Kelsey Grammer remembers Frasier co-creator David Angell, who died in the 9/11 attacks

Deadline

Angell, who co-created Frasier and Wings with fellow Cheers writers Peter Casey and David Lee, died along with wife of 30 years Lynn aboard Flight 11, the first plane to hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. They were returning to Los Angeles from vacationing in Cape Cod. “It is a day of loss that I always remember,” Grammer told Deadline. “I was awakened by a friend of mine who lives in New York. He said, ‘They got us, they got us, they’ve taken out the World Trade towers.’ I turned on the TV and saw what was going on. I remember I’d invited David and his wife to come to a party that weekend; I spoke to him on Saturday. He said, ‘Oh, we were going to come home but we decided we’d stay an extra couple of days. We’re going to come back on Tuesday.’" That was the very last time Grammer spoke with Angell. “I seem to remember saying to myself, oh, Lord, I hope that isn’t the flight he was going to take home, and then of course I found out that it was.” Frasier went dark for a couple of weeks in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. “I think there was some alarm at the studios that there might be something in the works, some terrorist activity, so they locked down the studios, I remember, for at least a few days to make sure there was nothing going on,” Grammer said.