Niles Crane
Encyclopedia
Niles Crane, M.D.
, Ph.D.
, A.P.A.
(born 1957) is a fictional character on the American sitcom Frasier
, a spin-off
of the popular show Cheers
. He was portrayed by David Hyde Pierce
. Niles is the younger brother of Dr. Frasier Crane
, the son of Det. Martin Crane
and Dr. Hester Crane, husband of Daphne Moon
, ex-husband of Maris Crane and Dr. Melinda Karnofsky, former brother-in-law to Nanette Guzman and Dr. Lilith Sternin
, and uncle to Frederick Crane.
While it had originally been intended that Frasier be an only child, Pierce was hired because Frasier producers saw his headshot and commented on how much he looked like a young Kelsey Grammer
. Unlike Frasier, part of whose background comes from Cheers, Niles' background is established over the course of Frasier
.
Pierce described Niles as "what Frasier would be if he had never gone to Boston and never been exposed to the people at Cheers." In "The Show Where Sam Shows Up" Sam
said to Frasier, "He looks just like you did when I first met you." In "Cheerful Goodbyes" Carla
, Cliff, and Norm
all remark on how Niles resembled Frasier from when they first met him.
, a police officer
. Like his older brother Frasier, Niles was named for one of his mother's lab rats. Also like Frasier, Niles was an unusually sensitive child and a frequent target for bullies. As a result he was quite close to his older brother, and at the same time fiercely competitive with him
. Like Frasier, Niles preferred fine arts, music, and intellectual pursuits to physical activities like sports. He was also an established philanthropist
.
After attending the private Bryce Academy with Frasier, Niles' success in school led to matriculation at Yale University
in New Haven, Connecticut
as an undergraduate, where he was a member of the selective Phi Beta Kappa Society
, and studied for a year at the University of Cambridge
in Cambridge
, England
as a graduate student.
Niles describes his profession as "the saving grace of my life". He has a Jungian practice, and specializes in marriage and family therapy. (While substituting for his brother on the radio, he announces "While Frasier is a Freudian, I am a Jungian. So there'll be no blaming mother today!") Niles is an authority on clinical psychosis
, has had his research published in several psychiatric journals, serves on the board of the American Psychiatric Association
, and four of his clients have been elected to political office.
Niles often compares his own career to that of his brother, and early in Frasier's career as a talk show host makes frequent jokes about the "fast-food approach to psychiatry" that Frasier practices through his radio show. Niles sometimes admits, however, that he envies how his "big shot radio host" brother is well-known, his face appears on "the side of buses", and he helps many "people who need it", while no one appreciates his own work.
Niles, like Frasier, is fastidious, snobby and fussy, has gourmet
tastes, and was described by a professional interviewer by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
as Obsessive-compulsive
. He frequently wears Double breasted suits
and suspenders
rather than single breasted which Frasier often wears. Although Frasier also plays the piano, when they make music together Niles plays while Frasier sings. He is an admirer of the fine arts including opera
, theatre
, and classical music, drinks fine wine and enjoys French food which he himself cooks, and frequently obsesses about knowing the right people and climbing the social ladder
. At the cafe he frequents with Frasier and other friends and family members, Niles' usual is a latte
with a "whisper" of cinnamon, and occasionally chocolate shavings or nutmeg. However he says at one point that nutmeg "inflames my stomach lining". According to Daphne he "would eat a worm if it had a French name", and Frasier comments, "I'm a teamster
compared to you!"
Also like his brother, Niles is very intelligent. His IQ is 156, well over the Mensa
threshold. Unlike Frasier, Niles has a long list of phobia
s and medical conditions, many of which are clearly psychosomatic. Most prominently, he is quite mysophobic, given to wiping his hands after human contact and wiping down chairs in public places before sitting on them, it is revealed in one episode that the root of this is a babysitter who told him scary stories about insects that would crawl in through his ears and eat his brains, and lay their eggs on furniture. (When he tells this and other contamination horror stories to a group of third-graders, they think he is wonderful for knowing such "cool" facts.) He has nose bleeds when he tells a direct lie, and he faints at the sight of his own blood
. When extremely stressed, Niles is prone to panic attacks and fits of hyperventilation
. On more than one occasion, he's fainted. His divorce from Maris causes stress-induced narcolepsy
. He also suffers from a long list of allergies, some exceedingly rare.
