Kirstie Alley, Star Of 'Cheers', Dies Of Cancer At 71

TAMPA, FL — Actress Kirstie Alley, best known from the TV show "Cheers," died Monday at age 71, her family said. She was treated for cancer at Moffit Cancer Center in Florida, and lived in Clearwater.

Alley's children, True and Lillie Parker announced the Emmy-winning actress' death Monday night in a post on her Twitter page. Alley's manager Donovan Daughtry confirmed the death in an email to The Associated Press.

“As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother,” her children's statement said.

Alley starred as Rebecca Howe on the NBC sitcom “Cheers” from 1987 to 1993, after the departure of original star Shelley Long, AP reported. Alley won an Emmy for best lead actress in a comedy series for the role in 1991.

She had her own sitcom on the network, “Veronica's Closet,” from 1997 to 2000.

Alley's cancer was only recently diagnosed, her children said, and they thanked the staff at Moffit Cancer Center for her care.

"Our mother's zest and passion for life, her children, grandchildren and her many animals, not to mention her eternal joy of creating," they said, "were unparalleled and leave us inspiring to live life to the fullest just as she did."

Known as high-profile member of Scientology, Alley feuded publicly with actress Leah Remini over the church, US magazine said.

“When you are generalizing, and when your goal is to malign and to say things about an entire group — there are tens of millions of Scientologists in the world — when you decide to blanket statement that 'Scientology is evil,' you are my enemy," Alley said in. " … The truth is, I don't think I've seen Leah for seven or eight years, not for any reason other than I'm acting, and she's acting. I didn't care if she was in or out."

Remini, a former Scientologist, hosted a docuseries on A&E about the church.

Alley would take a second Emmy for best lead actress in a miniseries or television movie in 1993 for playing the title role in the CBS TV movie “David's Mother."

In the 1989 comedy “Look Who's Talking,” which gave her a major career boost, she played the mother of a baby who's inner thoughts were voiced by Bruce Willis. She would also appear in the 1990 sequel “Look Who's Talking Too."

John Travolta, her co-star in both films, paid her tribute in an Instagram post.

"Kirstie was one of the most special relationships I’ve ever had,” Travolta said, along with a photo of Alley. “I love you Kirstie. I know we will see each other again.”

Jaime Lee Curtis, who as in "Scream Queens" with Alley, posted that “we agreed to disagree about some things but had a mutual respect and connection,” the Hollywood Reporter said. “She was a great comic foil in @tvscreamqueens and a beautiful mama bear in her very real life,” Curtis added.

Actor Carl Weathers tweeted: "RIP Kirstie Alley. “Everybody Knows Your Name.”

She would play a fictionalized version of herself in the 2005 Showtime series “Fat Actress,” a show that drew comedy from her public and media treatment over her weight gain and loss.

In recent years she appeared on several reality shows, including “Dancing With the Stars.”

Alley was married to her high school sweetheart from 1970 to 1977, and to actor Parker Stevenson from 1983 until 1997.

This story includes information from the Associated Press.