George Wendt Dead at 76: 'Cheers' Star Praised For Being 'a Doting Family Man and Well-Loved Friend' In Emotional Tribute
George Wendt has died.
May 20 2025, Published 4:17 p.m. ET
Cheers star George Wendt has died at age 76, RadarOnline.com can report.
The legendary actor played popular barfly Norm Peterson on the beloved sitcom, known for his big belly and belly laughs.
Wendt, seen here in 1998, was 76.
His family confirmed Wendt died peacefully in his sleep at home early Tuesday morning.
They said in a statement: "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."
Three 'Cheers'
The '80s sitcom star was widely known for portraying Norm Peterson on the hit show.
Wendt starred as Norm Peterson in all 275 episodes of Cheers, which aired from 1982-93 on NBC.
He was a fan favorite as Norm in the bar where everybody knows your name and earned six consecutive Emmy nominations for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series.
After Cheers turned its lights out for good, NBC considered a spinoff featuring Wendt and co-star John Ratzenberger, who played mailman Cliff Clavin, as bar buddies, but it never advanced.
Instead, he headlined his own series for CBS in 1995, aptly titled The George Wendt Show, playing the co-owner of a Wisconsin garage and co-host of a call-in radio show about car repair. However, the comedy lasted just six episodes.
'Second' Chance
Wendt was born on October 17, 1948 in Chicago, where he was one of nine children. He attended the University of Notre Dame before jumping to Jesuit Rockhurst College where he graduated with a degree in economics.
While living in Chicago, he joined the famed improv troupe The Second City. There he met and married his wife, Bernadette Birkett, in 1978. The couple had three children.
Birkett was also the unseen voice of Norm's wife, Vera, in Cheers.
Wendt is also the uncle of former Saturday Night Live star Jason Sudeikis. While never an official cast member of the late-night show, Wendt will be forever remembered donning a thick Ditka mustache and sitting around a bar table with stars Chris Farley, Mike Myers and Robert Smigel in the fan-favorite Chicago Superfans sketches.
There was even a recent call to revisit the characters after Chicago native Robert Prevost was named Pope Leo XIV.
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Wendt played a Chicago Bears fan on SNL
Wendt once said he never minded when Cheers fans would greet him with a familiar "Norm!" – just as his fellow fictional barflies would greet him each episode. It likely helped that they were always more than willing to buy him a round.
In 2009, he co-wrote the book Drinking With George: A Barstool Professional’s Guide to Beer.
Introducing the book, he wrote: "I'm a simple man, I don’t ask for much. Give me a nice comfortable chair, a cool breeze, a ballgame on the radio and an ice-cold beer, and I couldn’t be happier.
"Truth be told, if it came down to it, I could live without the chair. A cool breeze is nice, but it isn’t exactly mandatory for a good time. And there are plenty of times when I don’t have access to a ballgame.
"But a world without beer? I don’t know if that’s the kind of world I want to live in."