Physically weak and very uncoordinated, Niles is seemingly hopeless at sports and videogames, barely able to catch objects even after simple throws (unless Daphne, or occasionally Martin, is doing the throwing; then he is remarkably nimble). However, in some episodes he is shown to be fair at basketball. On one occasion, while attending a basketball game, he is fortuitously invited on court during the game's intermission to try his skill (or luck) at scoring from half court, and much to the astonishment of his brother and father (and himself), Niles makes the impossible throw (Earning himself the temporary moniker of "Half-court Crane"). The brothers are often seen coming or going to squash
matches, though Martin once commented in disbelief, "You have to wonder what happens on that squash court." Accompanying Martin on the shooting range one day, Niles discovered that he is an excellent marksman
. He is a fair fencer
, and has had some lessons in kickboxing
. On other occasions he has expressed interest in lifting weights and taking karate lessons, but these ventures are typically laughed at by his father and brother and often amount to nothing. He is also a master speller, having come close to winning the national spelling competition as a youth and spell-checking the graffiti in a bathroom stall at a local coffee bar with a red marker.
When Niles suffers a walking heart attack he is not aware of it for several days, because he experiences referred pain
and believes he has a toothache. After a dental checkup finds nothing wrong Frasier's producer Roz Doyle
tells him that it is probably a sinus infection, but he knows that there is a one-in-ten-thousand chance it is his heart. When a number of extremely unlikely events occur to or around him, he consults a doctor and immediately enters a hospital for surgery.
Niles drives a Mercedes-Benz E320
with the license plate 5HR1NK, while Frasier drives BMW
models. The brothers share political views that differ from their father's.
. The tensions between the brothers began during childhood; Frasier resented the younger Niles distracting their mother from paying attention to him, and Niles disliked the older Frasier reaching career and life milestones first. Nonetheless, they meet every day at Cafe Nervosa
, where they discuss their lives and various other topics. Niles and Frasier often collaborate on projects, which frequently and comically lead to complete disaster. Some examples are the book—ironically, about sibling rivalry—that they attempt to write, the restaurant they purchase and attempt to transform into an exclusive eatery, and Frasier's brief period in private practice next door to Niles' office.
His romantic life is another area explored throughout the series, and it is tragically plagued with grief and misfortune.
Niles' first wife is Maris, the selfish, haughty, highly-strung, anorexic
, and unstable daughter of a wealthy Seattle family, who is never seen on the show
, despite being referred to frequently. Maris demonstrates her extremely paranoid and controlling nature throughout the series. Her lack of respect and affection for Niles leads to separation, followed by serving Niles with divorce papers as a bluff
; when Niles signed them she was shaken and agreed to couples counseling. However, after appearing to make progress, Niles discovers Maris has begun an affair with their couples' therapist, Dr. Shenkman, ultimately leading to him making the second and final decision for divorce. Maris attempts to reconcile with him by sending him expensive gifts, but Niles remains steadfast in his decision for divorce and Maris responds by shredding their financial settlement document - she turns it into the wrapping paper for her final gift to Niles - a five-cent piece in a jeweler's box along with the poem 'Roses are red, your heart is fickle, when I'm through with you, all you'll have is this nickel' - and proceeds to nearly bankrupt Niles. He is forced to sublet his suite at the Montana and move into the low-rent Shangri-La; while it is far below his usual standard of living
, he realizes this is the initial price to pay for being free of Maris and it's worth the sacrifice. After hiring laid-back Donny Douglas to end the bitter, drawn-out process, she finally agrees on a settlement when he threatens to expose that her family's wealth is not in timber lands but in urinal cakes
. A running gag involves Niles speaking affectionately about Maris, despite her poor treatment of him.
