{"id":45557,"date":"2025-07-25T14:43:34","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T18:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=45557"},"modified":"2025-07-25T14:43:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T18:43:34","slug":"rhea-perlman-opens-up-about-george-wendts-unexpected-death-i-dont-think-he-knew-he-was-that-sick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/07\/rhea-perlman-opens-up-about-george-wendts-unexpected-death-i-dont-think-he-knew-he-was-that-sick.html","title":{"rendered":"Rhea Perlman Opens Up About George Wendt\u2019s \u2018Unexpected\u2019 Death: \u2018I Don\u2019t Think He Knew He Was That Sick\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Eugene Powers \/ Shutterstock.com | Inset: NBC Courtesy Everett Collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beloved “Cheers” star George Wendt passed away in May 2025 at the age of 76, and his co-stars and fans alike are still feeling the loss. In a recent interview, Rhea Perlman, who played the tough and witty Carla on the hit NBC sitcom, shared her heartfelt thoughts about her longtime friend and colleague.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the saddest thing ever, when George passed away,\u201d Perlman told The New York Post<\/em> while promoting her new Netflix show, “Too Much.”<\/p>\n

\u201cReally unexpected. None of us thought he was that sick. And I don\u2019t think he thought he was that sick \u2013 because we had seen him not that long ago during the Emmys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perlman was referring to the “Cheers” cast reunion at the 2024 Emmy Awards, where the group came together to honor the iconic show that ran for eleven seasons from 1982 to 1993. She also mentioned seeing George and his wife, actress Bernadette Birkett, out and about. \u201cI would run into George and his wife, Bernadette, often on the street in the valley where they lived,\u201d she said. \u201cEverything seemed just fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wendt, best known for his role as Norm Peterson\u2014the lovable bar regular who was always greeted with a chorus of \u201cNorm!\u201d when he walked into the bar\u2014died of cardiac arrest on May 20, 2025. His death certificate also listed congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, and hypertension as contributing factors.<\/p>\n

Rhea Perlman\u2019s memories of George go far beyond the screen. \u201cHe was just the sweetest man in the world,\u201d she said fondly. Reflecting on their scenes together in Cheers, she shared a glimpse of their playful chemistry on set. \u201cNorm would sit on the bar, and I\u2019d be standing next to him,\u201d she recalled. \u201cEvery once in a while, I\u2019d give him a punch, because that\u2019s what Carla does. I\u2019m punching him out of love.\u201d<\/p>\n

George would always respond in character. \u201cHe would go \u2018ow!\u2019 and make me feel like I really hurt him,\u201d Perlman said with a laugh. \u201cAnd I\u2019d go, \u2018Oh, stop it! You didn\u2019t even feel that.\u2019 He was like a pussy cat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wendt\u2019s legacy goes beyond his memorable sitcom role. His nephew, “Ted Lasso” star Jason Sudeikis, also paid tribute, describing Wendt as \u201cfun and kind and as warm as any character he played.\u201d Sudeikis added, \u201cHe was an incredible influence to me, both as someone that plays the trail being from the Midwest and teaching me that acting was a career you could actually have.\u201d<\/p>\n

