Bob Newhart, the low-key star of two iconic TV sitcoms as well as a Grammy-winning standup comic, died at home in L.A. this morning (Thursday) after a series of brief illnesses. He was 94.
- Born September 5th, 1929 in Oak Park, Illinois
- Extensive comedy career started in 1960 with hit album The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart
- Sitcom star of The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart
- Published his memoir I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This in 2006
- Won his only Emmy (and had three of his nine Emmy nominations) in 2013 for his final TV role, as a recurring character on The Big Bang Theory and its prequel, Young Sheldon.
- He is survived by four children and seven grandchildren. His wife of 60 years, Ginny, died last year.
Born George Robert Newhart in Oak Park, Illinois, he began his work career as an accountant. By 1958, he'd moved on to advertising copywriting, and he and a co-worker used to entertain each other with long phone calls, which they would record and send to radio stations.
Eventually, Newhart turned the one-sided phone conversation into his trademark comedy routine, quickly attracting the attention of then-new Warner Brothers Records. His 1960 comedy album, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart, toppled Elvis Presley from the top of the charts. Its follow-up earned a pair of Grammys -- including Best New Artist. Newhart continued to record best-selling comedy albums throughout the ’60s.
Newhart hosted a short-lived NBC variety show in 1961, and soon became a TV variety and talk show staple. He appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson 87 times, The Dean Martin Show two dozen times and The Ed Sullivan Show eight times.
Newhart would emerge as a TV star with The Bob Newhart Show, in which he played a psychiatrist with Suzanne Pleshette as his wife. A runaway hit, the show ran from 1972 to 1978. In 1982, he returned as an innkeeper on Newhart, another smash. It ended in 1990 with perhaps the most memorable season finale in sitcom history -- Newhart waking up in bed next to his earlier co-star, Pleshette. The entire run of the second series had been a dream.
Newhart made a couple of other runs at sitcoms with Bob and George and Leo -- but neither stuck. He continued to be a popular talk show guest and made several memorable film appearances, perhaps most notably in Catch-22 and Elf. In 2006, he published a best-selling memoir, I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This.
Newhart's final TV appearances came via the recurring role of Professor Proton in both The Big Bang Theory and its prequel, Young Sheldon. He received the final three of his nine Primetime Emmy nominations for The Big Bang Theory, and won his only Emmy -- for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series -- for it in 2013.
Newhart is survived by four children and several grandchildren. His wife of 60 years, Ginny, died last year. He and Ginny met on a blind date at the home of his friend comedian Buddy Hackett, who predicted in advance that the two would marry.
Newhart's style is perhaps best summed up by this quote from fellow actor David Hyde Pierce, "The only difference between Bob Newhart on stage and Bob Newhart offstage is that there is no stage."