After a period of dating, Niles becomes involved with Mel Karnofsky, Maris' plastic surgeon; despite being more compatible than his ex-wife, Frasier nonetheless can see Mel's true colours in her subtle yet masterful manipulation of Niles' affections towards her. After dating less than six months the two elope, but the marriage falls apart after only two days when Niles confesses his love for Daphne Moon
, his father's physical therapist, to whom he had been secretly attracted throughout the series' first seven seasons. His confession occurs the night before her wedding to Niles' divorce lawyer Donny Douglas. The relationship spawns a huge ordeal, prompting Donny to respond by suing both Daphne and Frasier, while Mel forces Niles to participate in a prolonged charade of a happy marriage for the sake of appearances, until he finally loses his temper and shouts out the truth during an important dinner party - that his marriage to Mel was a sham and he refuses to put Daphne through the torture of hiding their love any longer.
Niles' most significant relationship on the show is with Daphne, perhaps an unlikely attraction given the significant differences in their tastes, temperament and social standing (he once referred to her as a "working-class Venus
"). His infatuation for her begins the moment they meet. For numerous reasons during the first six seasons of the show, however, Niles is unable to confess his feelings for Daphne, who remains unaware of his love for her (despite her professed psychic abilities
).
Curiously enough, although Niles is a Jungian therapist, he shows no inclination to incorporate the paranormal into his personal belief system. He does not believe that Daphne is clairvoyant; a true Jungian would, taking the collective unconscious
into consideration. In an eighth-season episode, Daphne actually has her psychic powers evaluated. Once Niles hears her explain how she came to believe she was psychic, he understands that she needs to believe it, and he asks not to know the test results.
Niles' feelings for Daphne are the basis for many gags on the show, including the numerous ways he demonstrates how besotted he is with her (such as being entranced by the smell of her hair or staring at her rear end when she bends over), but develops over the course of the series into an important plot line. Pierce engaged in innumerable bits of nearly unnoticeable stage business, displaying Niles' almost trance-like attraction to Daphne even when audience focus of attention is not on the pair.
After Niles and Daphne became engaged, this high degree of infatuation was used to incorporate Jane Leeves' real-life pregnancy and weight gain. Daphne felt pressured to live up to the 'perfect' image Niles had imagined; she responded by overeating and gained sixty pounds. Jane's maternity leave was written into the show in an arc where Daphne reached her breaking point and realized she needed help for her weight problems, so the Crane boys send her to a health spa where she can lose weight and receive counseling (an in-joke in the season 8 episode 'It Takes Two to Tangle' had Niles quipping "she's already lost 9 pounds and 12 ounces," the birth weight of Jane's baby girl Isabella).
Niles is frequently jealous of Daphne's boyfriends (and even his own nephew, Frederick, who nurses a crush on Daphne as a pre-adolescent). Niles does tell Frasier repeatedly that he is over Daphne when she accepts Donny Douglas' proposal of marriage, and proceeds to marry Mel in a kind of rebound, but admits that he still loves Daphne when on the eve of her wedding, Frasier tells him that Daphne knows of Niles' feelings and reciprocates them. When the two do attempt a relationship, they must reconcile their many lifestyle differences. Fortunately, in the end the couple finds compatibility, and many of Niles' nervous eccentricities diminish as he finally manages to maintain a stable relationship.
Ultimately Niles and Daphne are together 1 year before Niles proposes in the 9th season. The two end up getting married in Reno, Nevada
at the end of season 9, after Niles tries to reconcile Daphne's mother and father. His plan ends in failure, leaving Daphne in doubt about married life, since her mother and father's marriage ended after 40 years together. However, Daphne's father reveals that no matter how many times he tried to get rid of Niles from his pub, Niles kept coming back until he finally agreed to come back to America with him all in an effort to make Daphne happy; an extreme act of love that he himself (Daphne's father) never did for her mother. With the sudden realization that Niles' love runs so deep that when he says he'd do anything for her, he literally means it, Daphne goes over to Niles apartment in the spur of the moment and demands he marries her right then and there stating the reason "Because you'd do anything, even put up with my insane family to make me happy. Because you traveled half way around the world to make my dreams come true, even the impossible ones. And because I can't spend one more second without being your wife Niles Crane, because I adore you." The two then left in the night to go and find a place to wed. The series ends two years into their marriage with the birth of their son, David, who is born at a veterinary clinic. However later in the future, the two will have daughter (as is revealed in the season 10 episode "Room With A View") and have a long happy marriage.
