Quick Grammer lesson

Question: My friend and I are having a big argument about the new "X-Men: The Last Stand" movie. We think the guy who plays the Beast is the same guy who played Frasier on "Frasier." Can you tell us if it is? It would really help settle this between us.

Answer: Wait — if "we" think the guy who plays the Beast is the same guy who played Frasier, who is the disagreement with? Or do you mean "we" in a metaphorical sense in that it stands for all of mankind, and that "X-Men: The Last Stand" is an allegorical fantasy wherein the mutants symbolize man's innate but misshapen compassion for bladdy bladdy blah blah? Whatever. It's the same guy, Kelsey Grammer.

Question: Would you kindly tell us if Isaiah Washington from "Grey's Anatomy" is the same actor who played the character of Thomas in the movie "Glory."

Answer: Nope. Andre Braugher played Cpl. Thomas Searles in that 1989 film.

Question: The first time I remember seeing Halle Berry was on a TV miniseries that was run several years ago. She was part of a Canadian family, and I believe Lou Gossett played her father. She met and fell in love with a scoundrel from America who married her, took her back to the South and then sold her in a slave market. The rest of the movie was her father rescuing her. I thought it was an excellent movie and would like to have it on DVD but cannot remember the name. Can you help?

Answer: That's the 1993 miniseries "Queen," which also stars Ann-Margret, Tim Daly, Danny Glover, Ossie Davis and Jasmine Guy. It's on video but not DVD.

Question: Is it true that Peter Dinklage of the TV series "Threshold" and the movie "The Station Agent" has died?

Answer: Nope. Dinklage is alive and well.

Question: I can't get Nancy McKeon out of my head! Specifically, I keep remembering a sitcom she was in after "The Facts of Life," but every time I mention it to somebody they all think I'm referring to "The Facts of Life," and it's driving me crazy! She was older than she was on "The Facts of Life," and she was dating guys. Please tell me that this was a show!

Answer: It was a show! Specifically, it was a show called "Can't Hurry Love," and it ran on CBS in 1995-96. It was a ripoff of — excuse me, it was "inspired" by — "Friends," and like that show it was about hip young people living in great apartments in New York on low incomes. McKeon played Annie O'Donnell, who found out every week that, darn it all, no matter how much you might look at your watch and honk your horn, you "Can't Hurry Love." Her friends were played by Mariska Hargitay (now of "Law & Order: SVU"), Louis Mandylor and Kevin Crowley.