Maris Crane is Niles' first ex-wife. She is often referred to but is never seen on the show (although we see her shadow in the fifth season).

Maris is a small, extremely thin woman - "Ounces of fun" Frasier once referred to her as. She can be very controlling (taking after her late father, the "Commodore") and has to inspired to make decisions (by things such as a new Mercedes which Niles bought for her as an "I'm sorry" present after they had an argument).

Considering we don't see her, we know quite a lot about this peculiar woman. She has at least two sisters (one in Chicago, the other in Dallas) and countless servants such as Yoshi the gardener or Marta the maid. She cannot produce saliva (meaning her servants have to lick envelopes for her) or eat certain foods - such as shellfish, poultry, red meat, saturated fats, nitrates, wheat, starch, sulphates and nuts. She thinks her allergy to chocolate means she can use the disabled parking spaces. She has this thing which makes her lose all co-ordination whenever she passes a shoe shop. She has over 112 unpaid parking tickets. She tries too hard to be interesting and exhausts herself in the process. Her room is opposite Niles'. She sleeps with a pistol under her pillow…

Niles and Maris first met when he saw her banging the electric gates to her home when they wouldn't open after she went to an antique fair. They married three years later and went to Zurich on their honeymoon. And did they live happily ever after? "No, can't say as we did," Niles tells Diane after she enquires about her.

Their marriage finally ended after Niles found out that Maris was having an affair with the couple's therapist, Dr Bernard Shenkman.

Name: Maris Crane

Age: Late forties

Home: A mansion, Seattle, WA.

Job: n/a

Relations: Bree (sister), Sister (name not given), Patrice (aunt).

Niles Crane (ex-husband) (1987 - 1999)

Dr Bernard Shenkman (1999)