Ted Danson had a "full on anxiety attack" over his first television job
The 77-year-old actor started his career on soaps with roles in 'Somerset' and 'The Doctors' in 1975, but he has described the soap world as the "scariest" job he's had to date
7 June 2025
He told Deadline video series 'The Actor's Side': "It was the scariest job I ever had, ever.
"My first day [on 'Somerset'], this was at NBC, I was hired to be the man about town, always seducing women, all this stuff.
"My first day, the night before, I had my - aged 24 in New York - nervous breakdown, no, but anxiety attack. Full on anxiety attack.
"I called this wise friend, going, 'I'm not, I just can't'. He went, 'Don't do that, don't cut your nose off - take a Valium, and get up and go'.
"Took a Valium to discover me and Valium don't do well. I got up, and even as soon as I woke up, I was [in] sheets of Broadway news sweats."
Ted was meant to be in character opposite an experienced actress and making her character "nervous by coming onto her", but instead got quickly recast as "the town sleaze".
The 'Man On The Inside' actor revealed the reason for his anxiety attack was double booking himself for two soaps "on the same day".
Recalling his time on 'The Doctors', he said: "Also terrible. The reason why I was having an anxiety attack was I got hired by both shows on the same day and I said yes to both, and then they got furious.
"'Somerset' won, but I had to do 'The Doctors'. That day I was supposed to be reassuring this poor couple whose child had cancel - I was supposed to be the wise reassuring young doctor. "Back then, they didn't have teleprompters, they had cue cards... I had the safety of knowing at least the cue cards was there...
"He dropped one, and it wafted onto the set, onto my lap, but they were above my lap so they kept shooting. I was a terrible soap opera actor!"
By 1982, Ted landed his breakthrough role as Sam Malone in iconic sitcom 'Cheers', and continued to star on television in the likes of 'Becker', 'Curb Your Enthusiasm', 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation' and new Netflix hit 'A Man On The Inside', which is currently filming its second season.
He said of its popularity: "If something you do hits a chord and it hits a chord on Netflix, it's a very powerful moment because it happens instantaneously, all over the world."
© 2025 Bang Showbiz, NZCity
