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FANLISTING DEFINITION
ABOUT NILES CRANE
While it had originally been intended that Frasier be an only child, David Hyde Pierce was hired because Frasier producers saw his headshot and commented on how much he looked like a young Kelsey Grammer. Unlike Frasier, much of whose background comes from the Cheers series, Niles' background is established over the course of Frasier (with additional retcons made where necessary if Niles' existence clashes with previous revelations made on Cheers).
On Bravo TV's countdown of the 100 Greatest TV characters, David Hyde Pierce described Niles as "Frasier if he had never gone to Boston."
Background
Born in Seattle, Washington, in 1957, to Hester Crane, a psychiatrist, and Martin Crane, a police detective, the exact date of Niles' birth and the age difference between the two brothers is never revealed. However, taking into account that Frasier was born in 1952, we can assume that the age difference is 5 years, give or take a few months, since we do not actually know Niles' exact birthdate. In the third season episode "The Friend" Niles says that he has been Frasier's brother for 38 years, and in the episode "IQ," we learned that Niles was given Frasier's tricycle when Frasier was eight.
Like Frasier, Niles was named for one of his mother's lab rats ("Are you Being Served"). Niles was an unusually sensitive child when growing up, and a frequent target for bullies. As a result, he was quite close to his older brother, and at the same time fiercely competitive with him. Like Frasier, Niles also preferred fine arts, music, and intellectual pursuits to boyhood activities like sports.
Niles attended Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, (as did David Hyde Pierce) as an undergraduate, and the Yale School of Medicine for both his M.D. and Ph.D. in psychiatry. He subsequently attended the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England, where he was a postdoctoral fellow while completing his professional training. This further highlights the close competitive relationship with his brother, Frasier, who attended Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts as an undergraduate, then Harvard Medical School for both his M.D. and Ph.D. in psychiatry, subsequently followed by his own postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Oxford in Oxford, England.
Niles describes his profession as "the saving grace of my life" (in episode "IQ") and is greatly respected professionally. He runs his own Jungian practice (Frasier is a Freudian) and has had his research published in several psychiatric journals. Even so, Frasier sometimes quotes Freud to coerce Niles emotionally.
Personality
Niles is fastidious, snobby and fussy, and has gourmet tastes. He is an admirer of the fine arts including opera, theatre and classical music, drinks fine wine and enjoys French food which he himself cooks, and frequently obsesses about knowing the right people and climbing the social ladder.
Physically weak and very uncoordinated, Niles has a long list of phobias and medical conditions, many of which are clearly psychosomatic. Most prominently, he is quite mysophobic, given to wiping his hands after human contact and wiping down chairs in public places before sitting on them. He has nose bleeds when he tells a direct lie, and he faints at the sight of blood. When extremely stressed, he is prone to panic attacks and fits of hyperventilation which have, on more than one occasion, seen him lose consciousness. He also suffers from a long list of allergies, some exceedingly rare. He is seemingly hopeless at sports, barely able to catch objects even after simple throws. However, in some episodes he is shown to be fair at basketball. On one occasion, while attending a basketball game, he is fortuitously invited on court during the game's intermission to try his skill (or luck) at scoring from half court, and much to the astonishment of his brother and father (and himself), Niles makes the impossible throw. The brothers are often seen coming or going to squash matches, though Martin once commented in disbelief, "You have to wonder what happens on that squash court." Accompanying Martin on the shooting range one day, Niles discovered that he is an excellent marksman. He is a fair fencer, and has had some lessons in kickboxing. On other occasions he has expressed interest in lifting weights and taking karate lessons, but these ventures are typically laughed at by his father and brother and often amount to nothing.
He drives a Mercedes-Benz with the licence plate 5HR1NK. It is unknown which Mercedes he drives in the latter half of the series but in a second season episode, he states that he drives a Mercedes-Benz E320. (Credit of info: www.wikipedia.org)
ABOUT DAPHNE MOON-CRANE
Daphne is a recent immigrant from England who is employed by Frasier Crane as a live-in housekeeper and physical therapist for his father, Martin. Her quirky personality and claims to psychic abilities provided comic relief on the show, while her relationship with Frasier's brother Niles Crane was a major dramatic plotline during the run of the series, progressing from unrequited infatuation on Niles' part at the beginning of the show to marriage at the beginning of season ten.
Biography
Daphne was born in Manchester, England, the only daughter in a large, working-class family of nine children. She thus spent much of her childhood playing nurse and housemaid to her brothers. She has a complex love-hate relationship with her domineering and ever-complaining mother, Gertrude Moon (played by Millicent Martin); her relationship with her father, Harry (played by Brian Cox), is much warmer and closer.
As a young girl, Daphne was an actress in the fictional hit British sitcom Mind Your Knickers. Her career ended at age 16 when she became too tall and busty to play her short, pre-teen character. During her youth, she gained considerable skill at billiards, claiming to have won many tournaments. Daphne then took up a career as a physical therapist, working one-on-one with various invalids and shut-ins until being hired by Frasier Crane to assist Frasier's father, Martin Crane, with his daily activities and exercises. Martin suffers pain and discomfort from a bullet wound he received years ago while working on the Seattle police force. Daphne immediately catches the attention of Frasier's brother, Niles Crane, upon their meeting. Even as the two develop a close friendship, Niles does not confess his feelings for her because he is scared that she will reject him. Not knowing of Niles' feelings for her, Daphne continues to swing in and out of relationships until eventually becoming engaged to Niles' divorce attorney, Donny. After Daphne accidentally learns of Niles' deep love for her from Frasier, she slowly begins to realize her own feelings for Niles. Over the next few months, Daphne becomes confused and emotionally distraught as she struggles to decide which man she truly loves. When she confronts Niles about her own feelings towards him at her rehearsal dinner, she decides that she and he can never be. She changes her mind on her wedding day, however, and leaves Donny at the altar so she can finally be with Niles. The two later wed and, in the final episode, have a son named David.
Personality
Like most characters on Frasier, Daphne has many eccentricities. She often tells rambling stories about her family, cheerfully remembering rather grim or traumatic events, to the considerable discomfort of the Crane family. She is also a firm believer in the supernatural, and believes herself to be "a bit psychic". Daphne's apparent psychic abilities are often treated with ambiguity on the show, and her various 'visions' are sometimes shown to have come true (albeit in a somewhat roundabout way). She once proclaimed a soon-to-occur visit from Lilith as a "great evil" and suffered from a migraine during her stay. When she first met Lilith and shook her hand, she claimed she lost all feeling in her arm. As the series progressed, Daphne's psychic abilities were down played considerably. (Credit of info: www.wikipedia.org)