For nerds, Kirstie Alley's most notable role was likely as the Vulcan Starfleet Officer Saavik in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in 1982. It was her first major motion picture role and she was quite memorable in it as a Junior Grade Lieutenant who was mentored by both Spock and the then Admiral James T. Kirk whilst serving as the Navigator for the Enterprise in that film (in the subsequent ST films her character was portrayed by Robin Curtis).
The role she was most famous for was perhaps as Rebecca Howe on the popular sitcom Cheers from 1987-1993. She also had starring roles on the television sitcom Veronica's Closet and the movies like Village of the Damned. She was also famous for being a Spokesperson regarding diet, weight loss and positive body image with various organizations including Jenny Craig where she lost over a combined one hundred pounds. She also performed on the reality show Dancing With the Stars and The Masked Singer.
Tributes to her from her co-stars and others have been flooding social media, including from Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammer, Gina Carano, James Woods, John Travolta and many others.
‘Cheers’ Stars Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammer & Rhea Perlman, Director James Burrows Mourn Kirstie Alley
‘Cheers’ Stars Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammer & Rhea Perlman Mourn Kirstie Alley
deadline.com
In the political sphere she was a longtime Democratic supporter until 2016 when she became an outspoken supporter of the Donald Trump Presidential Campaign and his time in office and was active in showing her support and advocacy for him and various sympathetic political positions on her social media.
She had been married twice, tragically survived a miscarriage and later adopted both a son and daughter. She passed away from Colon Cancer.
