Comedy legend Bob Newhart died yesterday at the age of 94 after complications of several short illnesses. He was known for his deadpan, stammering delivery style. Over the course of his career, he received numerous accolades including Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
After serving in the army during the Korean War as a clerk, Newhart worked as an advertising copywriter in Chicago. There, he and a coworker would entertain themselves by making long phone calls about crazy scenarios, which they later recorded and sent to radio stations as audition tapes. Newhart refined the idea into what became his signature comedy bit of having a one-sided phone conversation.
He was signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1959, and recorded a hugely successful comedy album in 1960 called The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart. It became the first comedy album to top the Billboard charts, and even won Newhart 2 Grammy’s, for Album of the Year and Best New Artist.
His success in stand up comedy led to two long-running sitcoms – The Bob Newhart Show from 1972-1978 and Newhart from 1982-1990. Later roles included Papa Elf in the movie “Elf” in 2003, and Professor Proton on “The Big Bang Theory”. That role won him his very first Emmy in 2013.
Newhart was married to his wife Ginny from 1963 until her death in 2023. Their family was very good friends with the Rickles family, and the couples and their families often vacation together. Newhart was hospitalized in 1985 for secondary polycythemia, attributed to his years of heavy smoking. He died at his home in Los Angeles yesterday, July 18, at the age of 94.
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