George Robert Newhart[5] was born on September 5, 1929, inOak Park, Illinois.[6] His parents were Julia Pauline (née Burns; 1901–1994), a housewife, and George David Newhart (1899–1987), a part-owner of a plumbing supply business.[6] His mother was ofIrish descent, while his father was ofGerman and Irish descent.[3][7] He went by his middle name, "Bob," to avoid confusion with his father.[5] The family name Newhart is of German origin (Neuhart).[8] One of his grandmothers was fromSt. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.[9] He had three sisters.[6]
Newhart was educated at Catholic schools in the Chicago area, including St. Catherine of Siena Grammar School in Oak Park, and attendedSt. Ignatius College Prep (high school), graduating in 1947. He then enrolled atLoyola University Chicago, from which he graduated in 1952 with a bachelor's degree in business management.[6] Newhart was drafted into theU.S. Army and, until his discharge, in 1954, served as a U.S.-based clerk during theKorean War.[6][10] He briefly attendedLoyola University Chicago School of Law, but did not complete a degree, in part, he said, because he had been asked to behave unethically during an internship.[3]
After the war, Newhart worked forUnited States Gypsum as an accountant. He later said that his motto, "That's close enough," and his habit of adjustingpetty cash imbalances with his own money showed that he lacked the temperament of an accountant.[3] In 1958, Newhart became an advertisingcopywriter for Fred A. Niles, a major independent film and television producer in Chicago.[11] There, he and a co-worker entertained each other with long telephone calls about absurd scenarios, which they later recorded and sent to radio stations as audition tapes. When the co-worker ended his participation by taking a job in New York, Newhart continued the recordings alone, developing routines.[12]
Dan Sorkin, a radio station disc jockey, who later became the announcer-sidekick on Newhart's NBC series, introduced Newhart to the head of talent atWarner Bros. Records. Based solely on those recordings, the label signed him in 1959, only a year after it had come into existence. Newhart expanded his material into a stand-up routine that he began to perform at nightclubs.[3] He became famous mostly on the strength of his audio releases, in which he played a solo "straight man". Newhart's routine was to portray one end of a conversation (usually a phone call), playing the comedic straight man while implying what the other person was saying. Newhart's 1960 comedy albumThe Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart was the first comedy album to make number one on theBillboard charts and peaked at number two in theUK Albums Chart.[13][14] It won twoGrammy Awards,Album of the Year, andBest New Artist.[1]
Newhart told a 2005 interviewer forPBS'sAmerican Masters that his favorite stand-up routine was "Abe Lincoln vs.Madison Avenue", which appears on this album. In the routine, a slick promoter has to deal with Lincoln's reluctance to agree to efforts to boost his image. Chicago TV director and future comedianBill Daily, who was Newhart's castmate onThe Bob Newhart Show, suggested the routine to him.[15] A follow-up album,The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back!, was released six months later and wonBest Comedy Performance – Spoken Word that year. His subsequent comedy albums includeBehind the Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart (1961),The Button-Down Mind on TV (1962),Bob Newhart Faces Bob Newhart (1964),The Windmills Are Weakening (1965),This Is It (1967),Best of Bob Newhart (1971), andVery Funny Bob Newhart (1973). Years later, he releasedBob Newhart Off the Record (1992),The Button-Down Concert (1997), andSomething Like This (2001), an anthology of his 1960s Warner Bros. albums. On December 10, 2015, publicist and comedy album collectorJeff Abraham revealed that a "lost" Newhart track from 1965 aboutPaul Revere existed on a one-of-a-kind acetate, which he owns. The track made its world premiere on episode 163 of theComedy on Vinyl podcast.[16]
The Bob Newhart Show was a part of the CBS comedy lineup on Saturday Night consisting ofAll in the Family,M*A*S*H,The Mary Tyler Moore Show, andThe Carol Burnett Show.[21] The series was an immediate hit. The show eventually referenced what made Newhart's name in the first place; apart from the first few episodes, it used an opening-credits sequence featuring Newhart answering a telephone in his office. According to co-starMarcia Wallace, the entire cast got along well, and Newhart became close friends with both Wallace and co-star Suzanne Pleshette.[citation needed]
In addition to Wallace as Bob's wisecracking, man-chasing receptionist Carol Kester, the cast includedPeter Bonerz as amiable orthodontist Jerry Robinson;Jack Riley as Elliot Carlin, the most misanthropic of Hartley's patients; character actor and voice artistJohn Fiedler as milquetoast Emil Petersen; andPat Finley as Bob's sister, Ellen Hartley, a love interest for Howard Borden. FutureNewhart regularTom Poston had a briefly recurring role as Cliff "Peeper" Murdock, veteran stage actorBarnard Hughes appeared as Bob's father for three episodes spread over two seasons, andMartha Scott appeared in several episodes as Bob's mother.[citation needed]
By 1977, the show's ratings were declining and Newhart wanted to end it, but was under contract to do one more season. The show's writers tried to rework the sitcom by adding a pregnancy, but Newhart objected: "I told the creators I didn't want any children, because I didn't want it to be a show about 'How stupid Daddy is, but we love him so much, let's get him out of the trouble he's gotten himself into'." Nevertheless, the staff wrote an episode that they hoped would change Newhart's mind. Newhart read the script and he agreed it was very funny. He then asked, "Who are you going to get to play Bob?"[22] Coincidentally, Newhart's wife gave birth to their daughter Jenny late in the year, which caused him to miss several episodes.
