Kirstie Alley ’s final TV appearance, after a lifetime on screen, saw her take on a role to make her grandchildren happy just months before her shocking death from cancer.
The Look Who’s Talking actress, whose tragic death at 71 was announced by her devastated children on Monday, took on her most playful role just seven months before her passing.
The acclaimed star suited up as the Baby Mammoth on The Masked Singer in April for what would be her final appearance on the small screen.
Her stint on the Fox celebrity singing competition seems to have come before her cancer diagnosis, which her children explained in their statement was only recently discovered.
The actress, who won a Golden Globe, stole the show with her performance of Patsy Cline’s Walkin’ After Midnight.
The former Cheers star debuted on season seven of the hit show in a giant pink furry mammoth costume, which completely concealed her identity.
The panellists gave her a standing ovation before unmasking her the following week after she received the lowest number of votes.
Judges, including Nicole Scherzinger and Robin Thicke, were unsure of the star’s identity before it was unveiled.
Robin guessed Kirstin Dunst was behind the mask, Nicole thought Rachel Ray could be the Baby Mammoth and Ken Jeong claimed it was Reece Witherspoon.
Jenny McCarthy was the only judge to guess Kirstie’s identity correctly after a host of clues were given to help identify her.
A beaming Kirstie gave a short interview to show host Nick Cannon after she was unmasked, where she told of her delight in taking part in the competition.
“I've done a lot of things in my career, but I've never gotten to be in the circus,” she said.
“What was your favourite part of this entire process?” Nick asked.
“I have grandchildren and they're really young, so they are going to think this is good,” Kirstie replied.
Kirstie was a proud mother to William True Stevenson and Lillie Price Stevenson, who she adopted during her second marriage to Parker Stevenson.
She was a doting grandmother to Waylon Parker and Rebel, who appeared in one of her last ever social media posts dressed up as Elsa from Frozen.
Kirstie became a grandmother for the first time in 2016 – a title she was immensely proud of.
"Being a grandma is in the top three best things that has ever happened to me," she told People magazine. "Friends used to show pictures of their grandkids and I'd be like, 'Yeah yeah they're cute' or 'whatever.' Now I'm totally that grandmother."
Kirstie’s final TV appearance seemed to have a make an impression on the panel of celebrity judges.
Nicole gushed: “You were so good,” while Jenny said: “You are wickedly talented and funny.”
“There is nobody like Kirstie Alley,” Robin said. “It's really a blessing and an honour to have you here. Thank you for coming out.”
Hints to her identity were dropped throughout the show, with one clue showing a bird cage with “Danger: Wild animals” written on it.
It indicated the Star Trek actress’ love of animals, but stumped the judges.
After being unmasked, Kirstie explained: “I have 15 lemurs. I have dogs and cats and birds and squirrels.”
“I think that all animals should be wild things so set it free and help it escape,' Baby Mammoth said when the clue was offered.
In her second performance on the show, Kirstie gave a rendition of The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss) by Cher.
“I just want to cuddle you.” Nicole said after the performance. “It was so entertaining, and you are so cute. It's driving me crazy though because I do not know who you are.”
But Kirstie’s song failed to receive many votes from the judges and she ended up in a sing off with Space Bunny – who was later revealed to be Shaggy.
Baby Mammoth sang Me Too by Meghan Trainor and Space Bunny sang Do You Really Want to Hurt Me by Culture Club.
The judges voted on their favourite and Kirstie received the lowest number of votes.
