Cheers alum Shelley Long was spotted breaking cover just days after she was a no-show at her former castmates’ reunion at the 2024 Emmy Awards.
The TV star stepped out in her Pacific Palisades neighborhood to take her dog for a walk, exclusive DailyMail.com photos show.
Long, 74, who starred as bar tender Diane Chambers on the classic TV sitcom, appeared glum and lost in thought, keeping her hands in her coat pockets while the pooch sniffed around without a leash.
The actress looked quite unrecognizable from her glamorous Hollywood heyday, sporting large eye glasses and dressed down in gray sweat pants, sneakers and a blue turtleneck.
Shelley Long was seen looking downcast and pensive in Los Angeles days after her mysterious absence at the Emmys
The 74-year-old actress broke cover on Tuesday to walk her pet Chihuahua around her Pacific Palisades neighborhood
The television star was notably on the Emmys stage on Monday when former cast members Ted Danson (Sam Malone), Rhea Perlman (Carla Tortelli), Kelsey Grammer (Frasier Crane) and John Ratzenberger (Cliff Claven) appeared on a replica of the show’s Boston bar set
Long was mysteriously absent on the Emmys stage on Monday where her former Cheers co-stars reunited around a recreated set of the show’s iconic bar.
It is not known why she skipped the get-together where cast members Ted Danson, Rhea Perlman, Kelsey Grammer, John Ratzenberger and George Wendt were all present together in a recreation of the famous set, although Woody Harrelson was also a no-show.
Kirstie Alley, who replaced Long in Season 6, died in 2022.
Cheers ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993, though the show was almost canceled after its first season due to low ratings (74th of 77 primetime shows at the time).
However, it spent eight of its remaining 10 seasons in the top 10, becoming the most-watched show in Season 9.
It earned 28 Emmy Awards from 117 nominations, earning Outstanding Comedy Series nominations all 11 seasons, winning four.
Long was nominated for an Emmy five times, winning in 1991. She also won an Emmy three years later for her role in the special David’s Mother in which she played the title role, the parent of an autistic boy.
Long’s character’s on-again, off-again romance with former Red Sox relief pitcher Sam Malone (played by fellow Emmy winner Ted Danson) kept the show on the top of the ratings chart year after year.
Shelley quit at the end of Season 5 in 1986, believing her character had run its course.
Dressed down in gray sweat pants, sneakers and a blue turtleneck, she appeared lost in thought and kept her hands in her coat pockets while the pooch sniffed around without a leash
Long is known for her role as intellectual barmaid Diane Chambers (left) in the hit NBC sitcom, which ran from 1982 to 1993. She looked quite unrecognizable from her glamorous Hollywood heyday during her outing on Tuesday
Long’s character was known for her romance with Sam Malone (played by Ted Danson). She quit at the end of Season 5 in 1986, believing her character had run its course
But she reprised her Cheers role to appear as a guest character on Frasier opposite on-screen love interest Kelsey Grammer.
In his 1995 biography ‘So Far’ Kelsey claimed Shelley was unpopular with producers on Cheers.
He claimed producers grew tired of her constant complaints about his own character and plotlines.
Long found fame playing the intellectual barmaid in the 1980s sitcom but has also appeared in a string of other hit shows and movies including, The Money Pit, Troop Beverly Hills, Hello Again, and The Brady Bunch Movie.
The Hollywood star, who has been divorced twice and is a mother of one, has lived in a $1.3million condo in the upscale West Los Angeles enclave of Pacific Palisades, California, since divorcing her second husband Bruce Tyson in 2004.
But according to locals, she is rarely seen out and about.
