George Wendt, the actor known for playing Norm in the Boston-based sitcom “Cheers,” was mourned at the Beacon Hill bar where patrons are paying their respects.
In the place where everyone knows your name, people certainly knew his. Wendt died Tuesday at 76. His family wrote in a statement he passed away peacefully in his sleep.
The bar formerly known as the Bull & Finch Pub, located on Beacon Street across from the Public Garden in Boston, was the beating heart of the famed sitcom “Cheers” for its 11-year run. There was one guy viewers could depend on to be there.
“Drink a beer for Norm”
“Nothing more appropriate than tipping a couple of beers for George,” said Stephen Lahey who is in town from Wendt’s hometown of Chicago. “I met him at a tavern that I used to call my Cheers. George would come in there for a couple of beers, party in the back. George was a lot of fun.”
Others learned of Wendt’s passing while inside the famed bar. “When we were coming down, we saw that he passed,” said one visitor. “So here we are to his honor.”
“Drink a beer for Norm,” another Cheers patron said. “He would have liked that. That’s what I was thinking. That’s the best way to honor Norm.”
“Looked right at home as a Bostonian”
Few people in Boston had the chance to speak to Wendt more than legendary WBZ-TV entertainment anchor Joyce Kulhawik. “The guy was very much like Norm,” recalled Kulhawik in an interview with WBZ-TV on Tuesday. “Maybe a little less grumpy but a laid back, warm, someone you could cozy up to a bar with. Though he was from Chicago originally, he looked right at home as a Bostonian at that bar.”
Wendt’s passing comes 32 years to the day since the series finale on May 20, 1993. Kulhawik was at the famed bar that night as the entire cast gathered to watch the show air one last time.
“I will never forget that day of the finale,” Kulhawik recalled. “The entire Back Bay was flooded with people. That show brought it all together and Norm in many ways, felt like the rock, the anchor of that bar. Like he was always there and always will be there.”
