Legendary Comedian Bob Newhart Passed Away At 94

Bob Newhart, whose stammering, deadpan unflappability carried him to stardom as a standup comedian and later in television and movies, has died at 94, according to a statement from his longtime publicist Jerry Digney. Newhart passed away in Los Angeles on Thursday morning after a series of short illnesses. Digney called his passing an “end of an era in comedy.”

Over his five-decade career, Newhart’s popularity rarely waned. He was the recording star of the comedy album The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart (the first comedy album to win the Grammy for album of the year), the lead in two top-rated television sitcoms, and a supporting actor in movies including Catch-22, Cold Turkey, and Elf. He is best known for the television shows The Bob Newhart Show (1972-78) and Newhart (1982-90), both of which were built around his persona as a reasonable man put upon by crazies.

Rising to Fame

Born George Robert Newhart in Oak Park, Illinois, on September 5, 1929, Newhart initially worked as an accountant and advertising copywriter. Reflecting on his time as an accountant in 2022, he joked, “In my case, I don’t think it’s amazing that a bad accountant could become a comedian.” He added, “There’s something about numbers and music and comedy, I’m not sure what it is,” mentioning some comedy contemporaries who also had an interest in music.

Newhart first rose to fame with his comedy album, 1960’s The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart. The album was a phenomenon of its time and one of the best-selling albums of the year. It was No. 1 for 14 weeks on Billboard’s album chart and won multiple Grammy Awards, beating out Frank Sinatra, Harry Belafonte, and Nat “King” Cole for album of the year. He also hit No. 1 with the follow-up, The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back!

Television Stardom

The Bob Newhart Show debuted in 1972, where he played a Chicago psychologist, Bob Hartley, who ministered to a host of eccentric patients. In Newhart, he took on the role of Vermont innkeeper Dick Loudon, who tried to maintain his sanity while surrounded by comical locals. In both cases, his characters found refuge with their wives, played by Suzanne Pleshette in The Bob Newhart Show and Mary Frann in Newhart.

The latter show’s finale remains one of the most famous in television history. In the final Newhart episode, Newhart’s town is purchased by a Japanese millionaire. Golfers at a new course regularly batter the inn with their drives, and one day – amid an argument with townspeople – Newhart is hit by a golf ball. After a quick fade to black, he awakens as Hartley, his character from The Bob Newhart Show, in bed with Pleshette. “Honey, wake up! You won’t believe the dream I just had,” he tells her, to uproarious audience laughter. Newhart explained to Parade magazine in 2013 that the idea was his wife Ginny’s: “She said, ‘You should end the show by waking up in bed with Emily and explain a dream you had about owning an inn in Vermont.’ We used it!”

Awards and Later Career

Newhart was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for his Newhart series three times in the outstanding lead actor category. He didn’t win an individual acting Emmy until 2013 when he was recognized in the outstanding guest actor category for his portrayal of Professor Proton on The Big Bang Theory. He was nominated for a total of nine Emmys throughout his career.

Newhart was a frequent guest on the era’s variety and talk shows and a regular fill-in host on The Tonight Show, switching out for his friend Johnny Carson 87 times.

Newhart never truly retired, continuing to make television appearances in recent years on Big Bang and Young Sheldon, along with Hot in Cleveland and The Librarians. Other film work included turns in Horrible Bosses and In & Out.

A Memorable Christmas Role

His performance as Papa Elf in the 2003 Christmas comedy Elf was one of his most beloved roles. Newhart believed it “outranks, by far, any role I may have ever played,” he shared in an email interview with CNN last fall on the film’s 20th anniversary. “My agent sent me the script and I fell in love with it,” he said, later adding that he told his wife the movie was “going to be another ‘Miracle on 34th Street,’ where people watch it every year.” He added:

“In my opinion, there has not been anything like it in the interim. People wanted to believe in it. … People need that charming, wonderful thing about the Christmas spirit and its way of powering the sleigh.”

Newhart was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1993, and his material was added to the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. He won the Kennedy Center’s 2002 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

Newhart is survived by his four children, Jennifer, Courtney, Timothy, and Robert, and numerous grandchildren, according to his publicist. His wife of 60 years, Virginia “Ginnie” Newhart, passed away last year.