Niles' last line in the series is "I'll miss the coffees."
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
, Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
, A.P.A.
American Psychiatric Association
The American Psychiatric Association is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the most influential worldwide. Its some 38,000 members are mainly American but some are international...
(born 1957) is a fictional character on the American sitcom Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
, a spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
of the popular show Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
. He was portrayed by David Hyde Pierce
David Hyde Pierce
David Hyde Pierce is an American actor and comedian best known for playing psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier, for which he received many accolades including four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.-Early life:Pierce, the youngest of four siblings,...
. Niles is the younger brother of Dr. Frasier Crane
Frasier Crane
Frasier W. Crane, M.D., Ph.D., A.P.A. is a fictional character on the American television sitcoms Frasier and Cheers. He was played by Kelsey Grammer for 20 years, tying the record for the longest-running character on prime-time American television, which was set by James Arness, who played Marshal...
, the son of Det. Martin Crane
Martin Crane
Det. Martin "Marty" Crane is a fictional character on the American television show Frasier. He was played by actor John Mahoney. Martin is the father of Frasier and Niles Crane.- Biography :...
and Dr. Hester Crane, husband of Daphne Moon
Daphne Moon
Daphne Crane is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Frasier, played by Jane Leeves....
, ex-husband of Maris Crane and Dr. Melinda Karnofsky, former brother-in-law to Nanette Guzman and Dr. Lilith Sternin
Lilith Sternin
Lilith Sternin, M.D., Ph.D., Ed.D., A.P.A. is a character played by Bebe Neuwirth on the American sitcom Cheers, which spans the course of her marriage to Frasier Crane, and its spinoff series Frasier, during which she made regular appearances as Frasier's ex-wife and the mother of their son...
, and uncle to Frederick Crane.
While it had originally been intended that Frasier be an only child, Pierce was hired because Frasier producers saw his headshot and commented on how much he looked like a young Kelsey Grammer
Kelsey Grammer
Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor and comedian. He is most widely known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the sitcoms Cheers and Frasier...
. Unlike Frasier, part of whose background comes from Cheers, Niles' background is established over the course of Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
.
Pierce described Niles as "what Frasier would be if he had never gone to Boston and never been exposed to the people at Cheers." In "The Show Where Sam Shows Up" Sam
Sam Malone
Sam "Mayday" Malone is a fictional character on the American television show Cheers, portrayed by Ted Danson. The central character of the series, Sam is a former relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox Major League Baseball team who owns Cheers and tends bar there. He is a recovering alcoholic and...
said to Frasier, "He looks just like you did when I first met you." In "Cheerful Goodbyes" Carla
Carla Tortelli
Carla Maria Victoria Angelina Teresa Apollonia Lozupone Tortelli LeBec, known as Carla Tortelli, is a waitress on the American television show Cheers, portrayed by Rhea Perlman. Outwardly, at least, Carla is a mean-spirited woman who expresses disdain for many people...
, Cliff, and Norm
Norm Peterson
Hillary Norman "Norm" Peterson is a character on the American television show Cheers, portrayed by George Wendt. Norm's real first name was revealed to be Hillary, named after his grandfather....
all remark on how Niles resembled Frasier from when they first met him.
Background
Niles was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1957, to Hester Crane, a psychiatrist, and Martin CraneMartin Crane
Det. Martin "Marty" Crane is a fictional character on the American television show Frasier. He was played by actor John Mahoney. Martin is the father of Frasier and Niles Crane.- Biography :...
, a police officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
. Like his older brother Frasier, Niles was named for one of his mother's lab rats. Also like Frasier, Niles was an unusually sensitive child and a frequent target for bullies. As a result he was quite close to his older brother, and at the same time fiercely competitive with him
Sibling rivalry
Sibling rivalry is a type of competition or animosity among children, blood-related or not.Siblings generally spend more time together during childhood than they do with parents. The sibling bond is often complicated and is influenced by factors such as parental treatment, birth order, personality,...
. Like Frasier, Niles preferred fine arts, music, and intellectual pursuits to physical activities like sports. He was also an established philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
.
After attending the private Bryce Academy with Frasier, Niles' success in school led to matriculation at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
as an undergraduate, where he was a member of the selective Phi Beta Kappa Society
Phi Beta Kappa Society
The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society. Its mission is to "celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences"; and induct "the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at America’s leading colleges and universities." Founded at The College of William and...
, and studied for a year at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
as a graduate student.
Niles describes his profession as "the saving grace of my life". He has a Jungian practice, and specializes in marriage and family therapy. (While substituting for his brother on the radio, he announces "While Frasier is a Freudian, I am a Jungian. So there'll be no blaming mother today!") Niles is an authority on clinical psychosis
Psychosis
Psychosis means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"...
, has had his research published in several psychiatric journals, serves on the board of the American Psychiatric Association
American Psychiatric Association
The American Psychiatric Association is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the most influential worldwide. Its some 38,000 members are mainly American but some are international...
, and four of his clients have been elected to political office.
Niles often compares his own career to that of his brother, and early in Frasier's career as a talk show host makes frequent jokes about the "fast-food approach to psychiatry" that Frasier practices through his radio show. Niles sometimes admits, however, that he envies how his "big shot radio host" brother is well-known, his face appears on "the side of buses", and he helps many "people who need it", while no one appreciates his own work.
Personality
| Uh, I'd like a, a petite filet mignon Filet mignon Filet mignon is a steak cut of beef taken from the smaller end of the tenderloin, or psoas major of the beef carcass, usually a steer or heifer... , very lean; not so lean that it lacks flavor, but not so fat that it leaves drippings on the plate. And I don't want it cooked. Just lightly seared on either side, pink in the middle; not true pink, but not a mauve either, something in between. Bearing in mind, the slightest error either way, and it's ruined. |
| — Niles to waitress |
Niles, like Frasier, is fastidious, snobby and fussy, has gourmet
Gourmet
Gourmet is a cultural ideal associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterised by elaborate preparations and presentations of large meals of small, often quite rich courses...
tastes, and was described by a professional interviewer by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
as Obsessive-compulsive
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive–compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions...
. He frequently wears Double breasted suits
Suit (clothing)
In clothing, a suit is a set of garments made from the same cloth, consisting of at least a jacket and trousers. Lounge suits are the most common style of Western suit, originating in the United Kingdom as country wear...
and suspenders
Suspenders
Suspenders or braces are fabric or leather straps worn over the shoulders to hold up trousers. Straps may be elasticated, either entirely or only at attachment ends and most straps are of woven cloth forming an X or Y shape at the back. Braces are typically attached to trousers with buttons...
rather than single breasted which Frasier often wears. Although Frasier also plays the piano, when they make music together Niles plays while Frasier sings. He is an admirer of the fine arts including opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, and classical music, drinks fine wine and enjoys French food which he himself cooks, and frequently obsesses about knowing the right people and climbing the social ladder
Social mobility
Social mobility refers to the movement of people in a population from one social class or economic level to another. It typically refers to vertical mobility -- movement of individuals or groups up from one socio-economic level to another, often by changing jobs or marrying; but can also refer to...
. At the cafe he frequents with Frasier and other friends and family members, Niles' usual is a latte
Latte
A latte is a coffee drink made with espresso and steamed milk. Variants include replacing the coffee with another drink base such as masala chai, mate or matcha...
with a "whisper" of cinnamon, and occasionally chocolate shavings or nutmeg. However he says at one point that nutmeg "inflames my stomach lining". According to Daphne he "would eat a worm if it had a French name", and Frasier comments, "I'm a teamster
Teamster
A teamster, in modern American English, is a truck driver. The trade union named after them is the International Brotherhood of Teamsters , one of the largest unions in the United States....
compared to you!"
