Everybody Knew George Wendt as Norm

 

Actor George Wendt, best known for his portrayal of the beer loving bar patron Norm on the NBC sitcom Cheers, passed away today at the age of 76.

If one watched TV in Canada and the United States during the 1980s and early 1990s, chances are you watched Cheers and got a laugh or two from Norm Peterson as he chugged down the beers from his favorite stool in the bar.

When Norm entered Cheers, the patrons would erupt in unison, "Norm!!!" While Diane (played by Shelley Long) was part of the series, she would follow by calling him "Norman".

Someone from the bar would ask him how things were, and Norm would come up with a deadpan one-liner. My favorite was when one of the bar patrons asked Norm how life was treating him. Norm retorted, "Like a baby treats a diaper." I probably heard that line 35, perhaps 40 years ago and I still use it from time to time. 

While Norm and the cast of Cheers will be associated with Boston, Wendt was from Chicago and cut his teeth with Second City. Before being cast in Cheers, there was a guest appearance on M*A*S*H as a patient with a pool ball stuck in his mouth who had to suffer Dr. Winchester' condescension (so brilliantly portrayed by the late David Ogden Stiers) and as an exterminator in an episode of Taxi where he was tasked to rid Louie's cage of a giant cockroach but Louie (played by Danny DeVito who is fortunately still with us) ended up fighting them on his own and ended up on the losing end.

After Cheers went off the air 32 years ago today, Wendt starred in the short-lived The George Wendt Show which only lasted six episodes. He would turn up in movies like Spice World and even played a murderer on one of the latter-day episodes of Columbo. It's a difficult episode to watch in part because Wendt was miscast and Rod Steiger chewed up so much scenery as a mob boss that he ought to have been the killer. Of course, there's nothing wrong with an actor trying something different. Sometimes it works but a lot of the time it doesn't.

At Cheers, everyone knew Norm's name. And with it, everyone also knew George Wendt. R.I.P.