In the last episode of the fifth season, not only was Bob's wife, Emily, pregnant, but his receptionist, Carol, was, too.[citation needed] In the first show of the sixth season, Bob revealed his dream of the pregnancies and that neither Emily nor Carol was really pregnant. Marcia Wallace spoke of Newhart's amiable nature on set: "He's very low key, and he didn't want to cause trouble. I had a dog by the name of Maggie that I used to bring to the set. And whenever there was a line that Bob didn't like—he didn't want to complain too much—so, he'd go over, get down on his hands and knees, and repeat the line to the dog, which invariably yawned; and he'd say, "See, I told you it's not funny!". Wallace also commented on the show's lack of Emmy recognition: "People think we were nominated for many an Emmy, people presume we won Emmys, all of us, and certainly Bob, and certainly the show. Nope, never!" Newhart discontinued the series in 1978 after six seasons and 142 episodes. Wallace said of its ending, "It was much crying and sobbing. It was so sad. We really did get along. We really had great times together."[23]
Of Newhart's other long-running sitcom,Newhart, Wallace said: "But some of the other great comedic talents who had a brilliant show, when they tried to do it twice, it didn't always work. And that's what... but like Bob, as far as I'm concerned, Bob is like theFred Astaire of comics. He just makes it look so easy, and he's not as in-your-face as some might be. And so, you just kind of take it for granted, how extraordinarily funny and how he wears well." She was later reunited with Newhart twice, once in a reprise of her role as Carol onMurphy Brown in 1994, and on an episode of Newhart's short-lived sitcom,George & Leo, in 1997.[24]
By 1982, Newhart was interested in a new sitcom. After he had discussions withBarry Kemp andCBS, the showNewhart was created, in which Newhart playedVermont innkeeper and TV talk show host Dick Loudon.Mary Frann was cast as his wife, Joanna.[23]Jennifer Holmes was originally cast as Leslie Vanderkellen, but left after former daytime soap starJulia Duffy joined the cast as Dick's inn maid and spoiled rich girl, Stephanie Vanderkellen.Peter Scolari (who had been a fan of Newhart's since he was 17) was also cast as Dick's manipulative TV producer, Michael Harris, in six of the eight seasons.Steven Kampmann, who was a neighbor for a while, was cast as Kirk Devane for two years, at a cafe he owned; he was replaced byWilliam Sanderson as Larry, who ran the cafe with his two mute brothers (both named Darryl). Character actorTom Poston played the role of handyman George Utley, earning three Primetime Emmy Award nominations as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1984, 1986, and 1987. LikeThe Bob Newhart Show,Newhart was an immediate hit, and again, like the show before it, it was also nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards but failed to win any. During the time Newhart was working on the show, in 1985, his smoking habit finally caught up to him, and he was taken to theemergency room for secondarypolycythemia. The doctors ordered him to stop smoking.[citation needed]
In 1987, ratings began to drop.Newhart ended in 1990 after eight seasons and 182 episodes. The last episode ended with a scene in which Newhart wakes up in bed with Suzanne Pleshette, who played Emily, his wife fromThe Bob Newhart Show.[27] He realizes (in a satire of a famous plot element in the television seriesDallas a few years earlier) that the entire eight-yearNewhart series had been a single nightmare of Dr. Bob Hartley's, which Emily attributes to eating Japanese food before he went to bed. Recalling Mary Frann's buxom figure and proclivity for wearing sweaters, Bob closes the segment and the series by telling Emily, "You really should wear more sweaters" before the typical closing notes of the oldBob Newhart Show theme played over the fadeout. The twist ending was later chosen byTV Guide as the best finale in television history.[28] With the exception of the series finale, Newhart simply said "meow" in theMTM Productions closing logo on all episodes. The finale's logo used a sound clip of the two brothers named Darryl shouting "QUIET!!!" in unison; prior to this, only their brother Larry ever spoke a word while they remained silent.[29][30]
In addition to stand-up comedy, Newhart became a dedicated character actor in film and television. Newhart played a beleaguered school principal inIn & Out (1997), acted in theWill Ferrell Christmas comedy filmElf (2003), and made a cameo appearance as a sadistic but appreciative CEO at the end of the comedyHorrible Bosses (2011).[31] He appeared onIt's Garry Shandling's Show andCommitted, reprised his role as Dr. Bob Hartley onMurphy Brown, and appeared as himself onThe Simpsons. Newhart had a role onNCIS asDucky's mentor and predecessor, a retiredforensic pathologist, who was discovered to haveAlzheimer's disease.[32]
