George Wendt

George Wendt
Wendt at the 41st Emmy Awards, September 17, 1989
Born	George Robert Wendt III (1948-10-17) October 17, 1948 (age 68) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, comedian
Years active	1978–present
Spouse(s)	Bernadette Birkett (m. 1978)
Children	One daughter, two sons, two step-children

George Robert Wendt III (born October 17, 1948) is an American actor and comedian, best known for the role of Norm Peterson on the television show Cheers.

Wendt was born in the Beverly neighborhood on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, the son of Loretta Mary (née Howard) and George Robert Wendt, a navy officer and realtor. His maternal grandfather was photographer Tom Howard. He is of German and Irish descent.

He attended Campion High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. He was expelled from the University of Notre Dame after he received a 0.00 GPA the first semester of his junior year. He later attended the Jesuit Rockhurst College in Kansas City, Missouri, where he graduated with a B.A. in economics.

Actor and former SNL writer and cast member Jason Sudeikis is his nephew (sister's son).

Wendt is a 1975 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 11:30 am as he was instructed. The woman working there handed him a broom and said "Welcome to the theater, kid"; thus, his first job in show business was sweeping the floors. Second City was also where he met his future wife, Bernadette Birkett, who played Cliff's Halloween date in the third season of Cheers and later in the series played the voice of Norm's never-seen wife, Vera.

George Wendt appeared in the 1980 film My Bodyguard. He played a handyman working behind the check-in counter at the Ambassador East Hotel in Chicago (now the Public Hotel).