Bob Newhart, beloved comedian and Emmy-winning comic actor, is dead at 94
Bob Newhart, the iconic comedian and actor who launched a more than six-decade run in show business in 1960 with his introduction of a deadpan, stammering everyman character whose popularity he rode well into his 80’s with a Grammy-winning comedy album and a pair of beloved Emmy-nominated sitcoms, is dead. He was 94 and passed away at his home on Thursday following a short illness. His longtime publicist Jerry Digney announced his death in a press release.
Newhart burst on the scene in 1960 with his album “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart,” the first comedy album ever to top the Billboard charts. It won three Grammy Awards in ’61, including Album of the Year, Spoken-Word Comedy Album and New Artist. Newhart’s first two albums of comedy monologues (the second called “The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back!”) in fact held Billboard’s top two spots simultaneously, a rare feat.
Newhart wrote of that period in the Sixties in his 2006 autobiography, “I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This: And Other Things That Strike Me as Funny, “Playboy magazine hailed me ‘the best new comedian of the decade.’ Of course, there were still nine more years left in the decade.” He recalled to Guy MacPherson of the Comedy Couch blog in 2006, “There was a change that was going on, of which I was a part. There was Mike and Elaine (Nichols and May), Shelley Berman, Mort Sahl, myself, (Jonathan) Winters and Lenny Bruce. We weren’t doing ‘jokes’; we were doing little vignettes. So there was a change in comedy. I mean, we didn’t all get together and have a cabal and say, ‘Let’s change comedy.’ It was just our way of finding what was funny in the world.”
George Robert Newhart was born in Oak Park, Illinois on September 5, 1929, less than two months before the stock market crash that launched the Great Depression. He attended Loyola University in Chicago with a major in commerce and graduated in 1952, when he went to serve in the Army before finding work as an accountant. Newhart and a friend recorded some of their conversations and tried to sell them as comedy schtick to radio stations, and his monologues caught the ear of a Chicago DJ who gave him his first radio job. That led to an introduction to the president of Warner Bros. Records and the deal to cut his albums.
On the heels of the breakout success of his comedy discs, Newhart transitioned smoothly into television, first in guest appearances on “The Jack Paar Show” and “The Gary Moore Show,” then with numerous gigs on shows hosted by Dean Martin and Ed Sullivan and regular work appearing on and guest-hosting for Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show.” He also had supporting roles in movies including “Hot Millions” (1968), “Catch-22” (1970), “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever” (1970) and “Cold Turkey” (1971) as well as playing Las Vegas.
But Newhart would find his widest and most enduring fame as a CBS sitcom performer on a pair of comedies in the 1970s and ’80s. He starred as Dr. Bob Hartley in “The Bob Newhart Show” (1972-78) and as the Vermont innkeeper Dick Loudon on “Newhart” (1982-90), both of which were multiple-Emmy-nominated prime time hits. He also had a much shorter run on a third eponymous comedy, “Bob” (also on CBS), in 1992-93.
William Sanderson, who co-starred as the character Larry of brothers Larry, Darryl and Darryl fame on “Newhart,” on Thursday recalled Newhart a “great boss” who was “all business.” He added, “The discipline that Bob brought to our work was important for all of us. I mean, we were so appreciative to have a regular job for eight years, especially one that pretty much put most of us on the map and personally gave me some fame in Hollywood. I’ll always be grateful to him for that.”
All told, Newhart received nine Emmy nominations, finally winning his first in 2013 for his guest role as the science show host Professor Proton on “The Big Bang Theory.” Indeed, he stayed busy with work nearly until the end of his life and never really retired. He hosted episodes of “Saturday Night Live” in both 1980 and 1995 and played himself on a 1996 episode of “The Simpsons,” entitled “Bart the Fink.” He also portrayed himself in a 2002 installment of “Everybody Loves Raymond.” There were also scene-stealing turns on the big screen in “In & Out” (1997), “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde” (2003) and “Elf” (also 2003).
Newhart was inducted into the TV Academy Hall of Fame in 1993 and received the coveted Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2002. He also received the Gold Derby Career Achievement Award in 2019. Additionally, he ranked sixth in a Gold Derby ranking of the 50 greatest male TV stars ever. And the celebrated “Newhart” finale on May 21, 1990 that featured a surprise appearance (in bed) by his “Bob Newhart Show” wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette) came in at number one in a ranking of the 30 best TV series finales ever.
His wife Ginny died in 2023. He is survived by his children Robert Jr., Timothy, Courtney and Jennifer along with 10 grandchildren.
In a November 2020 interview with People magazine, Newhart opened up about his career. He said, “I have a theory that when it’s all over…and you go up – (if) I’ve been led to believe heaven – and there’s a God and he says, ‘What did you do?’ (And) I say, ‘I made people laugh,’ he’ll say, ‘Yeah, get in that real short line over there.’ Newhart also once said, “Comedy has given me a wonderful life. When I first started out in stand-up, I just remember the sound of laughter. It’s one of the great sounds of the world.”
PREDICT the 2024 Emmy winners through September 15
Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?
SIGN UP for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions