Fans familiar with diminutive American actress Rhea Perlman only through her Emmy-winning characterization of wasp-tongued waitress Carla Tortelli on the TV sitcom Cheers are usually taken aback to discover that Perlman is as shy and soft-spoken as Carla was pushy and abrasive. A working actress since the 1960s, Perlman played Carla from 1983 until Cheers' swan song ten years later. Most of her "outside" projects during that period, notably the 1984 TV movie The Ratings Game and a 1986 episode of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories, were done in conjunction with her longtime companion, Danny DeVito, who also played her boyfriend on the late-'70s comedy series Taxi. Kindred spirits, Rhea Perlman and Danny DeVito eventually marched down the matrimonial aisle as a loudspeaker played a recording of Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer singing "I'm in the Mood for Love."
by Hal Erickson
biography