Also like his brother, Niles is very intelligent. His IQ is 156, well over the Mensa
Mensa International
Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test...
threshold. Unlike Frasier, Niles has a long list of phobia
Phobia
A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder, usually defined as a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding, typically disproportional to the actual danger posed, often being recognized as irrational...
s and medical conditions, many of which are clearly psychosomatic. Most prominently, he is quite mysophobic, given to wiping his hands after human contact and wiping down chairs in public places before sitting on them, it is revealed in one episode that the root of this is a babysitter who told him scary stories about insects that would crawl in through his ears and eat his brains, and lay their eggs on furniture. (When he tells this and other contamination horror stories to a group of third-graders, they think he is wonderful for knowing such "cool" facts.) He has nose bleeds when he tells a direct lie, and he faints at the sight of his own blood
Blood phobia
Blood phobia is the extreme and irrational fear of blood. Acute cases of this fear can cause physical reactions that are uncommon in most other fears, specifically vasovagal syncope . Similar reactions can also occur with trypanophobia and traumatophobia...
. When extremely stressed, Niles is prone to panic attacks and fits of hyperventilation
Hyperventilation
Hyperventilation or overbreathing is the state of breathing faster or deeper than normal, causing excessive expulsion of circulating carbon dioxide. It can result from a psychological state such as a panic attack, from a physiological condition such as metabolic acidosis, can be brought about by...
. On more than one occasion, he's fainted. His divorce from Maris causes stress-induced narcolepsy
Narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder, or dyssomnia, characterized by excessive sleepiness and sleep attacks at inappropriate times, such as while at work. People with narcolepsy often experience disturbed nocturnal sleep and an abnormal daytime sleep pattern, which often is confused with insomnia...
. He also suffers from a long list of allergies, some exceedingly rare.
Physically weak and very uncoordinated, Niles is seemingly hopeless at sports and videogames, barely able to catch objects even after simple throws (unless Daphne, or occasionally Martin, is doing the throwing; then he is remarkably nimble). However, in some episodes he is shown to be fair at basketball. On one occasion, while attending a basketball game, he is fortuitously invited on court during the game's intermission to try his skill (or luck) at scoring from half court, and much to the astonishment of his brother and father (and himself), Niles makes the impossible throw (Earning himself the temporary moniker of "Half-court Crane"). The brothers are often seen coming or going to squash
Squash (sport)
Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...
matches, though Martin once commented in disbelief, "You have to wonder what happens on that squash court." Accompanying Martin on the shooting range one day, Niles discovered that he is an excellent marksman
Marksman
A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision, or a sharpshooter shooting, using projectile weapons, such as with a rifle but most commonly with a sniper rifle, to shoot at long range targets...
. He is a fair fencer
Fencing
Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
, and has had some lessons in kickboxing
Kickboxing
Kickboxing refers to a group of martial arts and stand-up combat sports based on kicking and punching, historically developed from karate, Muay Thai and western boxing....
. On other occasions he has expressed interest in lifting weights and taking karate lessons, but these ventures are typically laughed at by his father and brother and often amount to nothing. He is also a master speller, having come close to winning the national spelling competition as a youth and spell-checking the graffiti in a bathroom stall at a local coffee bar with a red marker.
When Niles suffers a walking heart attack he is not aware of it for several days, because he experiences referred pain
Referred pain
Referred pain is pain perceived at a location other than the site of the painful stimulus. An example is the case of ischemia brought on by a myocardial infarction , where pain is often felt in the neck, shoulders, and back rather than in the chest, the site of the injury...
and believes he has a toothache. After a dental checkup finds nothing wrong Frasier's producer Roz Doyle
Roz Doyle
Rosalinda "Roz" Doyle is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Frasier. She is played by Peri Gilpin. Roz is the producer of Frasier Crane's Dr. Frasier Crane Show on KACL 780AM...
tells him that it is probably a sinus infection, but he knows that there is a one-in-ten-thousand chance it is his heart. When a number of extremely unlikely events occur to or around him, he consults a doctor and immediately enters a hospital for surgery.
Niles drives a Mercedes-Benz E320
Mercedes-Benz W124
W124 is the Mercedes-Benz internal chassis-designation for the 1985 to 1995 version of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class. The W124 models replaced the W123 models after 1985 and were superseded by the W210 E-Class after 1995.-History:...
with the license plate 5HR1NK, while Frasier drives BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
models. The brothers share political views that differ from their father's.
