Rebecca Howe

Rebecca Howe
Cheers character
Rebecca Howe waitressing while going to weep in "How to Recede in Business" (episode 147, 1988)
First appearance	"Home is the Sailor" (season 6, episode 1)
Last appearance	"One for the Road" (season 11, episode 25)
Created by	Glen Charles Les Charles
Portrayed by	Kirstie Alley
Information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Bar manager and waitress
Family	Captain Franklin Howe (father) Susan Howe (sister)
Spouse(s)	Don Santry (ex-husband)

Rebecca Howe (formerly Howe-Santry) is a fictional character portrayed by Kirstie Alley on the American television show Cheers. She debuts in the season six episode "Home Is the Sailor" after Shelley Long—who played waitress Diane Chambers—left the show to pursue a movie career. Much of the show's humor in previous seasons had been based around the interaction and sexual tension between the womanizing, working-class main character, bartender Sam Malone, and the high-class, snobbish Diane. Rebecca was intended to fill the gap as Sam's new female foil.

From the character's debut, Rebecca manages the bar under corporation. She gradually becomes neurotic and falls in love with almost every rich man in Boston. Sam and Rebecca attempt relationships without success. In the series finale, Rebecca marries plumber Don Santry; in the spin-off series Frasier, Sam says the couple have divorced and she no longer works at the bar. Rebecca appeared in 147 episodes of Cheers between 1987 and 1993 and in one episode of Wings. With the exception of the late Nicholas Colasanto, Alley was the only Cheers regular cast member who never reprised her role in the spin-off series Frasier, even when she is briefly mentioned in the episode, "The Show Where Sam Shows Up."

When Shelley Long—who played Diane Chambers—decided to leave the show in 1987, ending the five-year Sam and Diane storyline, the creators wanted a new female lead and decided that she would not have blonde hair, would not resemble Long, and would be unknown to television viewers. Kirstie Alley, one of the first actresses to audition for the role of Rebecca Howe, seemed to be an ideal choice. Although she met all the criteria, the producers continued auditioning actresses for the part but none improved on Alley's portrayal of the character.

According to Cheers' co-creator and executive producer James Burrows, Diane Chambers, Rebecca Howe's predecessor, was originally conceived as an executive businesswoman. Eventually, Diane evolved into a pretentious, college-educated waitress. After Long's departure, the producers created Rebecca Howe as the businesswoman, as whom Diane was originally conceived.