George Wendt, an American actor and actor who won six consecutive nominations to the EMMY for his performance as Norm Peterson in the beloved series of comedy NBC “Cheers”, died Tuesday morning at his home. He was 76 years old.
Wendt’s death was confirmed by his advertising Melissa Nathan with the following statement: “George was a suitable father, a beloved friend and a confidant to all those who had the chance to have known him. We will miss it forever. The family asked for privacy during this period. ”
A student of the Chicago improvisation landscape, Wendt was an actor in the second city in the 1970s before becoming a television player. After numerous invited spots, he won the role that would define it: the faithful Barfly Norm Peterson, whose first regular line of “The afternoon everyone” has become one of the reasons appreciated by fans of the series.
Among the actors, Wendt won six head nods of the Emmy in the support actor in a comedy series category through his mandate as a main member of the distribution through the series of 11 seasons of “Cheers”. It would resume the role in appearances on the short-term spin-off “The Tortellis” and the longtime fallout “Prasier”. After appearing in the 273 episodes of “Cheers”, Wendt jumped to CBS to direct his own sitcom, entitled “The George Wendt Show”, in which he played a radio host car mechanic. The series was quickly abandoned, flowing for a month.
Wendt’s affinity for comedy made him a regular of “Saturday Night Live” through the 90s, based on his Southsoid roots to join Chris Farley, Mike Myers and Robert Smigel in the recurring sketches of the Superfans of Chicago Mustachioed. (In a particularly strange piece of the “SNL” tradition, Wendt co-organized an episode of 1986 with the director Francis Ford Coppola, then preparing to release “Peggy Sue Got Maria”. Philip Glass was the musical guest.)
Born October 17, 1948 in Chicago, Illinois, Wendt grew up one of the nine children before going to the University of Notre Dame before moving on to the Jesuit Rockhurst College where he graduated in economics. During his stay in the second city, Wendt met Bernadette Birkett. The two were married in 1978. (Although never seen on the screen, Birkett expressed the character of Norm’s wife on “Cheers”.) The couple had three children. In particular, Wendt is also the uncle of “SNL” and the star of “Ted Lasso” Jason Sudeikis.
After “Cheers” raised Wendt, the actor had no trouble scoring support roles for the rest of his career, with film credits including comedies like “Fletch”, “Gung Ho” and “Spice World”, as well as features like the 1985 horror film “House” and the American standout Indie 2019 “The Climb”.
His huge CV of television guest credits presents titles like “Hot in Cleveland”, “The Twilight Zone”, “Columbo”, “George Lopez” and “Fresh Off the Boat”. Although he has never found another series as durable as “Cheers”, Wendt has helped to anchor several sitcoms over the years, serving as a main member of the TBS series “Clipped” and lending his vocal talent to the animated series “Fancy Nancy”. In 2023, he participated in “The Masked Singer”.
Wendt also turned to the theater in this last part of his career. In 2008, he resumed the role of Edna Turnblad (traditionally carried out by a trail actor) in the production of Broadway then in the course of “Hairspray”. He resumed the role in a production in the Charlottetown festival. He also appeared as Santa in Broadway’s “Elf the Musical” and played Willy Loman in a 2017 Ontario production of “Death of a Salesman”.
Wendt is survived by his wife and three children.
