An episode with Kelsey Grammer

Kelsey Grammar. Photo / Getty Images

Kelsey Grammer tells Dominic Corry about the golden years.

Your new series The Last Tycoon offers both a cynical and romanticised view of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Do you still have a romanticised view of Hollywood?

I think we all do on some level, still. How could you go on with just a cynical view? I think the romantic version of Hollywood is a great story. And that the cynical view is also a great story. That one can come from the other is what I think makes it a magnificent story on both sides.

You play a studio boss who warns his daughter against being in show business. Did you ever have a similar conversation with your actor daughter, Spencer?

No, I've always been very encouraging. I didn't say, "I'm going to help you be a star." I wouldn't make her go to a class and learn to tap dance, for instance. But she was driving to do those sort of things herself and, as long as she was, I was supportive.

Do you ever think what it would be like to be an actor in the Golden Age period portrayed in The Last Tycoon?

Yeah. It was a lot more freewheelin'. If you were one of the guys at the top you could probably get away with anything. And you were protected by the system. I like the simplicity of it. It was a rigorous day-to-day grind, which I think produced some wonderful work.

How do you choose which projects to pursue?

I start with: "Do I like it? Is this something I would like to put my name on?" I've made a couple of misjudgments but nothing horrible. A lot of things have to come together to have a show work. And it usually means hundreds of people need to do their job really well. That's pretty rare.

You played Frasier for 20 years - do you miss the character?

I could slip Frasier back on like a glove and just go and kick ass for a while. I'm very proud of having played it. I just like the opportunity to play other things too. Being so successful in the role of Frasier, it limits people's ability to think of you as something else. I'm passed that now and that's a good thing. But now I've proven the point, who knows? It would be fun to go and put Frasier on for a day and play him again.

Has the longevity of your iconic Simpsons character, Sideshow Bob, surprised you?

Yes. A friend, who was teaching at Northwestern University, called me and said there's a mural on one of the fraternity houses. It's 10 storeys high. It's a picture of Sideshow Bob and it says at the bottom "Free Sideshow Bob"'. This was three days after the first appearance of Sideshow Bob. We recreate it once in a while, every couple of years there's another Sideshow Bob experience. So it's pretty fun.

The Last Tycoon is available to view on Amazon Prime NZ.