Staying Fit
Moments before we began to chat, David Hyde Pierce was sitting at the piano in his New York apartment. But don't go asking to hear him play. For that, the four-time Emmy-winning Frasier costar reserves the most exclusive audience imaginable: himself.
See also: 2007 Inspire Award honoree David Hyde Pierce.
"I almost never play for other people," he said. "I play for myself, and it makes me very happy.
AARP Membership— $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal
Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine.
"Just now when the phone rang, I was playing some Bach and some Beethoven. I have a beautiful piano here and one in my home in Los Angeles, and any time I can steal a few moments, I play."
Well, I thought, that's just perfect. Although interviews with celebrities are fun in person, on the phone you get to envision them not as they really are — regular folks puttering around their apartments, making breakfast, dropping their newspapers into their eggs — but instead as you've imagined them. So sight unseen, David Hyde Pierce remained, of course, TV's Niles Crane, fastidiously tugging at his tie, nervously reviewing his day planner, stealing a private moment with Johann Sebastian and Ludwig van before venturing nervously out into the world.
Except for one thing: I'd just seen Pierce in his new movie, a psychological thriller called The Perfect Host, which comes to Video on Demand this week and to theaters in July. Unfortunately, I can't say much without ruining the whole thing. Suffice to say, Pierce's character, Warwick Wilson, starts out pretty much the fluttery fellow you'd expect him to be. But before long he turns out to be something very, very different. And a bit later, he's something very different from that. And before long you don't really know what to expect from the guy next, and that's what makes The Perfect Host the perfect cinematic brain twister.
It's also a challenge for Pierce, who knows he has a loyal body of fans for whom seeing him as anything other than Niles, even seven years after Frasier left the air, could be distressing.
More From AARP
Sorry, Kids: Grownup Movie Stars Are Literally Ruling TV Right Now
Harrison Ford, Kevin Costner, Sylvester Stallone and Jeff Bridges lead TV’s renaissance
25 Best Sitcoms in TV History, Ranked
Our list of the greatest situation comedies ever madeWhat Kelsey Grammer Has Learned From His Tragedies and Triumphs
The 'Cheers' star reveals his life's lessons and hopes for a third show about Frasier Crane