George Wendt, Cheers and Fletch Star, Dies at 76

For a generation, everybody knew his name.

George Wendt, the comedian and actor best known for his roles in Cheers and Fletch, has passed away. He was 76 years old. The six-time Emmy nominee passed away peacefully in his sleep, according to his publicist, Melissa Nathan.

“George was a doting family man, a well-loved friend and confidant to all of those lucky enough to have known him,” Nathan wrote (via TheWrap). “He will be missed forever. The family has requested privacy during this time.”

I adore Cheers. It’s one of my favorite shows, and maybe my definitive “comfort show.” When I need background noise and nothing else sounds good, I can pop on the Cheers pilot.

If you talk to people about my age — the tail end of Generation X and the early Millennials — about Cheers, many of them weren’t fans, because they weren’t watching “grown-up TV” during the years of the show’s relevance. Still, every kid knew about Norm Peterson.

Norm, a supporting character on one of the most beloved sitcoms of the era, felt a little bit like a character designed for children’s television: he spoke in quips, had an easily identifiable look, and when he entered the show’s titular bar, the employees and patrons alike would shout “NORM!”

For kids, it was the kind of thing you latch onto. Norm, played with impeccable comic timing by George Wendt, was instantly my favorite. Every kid I knew, loved to scream “NORM!,” even the ones who didn’t actually watch Cheers.

Around that same time, my uncle Dan showed me Fletch for the first time. I fell in love with it, bought it (and its not-very-good sequel) on VHS, and soon learned that the movie based on the first in a series of novels, which I devoured. As Fat Sam, Wendt was smarmy and less likeable than as Norm — but he did great things with the ten or so minutes of screen time he had. He was, ironically, also nothing like the Fat Sam from the novel (who, in the first place, was extremely skinny, hence the ironic nickname).

The actor starred on stage a lot in his later life, appearing in plays like Hairspray, Death of a Salesman, and The Fabulous Lipitones. His last screen appearance was in an episode of The Masked Singer, and at the Emmys last year, he joined a number of other former Cheers cast members for an on-stage reunion amid Paramount’s revival of the show’s spinoff, Frasier.

Wendt was a great actor who, like so many before and since, became so completely associated with a single, memorable role that it’s difficult for most to separate him from Norm Peterson. Of course, given how complex, funny, warm, and human Norm Peterson was, you could have a much worse legacy.