Bob Newhart, Legendary Comedian and Sitcom Star, Dies at 94

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Bob Newhart, the star of two iconic TV sitcoms and a Grammy-winning stand-up comic, died at home in L.A. this morning (Thursday) after a series of brief illnesses. He was 94.

Born George Robert Newhart on September 5th, 1929, in Oak Park, Illinois, Newhart began his work career as an accountant. By 1958, he’d moved on to advertising copywriting, where he and a co-worker entertained each other with long phone calls, which they recorded and sent to radio stations. This unique one-sided phone conversation became Newhart’s 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, and its follow-up earned a pair of Grammys, including Best New Artist. Newhart continued to record best-selling comedy albums throughout the ’60s.

Newhart emerged 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 hit. 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, revealing that 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 seven 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.”