George Wendt died this week at the age of 76. I first met him at The Second City in Chicago, where he was already being typecast in bits as paunchy cops and roly-poly city council members.
But he was best known from the TV show Cheers, about a bar where everybody knew his character's name: "Norm!"
"What would you say to a beer, Normie?" asks Sam the bartender.
"Daddy wuvs you," Norm replies.
George Wendt appeared on every episode of Cheers, over eleven seasons, and was nominated for six consecutive Emmys for his work on the show. He had dozens of guest roles over his career — including on Saturday Night Live, as a beer-chugging superfan of "Da Bears." And he briefly starred in a sit-com where he played one of a pair of brothers who owns a garage and hosts a wisecracking radio show about cars. Where did Hollywood ever get an idea like that?
A number of years ago, George and I did a project together in New York, and a group of us had dinner. Some of the faces at the table were well-known. But it was George Wendt people picked out when they passed by.
"Norm!" they'd call out. George called back, "How ya' doin', pal?" and tipped a beer in their direction. Yes, he really did like beer.
"They want me to be Norm," he told us. "Glad to do it."
Somewhere toward dessert I got the nerve to ask George if he ever tired of being typecast, and he grinned.
"It's a good life," he told us. "People don't know me, but they like me." Then added, with masterful timing, "But I am a little disappointed that when people ask, 'Who's the next James Bond?' my name never comes up."
Kelly Leonard, an executive at The Second City, told us this week, "The characters he played shared so much with the actor who portrayed him: funny, charming, and a sly wit that was never mean, but laden with truth. He treated you the same whether you were the dishwasher or the producer — I know, because I was both — and George Wendt didn't discriminate by title."
It is a good life for an actor when everybody knows the name of the character he made his own. Cheers, Norm. And here's to you, George.
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