“He’s as fun and kind and as warm as any character he played on television or in films,” actor says
When it comes to the adage about avoiding meeting one’s heroes, Jason Sudeikis said his late uncle, actor George Wendt, was one you’d absolutely want to know. Sudeikis paid tribute over the weekend to his late uncle and Cheers star who died on May 20 at age 76. Sudeikis spoke about his uncle while on a panel for the Big Slick fundraiser held over the weekend, which benefited Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri.
“There’s that old saying of like, ‘Don’t meet your heroes,’ and it’s usually because they let you down, is the back half of that statement,” Sudeikis said in a video from KSHB 41. “He’s not one of those people.”
“He’s as fun and kind and as warm as any character he played on television or in films,” Sudeikis continued, smiling as he spoke of Wendt. “He was an incredible influence to me, both as someone who blazed the trail, him being from the Midwest, and teaching me that acting was a career you could actually have, if you really care about it.”
Sudeikis shared that Wendt always stayed connected to his family and roots, which included his hometown of Chicago and Rockhurst College in Kansas City. In college, he frequented a bar called Mike’s, “where I think he logged maybe 18 credit hours,” Sudeikis joked.
“But it was all in preparation of a job that we all know him for on Cheers,” he added of the beloved show where Wendt played bar regular, Norm. “All time well spent. We miss him greatly and I love him dearly.”
