“Cheers” actor George Wendt passed away at the age of 76.
George Went has won the nominations for six consecutive best-supporting actor Emmy, who will play Norm Peterson in NBC’s “Cheers.”
Actor George Went is best known for his beloved role as Barfly Norm Peterson, who robs the beer in the iconic NBC comedy Cheers. He was 76 years old.
Went’s representative, spokesman Melissa Nathan, confirmed the actor’s death to USA Today on May 20, adding that he died of sleeping at home “early Tuesday morning.”
“George was an outrageous man of a doting family, a beloved friend, and everyone who was lucky enough to know him,” the statement continued. “He will miss him forever.”
Went has won six consecutive support actor Emmy nominations to perform all his one-line derivative characters. He never won an Emmy with “cheers,” but his lacking accountant character was greeted with a loud call from “Norm!” By fellow patrons at each entrance to a fictional Boston bar. The actor’s death falls into the 32nd anniversary of the final episode of “Cheers” aired on May 20, 1993.
Born George Robert Went Jr. on October 17, 1948 in Chicago, Illinois, Went spent six years at Chicago’s famous Second City Improvisation Theatre Company before auditioning for “Cheers.” Originally, his character only appeared in the final scene of the pilot, with only one line of “Beer.”
“My agent said, ‘It’s a small role, honey. It’s a line. In fact, that’s a word.” The word was “beer,” Went said in the 2012 GQ Oral History of “Cheers.”
However, his role became extremely large, with Went appearing as standard in all “cheer” episodes up until 11 seasons (1982-93). Sitting next to fellow barflies and postal worker Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger), Norm sipped on countless TV beer mugs.
Went also played his usual role in the short-lived spinoff The Tortellis, with an episode of “The Tortellis,” a 1990 episode of NBC’s “Wing,” and “Frasier,” a “Cheers” spinoff featuring psychiatrist Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer).
The comic actor was frequently a guest on “Saturday Night Live,” and he famously portrayed one of the Super Fan Chicago sports enthusiasts in his repeated “Billsworsky Super Fan” sketches.
Went and his fellow superfans, adorned with walrus mustaches and Bears gear, along with Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Joe Mantegna, and Robert Smiguel, enthusiastically discussed the “Da Bears” and legendary head coach Mike Ditka (known only as “Ditka”).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbnnon_izom
Following “Cheers,” Went starred in 1995 on CBS as a car mechanic for a radio host on “The George Went Show.” The show was cancelled after six episodes.
Went has appeared in films such as the TV series “The Sainfeld,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” and “The Simpsons,” as a film producer for “The Plane II: The Sequel” (1982), “Flech” (1985), “The Little Rascals” (1994), and “The Spice World” (1997). On stage, Went played Edna Turnblad in 2007 Broadway production “Hairspray.”
Norm was enthusiastically eschewing his wife Vera, whom he had never seen in the bar, but Went married Bernadette Burkett, an actress and a Second City alumnus for 46 years.
In one of his final releases at the 75th Emmy Awards in 2024, Went was reunited with his “Cheers” co-stars Ted Danson, Rhea Perman, Glamour and Ratzenberger. Went’s memorable entrance brought one final “Norm!”. From his co-stars.
Danson, who played Toast owner and bartender Sam “Mayday” Malone, said in a statement following the sad news that he is “devastated to hear that Georgie is not with us.”
“It’s going to take a long time to get used to this,” Danson added. “I love you, Georgie.”
