Ted Danson
Edward Bridge DansonIII is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom Cheers, for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. He was further Emmy-nominated for the FX legal drama Damages and the NBC comedy The Good Place. He was the recipient of the 2025 Carol Burnett Award.
Danson made his film debut in 1978 in the crime drama The Onion Field. His breakout film role was in the comedies Three Men and a Baby and Three Men and a Little Lady. He also acted in Body Heat, Creepshow, Dad and Saving Private Ryan.
Danson's other leading roles on television include the CBS sitcom Becker and The Good Place and the CBS dramas CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and CSI: Cyber. In 2015, he starred in the second season of FX's anthology series Fargo. He has played roles in the HBO comedies Bored to Death and Curb Your Enthusiasm, the NBC sitcom Mr. Mayor, and the Netflix comedy A Man on the Inside.
Danson has been married to actress Mary Steenburgen since 1995. They were awarded the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award in 2025 at the 77thPrimetime Emmy Awards. Danson is also known for his longtime activism in ocean conservation and wrote Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them with journalist Michael D'Orso.
Early life and education
On December 29, 1947, Danson was born in San Diego to Edward Bridge "Ned" Danson Jr., an archaeologist and curator of the Museum of Northern Arizona from 1959 to 1975, and Jessica Harriet. He has an older sister, Jessica Ann "Jan" Haury. Danson was primarily raised in Flagstaff, Arizona. He has Scottish and English heritage. Their ancestors lived in colonial New England and are descended from historical figures such as Anne Hutchinson.In 1961, at age 14, Danson enrolled at the Kent School, a university-preparatory school in Connecticut; he was a star player on the basketball team. He became interested in drama while later attending Stanford University. In search of a better acting program, he transferred to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated with a B.F.A. in Drama in 1972.
Career
1975–1981: Early roles
Danson began his television career as a contract player on the daytime soap opera Somerset. 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. He was also in a number of commercials, most notably as the "Aramis man". 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. He also appeared in the films The Onion Field, Body Heat and Creepshow.1982–1992: ''Cheers'' and stardom
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, and by 1986, Cheers was among the top ten most-viewed shows on television. The series ran for 11 seasons, with the series finale being watched by 80 million people, the second-most watched series finale in television history. 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". On December 15, 1988, Danson got into a minor car accident in which he got a bloody nose; he was in some pain, but his nose wasn't broken. The bloody nose was written into the Cheers episode "How to Win Friends and Electrocute People". Danson reprised the role of Sam Malone in a second-season episode of Frasier, and did the voiceover for his character in an episode of The Simpsons, "Fear of Flying".Danson also appeared in numerous films during his time on the series. 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 Creepshow, Little Treasure, Just Between Friends with Mary Tyler Moore, A Fine Mess, and Dad. Although he was best known for his work in comedy, he also appeared in a television 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.
1994–2014: Post-''Cheers'' roles
After Cheers ended, Danson appeared in films such as Made in America, Getting Even with Dad, Loch Ness, Saving Private Ryan, Mad Money, and Big Miracle. 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 play the title role in the successful CBS sitcom Becker, which ran from 1998 to 2004. Danson also played a fictionalized version of himself on Curb Your Enthusiasm from 2000 to 2024. In 1999, Danson was presented with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.Danson returned to series television in 2006, playing a psychiatrist in the ABC sitcom Help Me Help You, which was canceled at midseason due to low ratings. Also 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.
From 2009 to 2011, 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." From 2011 to 2015, Danson starred in the CBS 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. He reprised his role in the third CSI spin-off, CSI: Cyber, which was canceled after two seasons.
2015–present: ''The Good Place, Mr. Mayor'' and further work
In 2015, Danson appeared in the second season of the TV show Fargo, portraying Sheriff Hank Larsson. From 2016 to 2020 Danson appeared opposite Kristen Bell as the character Michael in the NBC sitcom The Good Place. He was nominated for and won numerous awards for his performance as Michael. Danson had the main role on the NBC sitcom Mr. Mayor, in which he plays a wealthy businessman who runs for mayor of Los Angeles for all the wrong reasons. Episode 109 of the Beef and Dairy Network Podcast, entitled "Ted Danson", features Danson playing an alternate version of himself seeking to collect on a debt of 460 million tons of grain.In 2024, he starred as the leading role of Charles in the Netflix comedy series, A Man on the Inside, based on the 2020 Academy Award-nominee documentary The Mole Agent. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series for the first season. As of 2024, Danson has appeared as a regular in twelve television shows, reportedly the most any actor has done historically. In 2024, he became the official spokesperson for Consumer Cellular, a telephone company. Also in 2024, Danson and Woody Harrelson started a Team Coco podcast called Where Everybody Knows Your Name where they interview celebrities about their lives and careers.
Personal life
Marriages and relationships
Danson and his first wife, actress Randall "Randy" Gosch, were married in 1970 and divorced in 1975.Danson's second wife was producer Cassandra "Casey" Coates, whom he married in 1977. On December 24, 1979, while giving birth to their first daughter, Kate, Coates suffered a stroke. Danson spent several years caring for her and helping her recuperate. They later adopted a second daughter, Katrina. His affair with actress Whoopi Goldberg contributed to their divorce in 1993. At the time, it was known as one of Hollywood's costliest divorces and reportedly cost Danson $30 million.