2025’s “Top” Ten Losses: George Wendt (#10)

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Oh, benzonatate, I love you! It’s an old medication that’s used to suppress coughs. When the coughs started I reached for the bottle that my doctor prescribed for me “just in case.” Thank God, thank her, and thank y’all for your prayers! Since I’m relatively close to my “normal” posting time, it’s obvious that I’m feeling better. Here we go with the ten most significant “famous” obituaries, to me, for 2025. #10: George Wendt NORM! There is a video on YouTube that shows every entrance that Norm made into the bar throughout the series run on Cheers. I’ve linked my absolute favorite one below, but if you have 18 minutes to spare and need a laugh, check it out. We all know that George Wendt, like so many other actors throughout history, had a varied career with multiple roles, but it’s that one role that he’s remembered for. Wendt went (see what I did there? ) from a Notre Dame dropout (okay, he was expelled) to graduating from another university with an economics degree. Now, you’d think that someone who’d studied economics would know better than to go into acting; however, there he went! Wendt started in the famed Second City troupe in Chicago and got a few guest-starring roles (he showed up in an episode of M*A*S*H as a soldier with a pool ball stuck in his mouth, jokingly berated by Major Winchester) and a failed TV series or two before landing the job as Norm Peterson, the barfly, on Cheers. After the series he had other roles (including voicing the character in Family Guy and The Simpsons), and settled happily into working in plays with his wife. A combination of illnesses (hypertension, renal failure, etc.) caused him to suffer cardiac arrest in May. Although nominated for six Emmys, Wendt never won (he was always competing against John Larroquette in Night Court at the time). He’ll always be remembered as that lovable Norm. George Wendt Born George Robert Wendt, Jr., October 17, 1948, Chicago, Illinois Died May 20, 2025, Los Angeles, California (cardiac arrest) (age 76) Here’s my favorite Norm entrance from Cheers: