Actor George Wendt, known for his beer-loving character Norm Peterson on the hit TV show "Cheers," died Tuesday. He was 76 years old.
"George was a doting family man, a well-loved friend, and confidant to all of those lucky enough to have known him," his publicist Melissa Nathan said in a statement. "He will be missed forever."
Wendt passed peacefully in his sleep at his home in Los Angeles, but the cause is not yet clear. The family has asked for privacy during this time.
The Chicago native began his acting career in sketch comedy improv, and his skills landed him a few small roles on the TV shows "Taxi," "Soap," and "M*A*S*H" before getting his big break on "Cheers." Wednt played Norm for 11 years, earning six consecutive Primetime Emmy nominations.
The series was centered on lovable losers in a Boston bar and starred Ted Danson, Shelley Long, Rhea Perlman, Kelsey Grammer, John Ratzenberger, Kirstie Alley and Woody Harrelson. It would spin off another megahit in “Frasier” and was nominated for an astounding 117 Emmy Awards, winning 28 of them.
Wendt, who spent six years in Chicago’s renowned Second City improv troupe before sitting on a barstool at the place where everybody knows your name, didn’t have high hopes when he auditioned for “Cheers.”
“My agent said, ‘It’s a small role, honey. It’s one line. Actually, it’s one word.’ The word was ‘beer.’ I was having a hard time believing I was right for the role of ‘the guy who looked like he wanted a beer.’ So I went in, and they said, ‘It’s too small a role. Why don’t you read this other one?’ And it was a guy who never left the bar,” Wendt told GQ in an oral history of “Cheers.”
