming 26 one-hour episodes.

In March 2011, Danson published his first book, Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do To Save Them which was written with journalist Michael D'Orso.[36][37]

On October 25, 2019, Danson was arrested and charged along with actress Jane Fonda at a climate-change protest outside the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.[38]

Danson is a friend of former President Bill Clinton, who attended Danson and Steenburgen's wedding. Danson has donated $85,000+ to Democratic candidates, including Al Gore, John Edwards, Barbara Boxer, Bill Clinton, Al Franken, and John Kerry. He has also donated to the Democratic Party of Arkansas and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Danson and Steenburgen campaigned for Senator Hillary Clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign.[39] He attended the wedding of Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton's daughter Chelsea on July 31, 2010.[40] He appeared with Steenburgen at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. On October 3, 2016, he attended the opening of Hillary Clinton's new campaign office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania at the old Queen Pharmacy on King Street.[41][42][43]