Role in the series
Niles is Frasier's constant companion and rivalSibling rivalry
Sibling rivalry is a type of competition or animosity among children, blood-related or not.Siblings generally spend more time together during childhood than they do with parents. The sibling bond is often complicated and is influenced by factors such as parental treatment, birth order, personality,...
. The tensions between the brothers began during childhood; Frasier resented the younger Niles distracting their mother from paying attention to him, and Niles disliked the older Frasier reaching career and life milestones first. Nonetheless, they meet every day at Cafe Nervosa
Café Nervosa
Café Nervosa is a fictional café featured in the American television sitcom Frasier.-Location and role in the series:It is fictitiously located on the corner of the real-world 3rd and Pike Streets in Seattle and is portrayed as being just across the street from the also fictional KACL Radio Studios...
, where they discuss their lives and various other topics. Niles and Frasier often collaborate on projects, which frequently and comically lead to complete disaster. Some examples are the book—ironically, about sibling rivalry—that they attempt to write, the restaurant they purchase and attempt to transform into an exclusive eatery, and Frasier's brief period in private practice next door to Niles' office.
His romantic life is another area explored throughout the series, and it is tragically plagued with grief and misfortune.
Niles' first wife is Maris, the selfish, haughty, highly-strung, anorexic
Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...
, and unstable daughter of a wealthy Seattle family, who is never seen on the show
Unseen character
In fiction, an unseen character is a character that is never directly observed by the audience but is only described by other characters. They are a common device in drama and have been called "triumphs of theatrical invention". They are continuing characters — characters who are currently in...
, despite being referred to frequently. Maris demonstrates her extremely paranoid and controlling nature throughout the series. Her lack of respect and affection for Niles leads to separation, followed by serving Niles with divorce papers as a bluff
Deception
Deception, beguilement, deceit, bluff, mystification, bad faith, and subterfuge are acts to propagate beliefs that are not true, or not the whole truth . Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda, and sleight of hand. It can employ distraction, camouflage or concealment...
; when Niles signed them she was shaken and agreed to couples counseling. However, after appearing to make progress, Niles discovers Maris has begun an affair with their couples' therapist, Dr. Shenkman, ultimately leading to him making the second and final decision for divorce. Maris attempts to reconcile with him by sending him expensive gifts, but Niles remains steadfast in his decision for divorce and Maris responds by shredding their financial settlement document - she turns it into the wrapping paper for her final gift to Niles - a five-cent piece in a jeweler's box along with the poem 'Roses are red, your heart is fickle, when I'm through with you, all you'll have is this nickel' - and proceeds to nearly bankrupt Niles. He is forced to sublet his suite at the Montana and move into the low-rent Shangri-La; while it is far below his usual standard of living
Standard of living
Standard of living is generally measured by standards such as real income per person and poverty rate. Other measures such as access and quality of health care, income growth inequality and educational standards are also used. Examples are access to certain goods , or measures of health such as...
, he realizes this is the initial price to pay for being free of Maris and it's worth the sacrifice. After hiring laid-back Donny Douglas to end the bitter, drawn-out process, she finally agrees on a settlement when he threatens to expose that her family's wealth is not in timber lands but in urinal cakes
Urinal deodorizer block
Urinal deodorizer blocks, also often called urinal cakes, urinal mints, urinal pucks, or urinal cookies, are the small disinfectant blocks found in urinals....
. A running gag involves Niles speaking affectionately about Maris, despite her poor treatment of him.
After a period of dating, Niles becomes involved with Mel Karnofsky, Maris' plastic surgeon; despite being more compatible than his ex-wife, Frasier nonetheless can see Mel's true colours in her subtle yet masterful manipulation of Niles' affections towards her. After dating less than six months the two elope, but the marriage falls apart after only two days when Niles confesses his love for Daphne Moon
Daphne Moon
Daphne Crane is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Frasier, played by Jane Leeves....
, his father's physical therapist, to whom he had been secretly attracted throughout the series' first seven seasons. His confession occurs the night before her wedding to Niles' divorce lawyer Donny Douglas. The relationship spawns a huge ordeal, prompting Donny to respond by suing both Daphne and Frasier, while Mel forces Niles to participate in a prolonged charade of a happy marriage for the sake of appearances, until he finally loses his temper and shouts out the truth during an important dinner party - that his marriage to Mel was a sham and he refuses to put Daphne through the torture of hiding their love any longer.
