Ted Danson was born Edward Bridge Danson III on December 29, 1947 in San Diego, California. He grew up outside Flagstaff, Arizona and went to Stanford University where he got interested in drama on his sophomore year. He moved to Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh in 1972 and after graduating, was hired as an understudy in Tom Stoppard’s off-Broadway staging of The Real Inspector Hound. Danson is best known for his role as Sam Malone in twelve years of the popular television series, Cheers. He was nominated nine times for an Emmy Award as Best Actor in a Comedy Series and won twice, in 1990 and 1993. The role also won him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 1989 and 1990. Danson went on to win another Golden Globe as Best Actor in 1984, for his performance in the television movie Something About Amelia.

Arthur Frobisher, played by Ted Danson on Damages, is a billionaire and one of the country’s richest business tycoons, who is accused of cheating his employees out of their pensions.


(Photo courtesy of FX)