George Wendt

George Robert Wendt Jr. was born on 17 October 1948 in the Beverly neighbourhood on Chicago's South Side, one of nine children of Loretta Mary Wendt (née Howard) and George Robert Wendt Sr., a U.S. Navy veteran of the Second World War and a realtor. He had six sisters, Kathryn, Loretta, Marti, Nancy, Karen and Mary Ann, and two brothers, Tom and Paul. The family lived on Bell Avenue near 92nd Street in Christ the King parish, and relatives still live on the block. His maternal grandfather was the photographer Tom Howard. He was of Irish and German descent.

Wendt attended Campion High School, a Jesuit boarding school in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. He went on to the University of Notre Dame, but was dismissed during his junior year after a semester with a 0.00 grade point average, later explaining that he had moved off campus, had no car and simply never went to class. He attended Roosevelt University and then transferred to Rockhurst College, a Jesuit college in Kansas City, Missouri, graduating in 1971 with a B.A. in economics.

Soon after college Wendt discovered The Second City in Chicago. On his first day the woman in charge handed him a broom and said, "Welcome to the theater, kid," and by 1975 he was a member of the company. He appeared in the films My Bodyguard and Somewhere in Time in 1980 and had small parts on Taxi, Soap and M*A*S*H. In 1982 he landed his first regular series role in the CBS sitcom Making the Grade, which was cancelled after six episodes.

From 1982 to 1993 Wendt played Norm Peterson in all 275 episodes of NBC's Cheers. Norm's entrance, greeted by the whole bar shouting his name, followed by a one-liner about his wife Vera or his miserable job, became one of the most famous running gags in television. The role brought him six consecutive Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He also played Norm in the spin-off The Tortellis, on Wings, on Frasier and in The Simpsons. He and John Ratzenberger sued over animatronic likenesses of Norm and Cliff in airport bars in the case Wendt v. Host International, which an appeals court allowed to proceed.

Wendt's films included Airplane II: The Sequel, Dreamscape, No Small Affair, Fletch, House, Gung Ho, Guilty by Suspicion, Forever Young, The Little Rascals, Man of the House, Spice World, Outside Providence, Lakeboat, Santa Baby, Sandy Wexler and The Climb. On Saturday Night Live he co-hosted with Francis Ford Coppola and played Bob Swerski, one of the Chicago Superfans. He starred in The George Wendt Show (1995), played a killer on Columbo, and had recurring roles on The Naked Truth, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Modern Men, Clipped and Fancy Nancy. He played the father in Michael Jackson's 1991 "Black or White" video and appeared on The Masked Singer as the Moose in 2023.

Wendt never left the theatre. He played in Art in London's West End in 1998 with David Dukes and Stacy Keach and later on Broadway. He played Edna Turnblad in Hairspray on Broadway from 2007 to 2008 and again in Canada and in Baltimore, starred in Twelve Angry Men with Richard Thomas in Washington, D.C., played Santa in Elf the Musical on Broadway in 2010 and 2011, appeared in Funnyman at Northlight Theatre in 2015, played Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman in Ontario in 2017, and acted with his wife in Never Too Late in Overland Park, Kansas.

Wendt met actress Bernadette Birkett at Second City in 1974 and they married in July 1978. Birkett appeared on Cheers and voiced Norm's wife Vera. They had three children, Hilary, Joe and Daniel, and Wendt was stepfather to Joshua and Andrew. He was the uncle and godfather of the actor Jason Sudeikis. His wife described him as generous and "just so funny."

Norm Peterson remains one of the defining characters of American sitcoms, and Wendt was remembered by Cheers creators Glen Charles, Les Charles and James Burrows as America's favorite barfly. After his death the Cheers bar in Boston set up a memorial at Norm's place at the bar, Second City held a tribute in Chicago, and on 19 October 2025 Chicago dedicated Honorary George Wendt Way on Bell Avenue between 91st Street and 92nd Place, outside his childhood home.

Wendt received six consecutive Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Cheers. In 2024 he appeared with the Cheers cast as a presenter at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2025 the City of Chicago honoured him with Honorary George Wendt Way.

George Wendt died peacefully in his sleep at home in Los Angeles early on Tuesday 20 May 2025, aged 76. He was pronounced dead at 10 a.m. according to his death certificate, which listed cardiac arrest as the immediate cause, with congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease and hypertension as underlying causes, and end-stage renal disease and hyperlipidemia as other significant conditions. He was cremated on 28 May 2025. His death came 32 years to the day after the Cheers finale aired.