Jason Sudeikis took a while to recollect his late uncle, Cheers star George Wendt, whereas collaborating in his annual Massive Slick charity occasion in Kansas Metropolis.
Wendt, who portrayed the beer-loving Norm Peterson in all 11 seasons of the NBC sitcom, died peacefully in his sleep at residence final month. He was 76.
The Ted Lasso star was asked about Wendt at a press conference, the place he accepted condolences from a reporter on Wendt’s demise and stated, partly, “We miss him significantly, and I like him dearly.”
“There’s that previous saying of like, ‘Don’t meet your heroes,’ normally ’trigger ‘they allow you to down,’ I assume, is the again half of that assertion. However he’s not a kind of folks,” Sudeikis stated throughout the Friday occasion. “He’s as enjoyable and sort and as heat as any character he performed on tv or in movies. He was an unimaginable affect to me, each as somebody that blazed the path, being from the Midwest and instructing me that performing was a profession you might even have, in case you actually care about it.”
“He additionally at all times saved related to his household, to his roots, each in Chicago, after all, the place he’s from, however then additionally the time he spent right here,” Sudeikis stated, referring to Kansas Metropolis. “And to a bar known as Mike’s an entire bunch, the place I feel he logged possibly 18 credit score hours,” he then joked. “But it surely was all in preparation of a job that everyone knows him for, Cheers. All time properly spent.”
When his microphone began malfunctioning, Sudeikis quipped, “that’s him messing with the sound board. He’s like, ‘don’t discuss me’ … simply good Midwestern humility.’”
Wendt, a six-time Emmy nominee, was the brother of Sudeikis’ mom, Kathryn. With each actors having distinguished careers, Wendt stated he was “very proud” of his nephew throughout a 2024 look on the Still Here Hollywood podcast.
“[Sudeikis is] such an important child. Very proud,” Wendt stated. “Proud particularly, you understand, not solely of the success, however he’s strong. Have you ever learn profiles and stuff? I imply he’s such a mensch, so sensible, so considerate. I imply, all of it comes out within the present.”
Equally, Sudeikis raved about his uncle in a 2011 profile with Playboy, the place he recommended Wendt’s profession as an actor.
“[Wendt] was only a good instance that being an actor was a viable possibility,” the Ted Lasso star stated, through Huffington Post. “Right here’s a man from the Midwest, in my household, who took the highway much less traveled and it labored out for him. The recommendation he gave me, and I say this jokingly, is ‘Get on the most effective sitcoms of all time after which experience it out.’”
After Wendt’s demise, lots of his Cheers co-stars paid tribute to the late actor. In an announcement to The Hollywood Reporter, Ted Danson stated, “I’m devastated to listen to that Georgie is now not with us. I’m sending all my like to Bernadette and the youngsters. It will take me a very long time to get used to this. I like you, Georgie.”
John Ratzenberger, who additionally acted alongside Wendt in Cheers as Cliff Clavin, stated in an announcement to THR, “I’m heartbroken to listen to in regards to the passing of my good friend George Wendt. For eleven years on Cheers, we shared a stage, a variety of laughs and a front-row seat to considered one of tv’s most beloved friendships. George introduced Norm to life with a delicate brilliance — the sort that made it look straightforward. That was his present.”
Cheers star Rhea Perlman additionally mirrored on their time on the sequence collectively in an announcement to THR: “George Wendt was the sweetest, kindest man I ever met. It was unattainable to not like him. As Carla, I used to be usually standing subsequent to him, as Norm at all times took the identical seat on the finish of the bar, which made it straightforward to seize him and beat the crap out of him at the very least as soon as per week. I liked doing it and he liked pretending it didn’t damage. What a man! I’ll miss him greater than phrases can say.”