Photo: David Shankbone / CC BY 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
I have a soft spot for John Ratzenberger because he perfected something deceptively hard: being reliably, unobtrusively great. Cliff Clavin on Cheers could have been a one-joke barfly, yet he sustained the know-it-all mailman for over a decade and earned two Emmy nominations doing it. His long second act as a voice actor proves the point — a voice so trustworthy that studios kept calling. Born in working-class Bridgeport, he carries an everyman authenticity that cannot be taught. He will never headline a retrospective, but for me, character actors like him are the load-bearing walls of American comedy.
Overview
John Ratzenberger (born April 6, 1947) is an American actor, widely known for his role as Cliff Clavin on the comedy series Cheers (1982-1993), for which he earned two Primetime Emmy nominations. Ratzenberger reprised the role in the short-lived spin-off The Tortellis, an episode of Wings, as well as in an episode of Frasier.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- John Ratzenberger
- Name (Japanese)
- ジョン・ラッツェンバーガー
- Reading
- じょん・らっつぇんばーがー
- Born
- April 6, 1947 (age 79)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Aries / Boar
- Origin
- Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- 177 cm
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- voice actor / stage actor / film actor / television actor / screenwriter
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Sacred Heart University
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | Cheers | — |
6. Links
Voice actor — see all → · Stage actor — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.