In 1992, Newhart returned to television with a series about acartoonist calledBob.[33] The ensemble cast includedLisa Kudrow, but the show did not develop a strong audience and was cancelled shortly after the start of its second season, despite good critical reviews. OnThe Tonight Show following the cancellation, Newhart joked he had now done shows calledThe Bob Newhart Show,Newhart, andBob so that his next show was going to be calledThe. In 1997, Newhart returned again withGeorge & Leo on CBS withJudd Hirsch andJason Bateman (Newhart's first name being George); the show was cancelled during its first season. In 1995, Newhart was approached byShowtime to make the first comedy special of his 35-year career,Off the Record, which consisted of him performing material from his first and second albums in front of an audience inPasadena, California.[34]
Newhart in 2004
In 2003, Newhart guest-starred on three episodes ofER in a rare dramatic role that earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination, his first in nearly 20 years.[3] In 2005, he began a recurring role inDesperate Housewives as Morty, the on-again/off-again boyfriend of Sophie (Lesley Ann Warren), Susan Mayer's (Teri Hatcher) mother. In 2009, he received another Primetime Emmy nomination for reprising his role as Judson inThe Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice.[35] On August 27, 2006, at the58th Primetime Emmy Awards, hosted byConan O'Brien, Newhart was placed in a supposedly airtight glass prison that contained three hours of air. If the Emmys went over the time of three hours, he would die. This gag was an acknowledgment of the common frustration that award shows usually run on past their allotted time (usually three hours). Newhart "survived" his containment to help O'Brien present the award for Outstanding Comedy Series (which went toThe Office).[36] During an episode ofJimmy Kimmel Live!, Newhart made a comedic cameo with members of theABC showLost lampooning an alternate ending to the series finale.[37] In 2011, he appeared in a small but pivotal role as a doctor inLifetime's anthology film on breast cancer,Five.[38]
In 2013, Newhart appeared in an episode of the sixth season ofThe Big Bang Theory playing the aged Professor Proton (Arthur Jeffries), a former science TV show host turned children's party entertainer, for which he was awarded aPrimetime Emmy Award.[39] It was Newhart's first Emmy. At that year's Emmy ceremony, Newhart appeared as a presenter withThe Big Bang Theory starJim Parsons and received a standing ovation. He continued to play the character periodically through the show's12th and final season and on its spinoffYoung Sheldon.[40] On December 19, 2014, the 85-year-old Newhart made a surprise appearance on the final episode ofThe Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, where he was revealed to be the person inside Secretariat, Ferguson's on-set pantomime horse. The show then ended with a scene parodying theNewhart series finale, with Ferguson andDrew Carey reprising their roles fromThe Drew Carey Show.[41] In June 2015, Newhart appeared on another series finale, that ofHot in Cleveland, playing the father-in-law of Joy Scroggs (Jane Leeves). It marked a reunion withBetty White, who was a cast member during the second season ofBob 23 years earlier. The finale ends with their characters getting married.[42]
Newhart was known for hisdeadpan delivery and a slightstammer that he incorporated early on into the persona around which he built a successful career.[3] The hesitant stammer was his natural speaking style – "Truly, that's ... the ... way I talk"[43] – and he used it to build tension in the audience, "Tension is very important to comedy. And the release of the tension –that's the laugh."[44]
On his TV shows, although he got his share of funny lines, he worked often in theJack Benny tradition of being the "straight man" while the sometimes rather bizarre cast members surrounding him got the laughs. But Newhart said, "I was not influenced by Jack Benny", and citedGeorge Gobel andBob and Ray as his initial writing and performance inspirations.[12]
Several of his routines involved hearing half of a conversation as he spoke to someone on the phone. In a bit called "King Kong", a rookie security guard at theEmpire State Building seeks guidance as to how to deal with an ape that is "between 18 and 19 stories high, depending on whether there's a13th floor or not." He assured his boss he has looked in the guards' manual "under 'ape' and 'ape's toes'." His other famous routines included "The Driving Instructor", "The Mrs. Grace L. Ferguson Airline (and Storm Door Company)", "Introducing Tobacco to Civilization", "Abe Lincoln vs. Madison Avenue", "Defusing a Bomb" (in which an uneasy police chief tries to walk a new and nervous patrolman through defusing a live shell discovered on a beach), "The Retirement Party", "Ledge Psychology", "TheKhrushchev Landing Rehearsal", and "A Friend with a Dog."
