(OSV News) -- Catholicism exerted an important influence on the life of actor George Wendt. Best known for portraying loveable barfly Norm Peterson on the long-running NBC-TV sitcom "Cheers," Wendt died May 20, aged 76.
A Chicago native, Wendt attended two Windy City-area Catholic elementary schools before graduating from Campion Jesuit High, a boarding school located in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. From there, it was on to Indiana's famed University of Notre Dame, run by the Congregation of Holy Cross.
Wendt's tenure among the hoosiers did not have a happy ending, however. Recalling his time at Notre Dame in a 1995 interview with Catholic News Service's Mark Pattison, Wendt admitted, "I sort of lost my focus." The result? "I got kicked out. Actually, I dropped out but I didn't inform the university."
Despite this unpromising start to his college career, Wendt eventually earned his degree -- a Bachelor of Arts in economics -- from the Jesuits' Rockhurst College (now University) in Kansas City, Missouri. In a 1984 interview with The Milwaukee Journal, Wendt revealed that his admission to Rockhurst may have been a case of "who you know" trumping other factors.
"The admissions director from Campion had moved on to take the same job at Rockhurst College when I applied there," Wendt recalled. "I'm sure he broke every rule in the book to get me in."
A veteran of Chicago's celebrated improvisational comedy group, The Second City, Wendt became one of only three cast members to appear in every episode of "Cheers," which went off the air in 1993 after 11 seasons. Although he never actually won the award, Wendt was nominated for an Emmy as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series six times.
According to his profile in Beliefnet's celebrity faith database, Wendt's Catholicism "provided him with a sense of purpose and helped him remain grounded amidst the pressures of fame." He also "credited his Catholic upbringing with instilling in him a strong work ethic and a commitment to doing what was right."
His co-religionists were not always pleased with Wendt, though. In 1995, the debut episode of his short-lived series, "The George Wendt Show" drew the ire of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, prompting a subsequent statement from CBS expressing regret that the program had given offense.
On the other hand, Wendt demonstrated his adherence to Catholic teaching in a very substantive way over many years through his marriage. In an industry where stars have been known to emulate England's King Henry VIII in the matter -- if not the manner -- of acquiring and discarding sequential spouses, Wendt contented himself with but one.
In 1978, he wed actress Bernadette Birkett and together they had three children. Birkett voiced Norm's wife Vera -- who, in a running gag, was heard from but almost never seen on "Cheers."
While Norm often made jokes at Vera's expense, his dialogue also made clear his affectionate loyalty toward her. Their fictional bond survived both the offer of an adulterous affair that would have gotten Peterson out of a financial jam if he had followed through on it and a temporary separation.
That Birkitt was not the only beneficiary of Wendt's good-natured personality was made clear in the numerous tributes that followed the news of his death. In one of them, "Cheers" co-star Rhea Perlman observed, "George Wendt was the sweetest, kindest man I ever met. It was impossible not to like him."
