Inside Kirstie Alley's Final TV Performance
If Kirstie Alley's death at 71 seemed sudden, it may be because the actress remained busy and performing up until only seven months before her passing. Alley's most recent projects had been television series like "Scream Queens" and "Flaked" and movies such as "Accidental Love" and "You Can't Take My Daughter." Her final television appearance, though, came in April 2022 on "The Masked Singer."
Alley did make a camera appearance after that, announcing to fans roughly two months before her death that she was joining the Cameo app where fans could pay and request video messages from the actress. She deployed her classic deadpan humor in the video, showing she was the same performer she'd always been up until the end of her life.
"If you want something funny or you want something sincere — I would really try to be sincere. Like sort of like 'Hi, I love you' or 'Merry Christmas' or 'I want a divorce.' Whatever you need, I'll do it," she said in what would be the last time most fans saw her, per Instagram. Alley's final television appearance, however, was on "The Masked Singer" where she had to deploy a lot more than humor under the disguise of the Baby Mammoth.
Kirstie Alley was the Baby Mammoth
Kirstie Alley appeared in multiple episodes of "The Masked Singer" before her death. Alley was introduced in her costume, singing "Walkin' After Midnight" by Patsy Cline in the 7th season of the singing competition series. She later sang "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" by Cher and "Me Too" by Meghan Trainor, but the judges had difficulty recognizing who was behind the mask early in the season, and she was eliminated. The only one to correctly guess her was Jenny McCarthy; Alley said her prior relationship with McCarthy made her think she would correctly guess her identity, via The Masked Singer.
Alley described in her exit interview the difficulties that her Baby Mammoth costume, which included a giant, cartoonish head pink head, brought her. The "Cheers" star joked that she may have chosen a different costume if she could go back in time, describing the Baby Mammoth disguise as constricting and nearly blinding. "When you're choosing your costume, go skimpy!" she advised future performers.
Alley was a beloved guest on "The Masked Singer," and the show actually announced after her passing that it was paying respect to the actress and her time on the show with a tribute card airing in a holiday special episode, via Deadline. While Alley kept plenty busy with work towards the end of her life, she explained after her "Masked Singer" appearance that the show was something new for her and she did it so some specific people would get a kick out of it.
Kirstie Alley performed on The Masked Singer for her grandchildren
In the previously-mentioned post-interview on "The Masked Singer," Kirstie Alley said she chose to throw on a gigantic pink costume and perform on a stage for celebrity judges and millions of viewers at home because she needed something to shake up her life and career, commendable for 71 and having accomplished as much as the actress already had.
"I came on 'Masked Singer' because about 10 years ago I realized, I always have to keep mixing my career or my life up or it was going to get really mundane, it was going to get really boring fast, so I guess I finally got up the nerve to do it," Alley said, per The Masked Singer. The "Look Who's Talking" star also revealed she performed on the singing competition to make her grandchildren happy.
"I have grandchildren, and they're really young, so they are going to think this is good," she said, via the Los Angeles Times. The actress never held back when gushing about her grandchildren in public, including in 2017 when she couldn't say enough good things about spending the holidays with her grandson.
"When I got up in the morning, as soon as that baby was up, I was holding that baby, traipsing around with him and showing him all the Christmas lights and singing to him," the actress told People.