{"id":17355,"date":"2026-07-12T18:24:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T18:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/readingmydairy.com\/?p=17355"},"modified":"2026-07-12T18:33:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T18:33:02","slug":"police-academy-star-dies-aged-75","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/readingmydairy.com\/?p=17355","title":{"rendered":"Police Academy Star Dies Aged 75"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta\"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Veteran American character actor <\/span><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem;\" data-start=\"86\" data-end=\"106\">Peter Van Norden<\/strong><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">, best known for his memorable role in\u00a0<\/span><em style=\"font-size: 1rem;\" data-start=\"145\" data-end=\"187\">Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment<\/em><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">, has died at the age of 75. He passed away peacefully on\u00a0<\/span><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem;\" data-start=\"245\" data-end=\"261\">July 9, 2026<\/strong><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">, at a hospice facility in Southern California after battling several health conditions. His wife, Wendy Van Norden, was by his side during his final moments.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-1\"><\/div>\n<p data-start=\"459\" data-end=\"780\">Born on\u00a0<strong data-start=\"467\" data-end=\"488\">December 16, 1950<\/strong>, in New York City, Van Norden built a respected career spanning theater, television, and film. Although never a conventional leading man, he became a familiar face to audiences through his scene-stealing performances in a variety of popular productions.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"782\" data-end=\"1342\">Van Norden was widely recognized for portraying\u00a0<strong data-start=\"830\" data-end=\"858\">Officer Vinnie Schtulman<\/strong>\u00a0in the 1985 comedy\u00a0<em data-start=\"878\" data-end=\"920\">Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment<\/em>. He also appeared as\u00a0<strong data-start=\"942\" data-end=\"957\">John Sununu<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0<em data-start=\"961\" data-end=\"998\">The Naked Gun 2\u00bd: The Smell of Fear<\/em>\u00a0and delivered notable performances in\u00a0<em data-start=\"1037\" data-end=\"1050\">The Accused<\/em>\u00a0alongside Jodie Foster and the acclaimed television miniseries\u00a0<em data-start=\"1114\" data-end=\"1125\">The Stand<\/em>, based on Stephen King\u2019s novel. Throughout his career, he made guest appearances in numerous television series, including\u00a0<em data-start=\"1248\" data-end=\"1256\">Cheers<\/em>,\u00a0<em data-start=\"1258\" data-end=\"1273\">St. Elsewhere<\/em>,\u00a0<em data-start=\"1275\" data-end=\"1284\">Matlock<\/em>,\u00a0<em data-start=\"1286\" data-end=\"1290\">ER<\/em>, and\u00a0<em data-start=\"1296\" data-end=\"1303\">9-1-1<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1344\" data-end=\"1645\">Beyond the screen, Van Norden was a dedicated stage performer and a highly respected member of the American theater community. Friends and colleagues remembered him as a gifted actor known for his warmth, professionalism, and generosity both on and off the stage.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-1\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-10\"><\/div>\n<p data-start=\"1647\" data-end=\"1941\">His son, Robert Van Norden, paid tribute to his father in a heartfelt message, describing him as \u201ca fantastic father, husband, friend, and a respected member of the theater community.\u201d Peter Van Norden is survived by his wife, Wendy, and their son, Robert.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><span class=\"ctaText\">Read Also:<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<span class=\"postTitle\">Beloved Seinfeld and Friends Actor Dead at 60<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p data-start=\"1943\" data-end=\"2189\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">Peter Van Norden\u2019s legacy lives on through a body of work that entertained audiences for decades. His memorable performances in comedy, drama, television, and theater ensured him a lasting place among Hollywood\u2019s most dependable character actors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Veteran American character actor Peter Van Norden, best known for his memorable role in\u00a0Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, has died at the age of &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,18,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","category-news","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/readingmydairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/readingmydairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/readingmydairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingmydairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingmydairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/readingmydairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17357,"href":"https:\/\/readingmydairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17355\/revisions\/17357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/readingmydairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingmydairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingmydairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}