In a 2012 podcast interview withMarc Maron, comedianShelley Berman accused Newhart of plagiarizing his improvisational telephone routine style (although not any actual material of Berman's).[45] However, in interviews both years before and after Berman's comments, Newhart never took credit for originating the telephone concept, which he noted was done earlier by Berman and — predating Berman —Nichols and May,George Jessel (in his well-known sketch "Hello Mama"), and in the 1913 recording "Cohen on the Telephone". Starting in the 1940s,Arlene Harris also built a long radio and TV career around her one-sided telephone conversations, and the technique was later also used byLily Tomlin,Ellen DeGeneres, and others.[46][12]
On January 12, 1963, Newhart married Virginia Lillian "Ginnie" Quinn (December 9, 1940 – April 23, 2023). She was a daughter of character actorBill Quinn, and met Newhart via an introduction by comedianBuddy Hackett.[3] The couple had four children: Robert (born 1963), Timothy (born 1967), Jennifer (born 1971), and Courtney (born 1977), followed by 10 grandchildren.[47] BothCatholics, the couple raised their children in that faith.[48] Bob was a member of theChurch of the Good Shepherd and the related Catholic Motion Picture Guild[49] inBeverly Hills, California.[50] Ginnie died at age 82 on April 23, 2023.[51][52]
The Newhart and Rickles families were close, often vacationing together.[54]Don Rickles and Newhart appeared together onThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno on January 24, 2005, the Monday followingJohnny Carson's death, reminiscing about their many appearances on Carson's show. The two also appeared together on the television sitcomNewhart and for previous episodes ofThe Tonight Show, where Newhart or Rickles were guest hosts. The friendship was memorialized inBob & Don: A Love Story, a 2023 short documentary film byJudd Apatow, released byThe New Yorker, featuring interviews, as well as home videos, with both families.[55]
For over 25 years, Newhart's family lived in a mansion inBel Air. The house was designed byWallace Neff in a French Country style. The 9,169-square-foot (851.8 m2), five-bedroom home featured formal gardens, a lagoon-style pool with waterfall, and guest apartment. Newhart sold the property to developers in May 2016 for $14.5 million.[56][57][58] The new property owners razed the mansion and sold the empty 1.37-acre (0.55 ha) lot for $17.65 million in 2017.[59][60]
In 1995, Newhart was one of several investors in Rotijefco (a blend of his children's names), which bought radio stationKKSB (AM 1290 kHz) inSanta Barbara, California. Itsformat was changed toadult standards and its call sign to KZBN (his initials).[61] In 2005, Rotijefco sold the station to Santa Barbara Broadcasting, which changed its call sign to KZSB and format to news andtalk radio.[62][63]
Newhart was an early home-computer hobbyist, purchasing theCommodore PET after its 1977 introduction. In 2001, he wrote, "Later, I moved up to the 64 KB model and thought that was silly because it was more memory than I would ever possibly need."[64]
In 1985, Newhart was hospitalized for secondarypolycythemia, a condition attributed to his years of heavy smoking. He recovered after several weeks and eventually quit smoking.[3]
On September 20, 2006, Hyperion Books released Newhart's first bookI Shouldn't Even Be Doing This. The book is primarily a memoir but also features comic bits. Transcripts of many of Newhart's classic routines are woven into the text. ActorDavid Hyde Pierce said, "The only difference between Bob Newhart on stage and Bob Newhart offstage is that there is no stage".[97]
^Newhart, Bob (September 19, 2006),I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This!: And Other Things That Strike Me as Funny, Hachette Books, p. 11,ISBN978-1-4013-8599-6
