GEORGE WENDT

(17 October 1948 - 20 May 2025)

George Wendt, the American actor famous for playing Norm Peterson in the long-running sitcom Cheers, has died in his sleep at the age of 76. He was already established as an actor in films from 1978 and on television from 1981, but it was Cheers in 1982 that saw his popularity rise, and that was due to Wendt himself. Originally booked for one episode and just one line, the actor made such an appealing impression to the producers that they expanded the character, giving him more to do and say. Wendt appeared in the whole of the series’ run of 275 episodes from 1982 to 1993. Such luck and such talent are what dreams are made of. After Cheers Wendt went on to appear in a multitude of other TV series, as well as getting dozens of films under his belt.

George Robert Wendt was born in the Beverly neighbourhood on the south side of Chicago, to George Robert Wendt Sr, a US Navy officer, and his wife Loretta Mary Howard. The family had nine children. George graduated from Campion High School in Wisconsin and went to the University of Notre Dame, but did not do well academically. He then attended Rockhurst College in Kansas City and left with a BA in economics. He later joined The Second City, the improv comedy group in Chicago. This is where he met his future wife, the actress Bernadette Birkett. They married in 1974 and had three children, Hilary, Joe and Daniel.

Wendt gradually began getting parts in films and on television (including Taxi, Soap and M*A*S*H) when Cheers came along and he was more or less made for life, earning six Primetime Emmy nominations. However, the career didn’t stop there for he became a host (with Francis Ford Coppola) of Saturday Night Live and appeared in guest roles on numerous TV series. His final TV appearances were in The Masked Singer and Love’s Second Act (a TV movie set in the film industry) in 2023-24.

For the cinema Wendt’s first films were Robert Altman’s A Wedding (1978) and Clint Eastwood’s Bronco Billy (1980) but neither gave Wendt a credit. He went on to make Somewhere in Time with Christopher Reeve, Airplane II: The Sequel, Michael Ritchie’s Fletch with Chevy Chase, Guilty by Suspicion with Robert De Niro, and so many others that it is hard to keep up with an actor who seems to have done everything. He worked on films right up to 2022, ending with Christmas with the Campbells, a romantic comedy co-written by Vince Vaughn. George Wendt may have rarely if ever starred in a film but he was certainly never out of work. He also did a few stage productions and contributed to music videos including a couple with Michael Jackson.

MICHAEL DARVELL