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George Wendt Dead at 76: ‘Cheers’ Actor Who Played Norm Peterson ‘Will Be Missed Forever’
George Wendt, the actor who portrayed Norm Peterson on Cheers, has died. He was 76 years old.
“Beloved actor and comedian, George Wendt, best known for starring in the NBC hit comedy Cheers, has passed away,” his publicist, Melissa Nathan, said in a statement to People on Tuesday, May 20.
“George’s family confirmed the news of his death early Tuesday morning, announcing he died peacefully in his sleep while at home,” the statement said. “George was a doting family man, a well-loved friend and confidant to all of those lucky enough to have known him. He will be missed forever.”
“The family has requested privacy during this time,” the statement concluded.
Wendt starred on Cheers from 1982 to 1993. He appeared in a whopping 269 episodes of the show, per IMDb.
In the years before his death, Wendt reflected on playing Norm on the hit show.
“My friend Pat Finn always reminds me what the audition was for Cheers: I needed to look like a guy who wanted to have another beer,” he told Chicago in July 2021. “Norm is just me with better writing. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of actors who could have delivered on the absolute gems that I was handed on a silver platter every Wednesday morning.”
After Cheers, Wendt landed his own show, The George Wendt Show, in 1995. The show was canceled after six episodes aired on CBS, with two episodes never making it to air.
He was the uncle of actor Jason Sudeikis, whom he voiced his support for throughout his acting career.
“He’s such a great kid,” the Chicago native said during an appearance on the “Still Here Hollywood” podcast in June 2024. “Very proud. Proud especially, you know, not only of the success, but he’s solid. Have you read profiles and stuff? I mean he is … so smart, so thoughtful.”
Wendt also recalled a time when Jason shouted him out during a late-night TV appearance.
“It was Letterman or Conan, he said, ‘Did your uncle George have any advice for you?’ And Jason goes — he’s so sharp — he goes, ‘Yeah he told me just get on the best show on television and one of the greatest shows of all time and just pretty much take it from there.’ And he goes, ‘So I did.’ He got on SNL,” the Fancy Nancy actor reflected on his nephew’s success.
Wendt’s final acting appearance came in 2024’s television movie Love’s Second Act. Throughout his career, he also appeared in Modern Men, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Saturday Night Live, The Little Rascals and more.
Wendt was married to Bernadette Birkett, whom he walked down the aisle with in 1978. They welcomed three children during their marriage, Hilary, Joe and Daniel.
“One question I’m constantly asked is if I really like beer as much as Norm Peterson. ‘Nobody’s that good of an actor,’ I tell them. Despite the obvious similarities, however, there are a couple of critical differences between Norm and me,” he said. “I actually like my wife; Norm, on the other hand, was a bit more ambivalent about his heard-but-never-seen wife, Vera (who, by the way, was voiced by my real wife, Bernadette Birkett). And when I drink a lot of beer, I will occasionally get drunk. Not so for Norm: It was very important to the network (and to my mother) that Norm never seem like he was getting loaded. They didn’t want him to appear pathetic. But the biggest difference? Norm had way better writers than I do.”
