Jeff Ross leads tributes after ‘Cheers’ star George Wendt’s passing

Jeff Ross led the flood of tributes friends and fellows are pouring in following the news of George Wendt’s passing.

Taking over to Instagram after the Cheers star family confirmed his death on Tuesday, May 20, the comedian remembered an encounter he had with the late actor at an annual event benefiting Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City last year.

“I was lucky enough to spend quality time talking with George Wendt a year ago,” Ross recalled, adding, “He wasn’t feeling his best, but he still rose to the occasion and made thousands of people laugh a lot for a great cause.”

The 59-year-old also shared a selfie taken during the event in which Wendt performed a “hilarious ‘Da Bears sketch'” with his nephew Jason Sudeikis and Kansas City Chiefs players Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, who is dating Taylor Swift.

Ross wrapped up his heartfelt post with a playful nod to the classic line from Cheers. “Cheers George — wherever you are, I know everybody knows your name.”

Actress Melissa Joan Hart remembered the late actor. In an Instagram post, she recounted his handful of appearances on Sabrina the Teenage Witch in 2001 and 2002.

“He was warm, professional, and kind, and our cast and crew were gifted with his presence every time. Rest in peace! #GodBlesstheFunnyPeople,” she wrote after starting her message with “Heaven just got a little funnier.”

Wendt also shared the screen with Jon Cryer, who starred in the 1984 film No Small Affair alongside the deceased actor.

“[I] met George on one of my first movies and every day we shot together I kind of couldn’t believe it,” he told People. “That I was working with one of my favorite actors in television and he was just such an absolute prince.”

In addition, Travis Tedford, a former child actor who had a scene with Wendt in The Little Rascals, The George Wendt Show‘s Brian Doyle-Murray, and his surviving Cheers co-stars paid their respects to Wendt, who died at the age of 76.

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