George Wendt, best known for playing Norm Peterson on the long-running sitcom Cheers, has died. He was 76.
The actor died on the morning of Tuesday, May 20. In a statement to PEOPLE, his publicist Melissa Nathan confirmed, “Beloved actor and comedian, George Wendt, best known for starring in the NBC hit comedy Cheers, has passed away.”
“George’s family confirmed the news of his death early Tuesday morning, announcing he died peacefully in his sleep while at home,” the statement continued. “George was a doting family man, a well-loved friend and confidant to all of those lucky enough to have known him. He will be missed forever.”
Wendt was born in Chicago in 1948. He was one of nine children; his sister Kathryn is the mother of actor and comedian Jason Sudeikis. He flunked out of Notre Dame and then worked at his father’s real estate office in Chicago before graduating from Rockhurst College.
In 1974, he started training in comedy at Chicago’s The Second City theater. There he met Bernadette Birkett, whom he married in 1978. He and his wife shared three children: Hilary, Joe, and Daniel.
