Biography
This page uses content from the George Wendt biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.
George Robert Wendt (born October 17, 1948) is an American actor best known for the role of Norm Peterson on the television show Cheers.
He was born in Chicago, Illinois and attended Campion High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. He was kicked out of University of Notre Dame after a lack of studying resulted in a semester with a 0.00 GPA. He was more successful at the Jesuit Rockhurst College in Kansas City where after applying himself, he graduated with a B.A. in Economics.
He is also an alumnus of The Second City which he discovered shortly after college. A viewing had inspired him to join and on his first day of employment, he showed up promptly at 11:30AM as he was instructed. The woman working there handed him a broom and said "Welcome to the theater, kid"; thus, his first job in showbiz was sweeping up cigarette butts off the floors. Second City was also where he met his future wife, Bernadette Birkett, who was to later play the voice of Norm's never-seen wife, Vera, on Cheers.
In 1989, Wendt appeared as the eponymous protagonist in a BBC TV dramatization of Ivan Goncharov's novel Oblomov. He has also appeared twice (two episodes were made from one day's filming) on the original British edition of Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
Saturday Night Live
George Wendt first appeared on the NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live in a season 11 (1985-1986) episode where he shared hosting duties with director Francis Ford Coppola (Coppola only appeared on the episode in sketches that pertain to a running gag throughout the episode where Coppola, Lorne Michaels, and then-writer/castmember Terry Sweeney work to "retool" SNL's sketches for better ratings). In the early 1990s, Wendt made cameo appearances on several episodes of SNL as Bob Swerski, one of the Chicago Superfans (along with castmembers Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Robert Smigel, and one-time host, Joe Mantegna). Wendt is the uncle of current SNL writer and featured player Jason Sudeikis.
Life After Cheers
George Wendt has since appeared as himself on Seinfeld and has reprised the character of Norm Peterson on the The Simpsons as well as the Frasier episode "Cheerful Goodbyes".
He appeared in several episodes of Sabrina, The Teenage Witch as the title character's boss. He also was the host of the A&E reality show, House of Dreams in 2004. In January 2006, Wendt was seen again on television screens as part of the cast of Modern Men.
In May 2006, Wendt was seen yet again on television. He made several appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien where he performed short skits to the audience's delight, one of which involved him doing one push up (which seemed quite difficult due to his large size). His appearance on Late Night was in all likelihood due to the fact that the show was having a week long event in his hometown of Chicago where he is beloved.
He will also star in an episode of Masters of Horror called "Family", directed by John Landis.
Currently he is performing alongside Richard Thomas in "Twelve Angry Men" thru October 22 in the Eisenhower Theater in Washington, DC. After the show opened, Wendt was interviewed by local movie critic Arch Campbell for a piece on the NBC Washington affiliate WRC. In it, Wendt was asked "What should people do when they see you around town?" After hesitating for a moment, Wendt held his thumbs up and replied, "If their impulse is to buy me a beer, then by all means, follow that impulse."
Pop Culture references
Wendt is mentioned in one episode of Animaniacs by survey takers who are bothering the Warner Brothers (and Dot) while they are in a mall. The survey takers go through just about every variation of a question concerning Wendt, beans and movies before the Warners are able to get rid of them.
External links
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