The world of comedy mourns the loss of its icon, Bob Newhart, who passed away on Thursday morning, July 18, 2024. Newhart, known for his distinctive deadpan humor and stuttering speech pattern, died at his Los Angeles, California home after battling several brief illnesses, as reported by his publicist, Jerry Digney. He was 94.
With a career that spanned over 60 years, Newhart left a lasting impact on stand-up comedy and television. Born George Robert Newhart on September 5, 1929, in Oak Park, Illinois, he started his professional life as an accountant before achieving fame in comedy. His breakthrough came in 1960 with his comedy album “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart,” which made history as the first comedy album to top the Billboard charts and earned him Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best New Artist.
In a 1990 interview with Los Angeles magazine, Newhart revealed, “I tend to find humor in the macabre. I would say 85 percent of me is what you see on the show. And the other 15 percent is a very sick man with a very deranged mind.”
Newhart’s comedy was marked by his unique one-sided phone conversations, where he would portray only his side of the dialogue, leaving the other half to the audience’s imagination. His understated delivery and observational humor solidified his place as a cherished figure in American comedy.
In 1972, Newhart starred as Dr. Bob Hartley, a psychologist based in Chicago, Illinois, in “The Bob Newhart Show.” The sitcom quickly became a fixture of American television, running for six seasons and garnering critical acclaim. Despite its success, Newhart did not win any Emmy Awards for his work on the show. He concluded the series in 1978 after 142 episodes, believing it had exhausted its creativity.
Newhart returned to the small screen in 1982 with another successful sitcom, “Newhart,” where he portrayed Dick Loudon, a New York author who becomes an innkeeper in Vermont. The show was a staple on CBS for eight seasons. The series finale featured one of television’s most memorable endings, with Newhart’s character waking up next to Suzanne Pleshette, his wife from “The Bob Newhart Show,” suggesting the entire series had been a dream.
In an interview with a college business professor, Newhart once stated, “Somehow there’s a connection between numbers and music and comedy. I don’t know what it is, but I know it’s there. I know it’s a case of 2 and 2 equals 5 in terms of a comedian. You take this fact and you take that fact and then you come up with this ludicrous fact.”
Despite his long career, Newhart didn’t clinch an Emmy Award until 2013 when he guest-starred as Professor Proton on “The Big Bang Theory.” His portrayal of the former host of a children’s science show earned him the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series award.
Beyond television, Newhart made appearances in several films, including “Catch-22,” “Elf,” and “Horrible Bosses.” He also lent his voice to animated films like “The Rescuers” and its sequel.
In 1992, Newhart was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame and received the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor a decade later in 2002. A statue honoring him was erected on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, featuring Newhart seated in a chair with an empty psychiatrist’s couch beside him.
Newhart once reflected on his career, stating, “Keep in mind, when I started in the late fifties, I didn’t say to myself, ‘Oh, here’s a great void to fill — I’ll be a balding ex-accountant who specializes in low-key humor,’ That’s simply what I was and that’s the direction my mind always went in, so it was natural for me to be that way.”
Newhart was married to Virginia “Ginnie” Quinn, daughter of actor Bill Quinn, from January 1963 until her death in April 2023. They were introduced by comedian Buddy Hackett, who believed they were a perfect match due to their shared Catholic faith. The couple had four children: Robert Jr., Timothy, Courtney, and Jennifer, and were blessed with ten grandchildren. Newhart leaves behind a rich legacy of humor and warmth, cherished by fans and fellow comedians alike.
