Shelley Long

Shelley Long (born August 23, 1949) is an American actress, singer, and comedian. For her role as Diane Chambers on the sitcom Cheers, Long received five Emmy nominations, winning in 1983 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She also won two Golden Globe Awards for the role. Long reprised her role as Diane Chambers in three episodes of the spin-off Frasier, for which she received an additional guest star Emmy nomination. In 2009, she began playing the recurring role of DeDe Pritchett on the ABC comedy series Modern Family.

Long has also starred in several films including Night Shift (1982), Irreconcilable Differences (1984), The Money Pit (1986), Outrageous Fortune (1987), Hello Again (1987), Troop Beverly Hills (1989), The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), A Very Brady Sequel (1996), and Dr. T & the Women (2000).

Shelley Long was born on August 23, 1949, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She is the only child of Ivadine (née Williams), a schoolteacher, and Leland Long, who worked in the rubber industry before becoming a teacher as well.

Shelley was raised in the Presbyterian faith. She was active on her high school speech team, competing in the Indiana High School Forensic Association. In 1967, she won the National Forensic League's National Championship in Original Oratory.

After graduating from South Side High School in Fort Wayne, she studied drama at Northwestern University.

Long's break as an actress occurred when she began performing in local commercials for Homemakers furniture store in the Chicago area.

In Chicago, Long joined The Second City comedy troupe. In 1975, she began writing, producing, and co-hosting the television program Sorting It Out on WMAQ-TV and went on to win three Regional Emmys for her work on the show. She also appeared in the 1970s in VO5 shampoo print advertisements and in commercials for Camay soap as well as more Homemakers furniture commercials. In 1978, she appeared in a vignette on The Love Boat.

Long appeared in the 1979 television film The Cracker Factory as a psychiatric inmate. In the same year she guest starred on Family and Trapper John, M.D., and played Nurse Mendenhall in an episode of M*A*S*H. In 1980, she appeared in her first feature film role in A Small Circle of Friends. The film about social unrest at Harvard University during the 1960s enjoyed a level of critical success. In 1981, she played the role of Tala in Caveman. In 1982, she starred as Belinda, the good-natured prostitute neighbor of the character portrayed by Henry Winkler in Ron Howard's comedy Night Shift (also co-starring Michael Keaton), and starred with Tom Cruise in Losin' It (1983). She was offered the role of Mary, the mother in Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, but turned it down because she had already signed on to appear in Night Shift.