For fans of “Cheers,” George Wendt will always be Norm\u2014the guy who made everyone at the bar feel like family. But for those who knew him personally, he was even more than that. As Rhea Perlman said best, \u201cHe was just the sweetest man in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beloved “Cheers” star George Wendt passed away in May 2025 at the age of 76, and his co-stars and fans alike are still feeling the loss. In a recent interview, Rhea Perlman, who played the tough and witty Carla on the hit NBC sitcom, shared her heartfelt thoughts about her longtime friend and colleague. \u201cThat…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":45560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\nRhea Perlman Opens Up About George Wendt\u2019s \u2018Unexpected\u2019 Death: \u2018I Don\u2019t Think He Knew He Was That Sick\u2019<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rhea Perlman, who starred alongside Wendt on "Cheers," shares heartfelt memories of her longtime friend and co-star following his death.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/07\/rhea-perlman-opens-up-about-george-wendts-unexpected-death-i-dont-think-he-knew-he-was-that-sick.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rhea Perlman Opens Up About George Wendt\u2019s \u2018Unexpected\u2019 Death: \u2018I Don\u2019t Think He Knew He Was That Sick\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rhea Perlman, who starred alongside Wendt on "Cheers," shares heartfelt memories of her longtime friend and co-star following his death.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/07\/rhea-perlman-opens-up-about-george-wendts-unexpected-death-i-dont-think-he-knew-he-was-that-sick.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Idol Chatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-25T18:43:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2025\/07\/Rhea-Perlman_credit-Eugene-Powers-Shutterstock-Inset-NBC-Courtesy-Everett-Collection.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Beliefnet Contributors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rhea Perlman Opens Up About George Wendt\u2019s \u2018Unexpected\u2019 Death: \u2018I Don\u2019t Think He Knew He Was That Sick\u2019","description":"Rhea Perlman, who starred alongside Wendt on \"Cheers,\" shares heartfelt memories of her longtime friend and co-star following his death.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/07\/rhea-perlman-opens-up-about-george-wendts-unexpected-death-i-dont-think-he-knew-he-was-that-sick.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rhea Perlman Opens Up About George Wendt\u2019s \u2018Unexpected\u2019 Death: \u2018I Don\u2019t Think He Knew He Was That Sick\u2019","og_description":"Rhea Perlman, who starred alongside Wendt on \"Cheers,\" shares heartfelt memories of her longtime friend and co-star following his death.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/07\/rhea-perlman-opens-up-about-george-wendts-unexpected-death-i-dont-think-he-knew-he-was-that-sick.html","og_site_name":"Idol Chatter","article_published_time":"2025-07-25T18:43:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2025\/07\/Rhea-Perlman_credit-Eugene-Powers-Shutterstock-Inset-NBC-Courtesy-Everett-Collection.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Beliefnet Contributors","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/07\/rhea-perlman-opens-up-about-george-wendts-unexpected-death-i-dont-think-he-knew-he-was-that-sick.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/07\/rhea-perlman-opens-up-about-george-wendts-unexpected-death-i-dont-think-he-knew-he-was-that-sick.html","name":"Rhea Perlman Opens Up About George Wendt\u2019s \u2018Unexpected\u2019 Death: \u2018I Don\u2019t Think He Knew He Was That Sick\u2019","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/07\/rhea-perlman-opens-up-about-george-wendts-unexpected-death-i-dont-think-he-knew-he-was-that-sick.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/07\/rhea-perlman-opens-up-about-george-wendts-unexpected-death-i-dont-think-he-knew-he-was-that-sick.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2025\/07\/Rhea-Perlman_credit-Eugene-Powers-Shutterstock-Inset-NBC-Courtesy-Everett-Collection.jpg","datePublished":"2025-07-25T18:43:34+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-25T18:43:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/aea408b5be59bf6e05556b03859b6b79"},"description":"Rhea Perlman, who starred alongside Wendt on \"Cheers,\" shares heartfelt memories of her longtime friend and co-star following his death.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/07\/rhea-perlman-opens-up-about-george-wendts-unexpected-death-i-dont-think-he-knew-he-was-that-sick.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/07\/rhea-perlman-opens-up-about-george-wendts-unexpected-death-i-dont-think-he-knew-he-was-that-sick.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/07\/rhea-perlman-opens-up-about-george-wendts-unexpected-death-i-dont-think-he-knew-he-was-that-sick.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2025\/07\/Rhea-Perlman_credit-Eugene-Powers-Shutterstock-Inset-NBC-Courtesy-Everett-Collection.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2025\/07\/Rhea-Perlman_credit-Eugene-Powers-Shutterstock-Inset-NBC-Courtesy-Everett-Collection.jpg","width":1200,"height":900,"caption":"Eugene Powers \/ Shutterstock.com | Inset: NBC Courtesy Everett Collection"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/07\/rhea-perlman-opens-up-about-george-wendts-unexpected-death-i-dont-think-he-knew-he-was-that-sick.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rhea Perlman Opens Up About George Wendt\u2019s \u2018Unexpected\u2019 Death: \u2018I Don\u2019t Think He Knew He Was That Sick\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/","name":"Idol Chatter","description":"Beliefnet Entertainment blog, TV blog, Movie blog, Religion in entertainment blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/aea408b5be59bf6e05556b03859b6b79","name":"Beliefnet Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/6f7\/6f77b66a3e683e8aeba5be93e4ae3e04x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/6f7\/6f77b66a3e683e8aeba5be93e4ae3e04x96.jpg","caption":"Beliefnet Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/author\/skirk"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45557"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45566,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45557\/revisions\/45566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}