If you ask Kelsey Grammer, the latest to reincarnate Ebenezer Scrooge, which actor gave the best Scrooge performance, he'll give you a surprising response: the animated Mr. Magoo. The "Frasier" star so scrunches his eyes as Scrooge early in "A Christmas Carol" that you might think he was mimicking the cartoon figure. But Grammer says that wasn't his intent. "That was an active attempt to show how shortsighted he (Scrooge) is," Grammer says. "It's hard to imagine somebody as out of touch as that guy." Or somebody so pathetic who just keeps bowling over the public. Charles Dickens introduced Scrooge in 1843, and variations on the miser have spread through popular culture, from Cruella De Vil to J.R. Ewing. Hungry actors keep coming back to the juicy original, and producers never lose interest in the titanic tightwad. NBC recently unveiled an $18 million musical of "A Christmas Carol" with Grammer that will be rebroadcast on Christmas Eve. Other versions will decorate the schedule in coming weeks. Dickens' tale will receive a continuation this week in "The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge," which lets the misanthrope sue the ghosts. We can't help loving that meanie. After all the cruelty and regret, "A Christmas Carol" supplies a catharsis that never loses its power. That's the genius of Dickens in creating Scrooge. "There's a man who has led a life virtually devoid of sentiment," says film historian David Thomson. "Grant him Christmas and that epiphany, and it all can come back. It allows every one of us to hope whatever mistakes we've made, we're still in touch with that pure feeling." When it comes to Ebenezer himself, pure hamminess is required. An actor has to be willing to put the showmanship in "Bah! Humbug." "The one that stands out more than any other is Alastair Sim," says Robert Osborne, host of Turner Classic Movies. Sim gives a vigorous performance in the black-and-white 1951 version. "It was done in England," Osborne says. "It's got a grittiness to it. He was a despicable, mean old guy." Grammer cherishes "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol," a 1962 production with Jim Backus supplying the animated character's voice. "It was at a time in my life I was very young, so it made the greatest impression," Grammer says. "I can still sing most of the songs from it." Among TV versions, the most fondly remembered Scrooge is probably George C. Scott in the sumptuous "Christmas Carol" from 1984. Scott excelled at the character's regret. In other versions, the small screen has taken way-out liberties. Jack Palance played Scrooge as a saloon owner in the 1998 Western "Ebenezer." Susan Lucci was department-store CEO Elizabeth Scrooge in "Ebbie," a 1995 Lifetime movie. A few other feminine "Scrooges" have graced the TV screen: Cicely Tyson took the title role in "Ms. Scrooge" from 1997, and Vanessa Williams played a dastardly pop singer in "A Diva's Christmas Carol" from 2000. "It's quite actor-proof," Osborne says of Scrooge. "It's like 'The Nutcracker.' You can see Baryshnikov or amateurs. We're quite forgiving at Christmas." At the start, it's all about the money for Scrooge. He changes, but his greed never loses fascination in money-mad America. "If you think of him as the rich man who has lost everything, it's an interesting type in a capitalist culture," says Thomson, author of "The New Biographical Dictionary of Film." "We have this very mixed feeling about great wealth," he adds. "I think we're very confused about it. A lot of our great characters are people who have been shilled by their own great wealth." Thomson finds Scrooge-like figures in the title characters of "Citizen Kane" and "The Godfather." Lionel Barrymore played a Scrooge as miserly Mr. Potter in "It's a Wonderful Life." A leg injury had kept the actor from doing the actual Scrooge in the glossy 1938 "Christmas Carol," and Reginald Owen stepped in. Hard-hearted businessmen, from J.R. Ewing of "Dallas" to Donald Trump of "The Apprentice," have been good for television bottom lines. So networks keep returning to Scrooge, the granddaddy of them all. Robert Halmi Sr. produced a TV version of "A Christmas Carol" five years ago with Patrick Stewart. That didn't stop Halmi from lavishing his attention on NBC's new musical. "I think this somehow captures what Dickens meant, and it's remarkable it's a musical and still captures the richest part of the story," Halmi says.