George Wendt played beloved boozer Norm Peterson numerous times outside of “Cheers,” but the first time he did it he worried he’d made a mistake.
In March 1985 the Boston-based medical drama “St. Elsewhere” aired an episode where a few of its characters stopped by the “Cheers” bar and found Norm, Carla (Rhea Perlman) and Cliff (John Ratzenberger) hanging out. Tom Fontana, a producer and writer for “St. Elsewhere,” recalled in a 2025 interview that Wendt felt “terrible” after production on the NBC shows’ crossover wrapped up. When Fontana asked him why he felt bad, Wendt told him, “Because now I’ll never get to play a different character on ‘St. Elsewhere.'”
While other TV shows will sometimes let an actor play a different role if their first isn’t that memorable, Fontana said that “St. Elsewhere” had a strict rule that guest actors must forever be confined to their first character on the show. “St. Elsewhere” was filled with small guest roles where up-and-coming actors like Tim Robbins and Ray Liotta could show off their range; now if Wendt wanted to land that sort of role, he’d have to look elsewhere.
Wendt embraced being typecast as a friendly barfly
“St. Elsewhere” was George Wendt’s first time playing Norm outside of “Cheers,” but it would be far from his last. He reprised the character in “Wings,” “Frasier,” and “The Tortellis” and he made guest appearances as Norm in shows like “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy.”
Whereas other “Cheers” stars like Woody Harrelson starred in projects that showed off their range and rivaled their breakout show’s popularity, Wendt was always primarily known for playing one character. “Norm is just me with better writing,” he told Chicago Magazine in 2021. He joked that the quality that helped him nail the audition for Norm was that he “needed to look like a guy who wanted to have another beer.”
After Wendt passed away in May 2025, NPR reporter Scott Simon recalled what Wendt told him about feeling typecast as Norm. He replied, “It’s a good life. People don’t know me, but they like me.”
