section_path: Abstract
section_name: Abstract
paragraph_text: George Robert Wendt Jr. (October 17, 1948 – May 20, 2025) was an American actor. Wendt was best known for playing Norm Peterson on the NBC sitcom Cheers from 1982 to 1993, which earned him six consecutive nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. After Cheers ended, he starred in his own short-lived CBS sitcom, The George Wendt Show (1995).
  
  Wendt also appeared in the comedy films Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), No Small Affair (1984), Fletch (1985), The Little Rascals (1994), Man of the House (1995), Spice World (1997), Outside Providence (1999), and Sandy Wexler (2017), and the dramas Somewhere in Time (1980), Dreamscape (1984), Guilty by Suspicion (1991), Forever Young (1992), Lakeboat (2000), and The Climb (2019).
  
  On television, Wendt had supporting and recurring roles on the series Making the Grade, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Fancy Nancy. He had guest roles on Saturday Night Live, Columbo, The Twilight Zone, Frasier, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Portlandia. On stage, he appeared on Broadway playing Edna Turnblad in the musical comedy Hairspray in 2008.
  
  George Robert Wendt Jr. (October 17, 1948 – May 20, 2025) was an American actor. Wendt was best known for playing Norm Peterson on the NBC sitcom Cheers from 1982 to 1993, which earned him six consecutive nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. After Cheers ended, he starred in his own short-lived CBS sitcom, The George Wendt Show (1995).
  
  Wendt also appeared in the comedy films Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), No Small Affair (1984), Fletch (1985), The Little Rascals (1994), Man of the House (1995), Spice World (1997), Outside Providence (1999), and Sandy Wexler (2017), and the dramas Somewhere in Time (1980), Dreamscape (1984), Guilty by Suspicion (1991), Forever Young (1992), Lakeboat (2000), and The Climb (2019).
  
  On television, Wendt had supporting and recurring roles on the series Making the Grade, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Fancy Nancy. He had guest roles on Saturday Night Live, Columbo, The Twilight Zone, Frasier, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Portlandia. On stage, he appeared on Broadway playing Edna Turnblad in the musical comedy Hairspray in 2008.