Actor George Wendt (Norm of Cheers) died on May 20. He was 76. The Chicago native and Second City alum began acting in TV and films in the late ’70s, and was already a familiar face when cast on Cheers in 1982 (he stayed with the show till its last episode, in 1993). His Norm—a schlubby, self-deprecating accountant—was one of the tent poles of the series. Though associated with that one character, Wendt did not lack for work post-Cheers, appearing in countless movies and TV series (though usually as Norm, or in bit parts). He very briefly had his own sitcom in 1995, and appeared on Broadway in Elf, Hairspray (as Edna, in 2007-08) and in the 2013 bomb Breakfast at Tiffany’s. “Norm is just me with better writing,” Wendt said. “There were hundreds, if not thousands, of actors who could have delivered on the absolute gems that I was handed on a silver platter every Wednesday morning.” For you true-crime buffs, Wendt’s maternal grandfather was the photographer who infamously snapped Ruth Snyder in the electric chair in 1928.
