Carla Tortelli

Cheers character


caption=
name=Carla... Tortelli Lebec
Carla Tortelli
gender=Female
hair=Brown
eyes=Brown
actor=Rhea Perlman
role=Waitress

Carla Maria Victoria Angelina Teresa Apollonia Lozupone Tortelli LeBec, known as Carla Tortelli, was a waitress on the American television show "Cheers", portrayed by Rhea Perlman. Outwardly, at least, Carla is a mean-spirited woman who expresses disdain for many (perhaps even most) people. She had four children when the series started and eight children when it ended.

She was married twice. Her first husband was the sleazy and obnoxious Nick Tortelli, who often came to the bar with his new wife Loretta, and her second husband was Eddie LeBec, a hockey player who was killed by a Zamboni.

While unmarried, Carla was unlucky in the romance department, once placing a personal ad and receiving a letter from a "jet-setting airline pilot" who Sam made up so she would feel better about herself, and once being unable to date Eddie's hockey teammate because she saw Eddie's ghost (complete with hockey uniform and mask) everywhere. On her luck with men, Carla remarked that men usually ignore her; "it's as if I slept with him," Carla remarked about one man who didn't reciprocate feelings. On more than one occasion, Carla tells anecdotes in which she punishes men for not treating her well enough, most notably Nick Tortelli:

:"Carla: I really got him back, though.":"Diane: What did you do?":"Carla: I married him!"

Carla expressed a particular dislike for the character of Diane Chambers when she was on the show, with nicknames given to Diane as: The Stick, Whitey, Pencil-Neck, Fish-face, and Gozzel-head, but, when Diane left the program, Carla turned her scathing wit toward other characters such as Rebecca Howe and Cliff Clavin. In several episodes, however, viewers saw that Carla Tortelli had a vulnerable side as well. During the Diane years, Carla did show a sentimental side of herself at least once: She was pregnant, and first claimed her friend Marshall was the baby's father, but admitted soon afterward that her ex-husband Nick had sired the baby. Everyone in the bar was sympathetic toward her; and Diane apparently blundered by starting to sing the song "You'll Never Walk Alone" from "Carousel". Carla was stunned (so was Norm, who covered his eyes with a hand), but Diane persisted, and the others started singing as Sam excused Carla for the day after taking up a collection for her. One patron even started playing the song on the piano. The last shot shows Carla going out the door with one arm raised as in triumph.

Later on in the series, Carla becomes unaccountably attracted to John Allen Hill (played by Keene Curtis), who runs Melville's seafood restaurant upstairs from Cheers. Sam even finds him as an overnight guest in Carla's house.

Trivia

Carla's favorite food is Chicken McNuggets, her favorite thing to do is draw underarm hair on the models in Vogue Magazine, her favorite movie is Lady and the Tramp, and she always cries when Lady and Tramp kiss with the spaghetti.