Niles' most significant relationship on the show is with Daphne, perhaps an unlikely attraction given the significant differences in their tastes, temperament and social standing (he once referred to her as a "working-class Venus
Venus (mythology)
Venus is a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, sex,sexual seduction and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths...
"). His infatuation for her begins the moment they meet. For numerous reasons during the first six seasons of the show, however, Niles is unable to confess his feelings for Daphne, who remains unaware of his love for her (despite her professed psychic abilities
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
).
Curiously enough, although Niles is a Jungian therapist, he shows no inclination to incorporate the paranormal into his personal belief system. He does not believe that Daphne is clairvoyant; a true Jungian would, taking the collective unconscious
Collective unconscious
Collective unconscious is a term of analytical psychology, coined by Carl Jung. It is proposed to be a part of the unconscious mind, expressed in humanity and all life forms with nervous systems, and describes how the structure of the psyche autonomously organizes experience...
into consideration. In an eighth-season episode, Daphne actually has her psychic powers evaluated. Once Niles hears her explain how she came to believe she was psychic, he understands that she needs to believe it, and he asks not to know the test results.
Niles' feelings for Daphne are the basis for many gags on the show, including the numerous ways he demonstrates how besotted he is with her (such as being entranced by the smell of her hair or staring at her rear end when she bends over), but develops over the course of the series into an important plot line. Pierce engaged in innumerable bits of nearly unnoticeable stage business, displaying Niles' almost trance-like attraction to Daphne even when audience focus of attention is not on the pair.
After Niles and Daphne became engaged, this high degree of infatuation was used to incorporate Jane Leeves' real-life pregnancy and weight gain. Daphne felt pressured to live up to the 'perfect' image Niles had imagined; she responded by overeating and gained sixty pounds. Jane's maternity leave was written into the show in an arc where Daphne reached her breaking point and realized she needed help for her weight problems, so the Crane boys send her to a health spa where she can lose weight and receive counseling (an in-joke in the season 8 episode 'It Takes Two to Tangle' had Niles quipping "she's already lost 9 pounds and 12 ounces," the birth weight of Jane's baby girl Isabella).
Niles is frequently jealous of Daphne's boyfriends (and even his own nephew, Frederick, who nurses a crush on Daphne as a pre-adolescent). Niles does tell Frasier repeatedly that he is over Daphne when she accepts Donny Douglas' proposal of marriage, and proceeds to marry Mel in a kind of rebound, but admits that he still loves Daphne when on the eve of her wedding, Frasier tells him that Daphne knows of Niles' feelings and reciprocates them. When the two do attempt a relationship, they must reconcile their many lifestyle differences. Fortunately, in the end the couple finds compatibility, and many of Niles' nervous eccentricities diminish as he finally manages to maintain a stable relationship.
Ultimately Niles and Daphne are together 1 year before Niles proposes in the 9th season. The two end up getting married in Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
at the end of season 9, after Niles tries to reconcile Daphne's mother and father. His plan ends in failure, leaving Daphne in doubt about married life, since her mother and father's marriage ended after 40 years together. However, Daphne's father reveals that no matter how many times he tried to get rid of Niles from his pub, Niles kept coming back until he finally agreed to come back to America with him all in an effort to make Daphne happy; an extreme act of love that he himself (Daphne's father) never did for her mother. With the sudden realization that Niles' love runs so deep that when he says he'd do anything for her, he literally means it, Daphne goes over to Niles apartment in the spur of the moment and demands he marries her right then and there stating the reason "Because you'd do anything, even put up with my insane family to make me happy. Because you traveled half way around the world to make my dreams come true, even the impossible ones. And because I can't spend one more second without being your wife Niles Crane, because I adore you." The two then left in the night to go and find a place to wed. The series ends two years into their marriage with the birth of their son, David, who is born at a veterinary clinic. However later in the future, the two will have daughter (as is revealed in the season 10 episode "Room With A View") and have a long happy marriage.
Niles' last line in the series is "I'll miss the coffees."