Bob Newhart dead at 94: How the comedy icon changed TV history, ‘I just thought it was about time’

Bob Newhart died at age 94, leaving behind seven decades of a career that’s had a lasting impact on Hollywood and comedy.

Newhart passed away from natural causes following a series of short illnesses on Thursday morning at his home in Los Angeles, his publicist, Jerry Digney, told Fox News Digital. The comedian was surrounded by his family.

The Grammy and Emmy winner was known for a quieter, deadpan style of comedy that influenced dozens of performers and television shows that followed in his wake. 

"I think we all were influenced by it," writer and comedian Judd Apatow told The Hollywood Reporter of his groundbreaking sitcom, "The Bob Newhart Show." "It was very different than what we had seen before it."

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Newhart didn’t set out to be in entertainment specifically. Growing up in the Chicago area, he attended Loyola University Chicago, earning a degree in business management. He was drafted and served during the Korean War before being discharged in 1954.

For a while, he worked as an accountant, where he developed his humor by improvising routines with a fellow bored co-worker.

The material was recorded, and through a friend, Newhart met with the head of the then-newly launched Warner Brothers Records, which offered him a contract after hearing the material.

Newhart recorded an album, "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart," and it became the first comedy album to go No. 1 on the charts after its release in 1961.

He earned two Grammys for the album: best new artist and best album of the year.

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The next year, he followed up with his second album, "The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back!" which earned him a Grammy for best comedy performance (spoken).

"People kept telling me you’re funny, you should go to New York, and I said, ‘I’m going to give this a shot,’" Newhart told "Today" in 2017. "I was just about to go back into accounting, and I got this recording contract."

"Most comedians, most stand-ups, spend 20 years in the trenches. I had to learn at the top. It was tough."

Newhart starred in a short-lived NBC variety show, "The Bob Newhart Variety Show," which won an Emmy for best comedy series and a Peabody Award but only lasted a single season.

He continued in television, making an array of appearances before landing his groundbreaking sitcom, "The Bob Newhart Show" on CBS, produced in part by Mary Tyler Moore’s company, MTM Enterprises.

"The key to building a show around a stand-up is maintaining the integrity of the persona you create," Newhart told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018.

In the show, Newhart played Dr. Robert Hartley, a psychiatrist dealing with his wife, played by Suzanne Pleshette, friends and patients and co-workers, finding humor in everyday life.

"The Bob Newhart Show" broke ground several times on television.

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Scenes between Newhart and Pleshette’s married couple often took place with them chatting in a shared bed, a rarity at the time. 

"We were the first married TV couple to have a single bed," Newhart told Closer Weekly in 2017. "I didn’t think it was risky. I just thought it was about time."

It’s also notable that the couple didn’t have any children in the series.

"I love kids. I have four of my own, but I didn’t want to be the dumb father that seemed to be in every sitcom," Newhart told Variety in 2017. "I said that wasn’t the kind of show I wanted to do. And that was one of the more unusual things about the show."

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"The Bob Newhart Show" was also one of the first series to showcase a gay character, played by future "WKRP in Cincinnati" star Howard Hesseman.

Hesseman’s recurring character, a struggling screenwriter, came out in the episode "Some of My Best Friends Are…" in season 5.

"It was a great piece of writing. I couldn’t wait to play it," Newhart told Variety of the episode.

The show also tackled mental illness, finding humor in an otherwise serious topic.

Newhart told the TV Academy in 2022 that producers were familiar with his routines where he would have a one-sided phone conversation, saying, "So, they said, ‘Bob's a good listener. How about a psychiatrist?’ I said, 'A psychiatrist deals with pretty serious mental problems. It's kind of hard to get any humor out of manic-depression.' So, we settled on psychologist."

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The show earned five nominations during its run, including best lead actress for Pleshette, and outstanding comedy series.

"The Bob Newhart Show" ended in 1978.

In 1982, Newhart starred in his second sitcom, titled "Newhart," playing a Vermont inn owner and author named Dick Loudon, with Mary Frann co-starring as his wife, Joanna.

"Newhart" earned 25 Emmy nominations during its run but never won. However, it is responsible for one of the most memorable TV endings of all time.

In the series finale in 1990, Newhart’s character wakes up in the last scene next to Pleshette’s character from "The Bob Newhart Show," instead of Frann, and realizes the entire eight-year run of the show had been a nightmare by his character, Dr. Hartley.

The idea came from Newhart’s wife, Ginnie.

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"At a Christmas party, I said to her, ‘Honey, it's the sixth year. I think this is going to be the last year of the show.’ She said, ‘If it is, you should end it with a dream sequence because there were such inexplicable things that went on in the show.’ I said, ‘That's a great idea,’" he told The TV Academy.

Newhart continued, "It turned out that CBS and I straightened out the problems we had, and the show went on for two more years. Then the time came, in the eighth year, when again I decided that I didn't want to go off a year too late. I gave Ginnie's idea to the producers, and they did a wonderful job of wrapping everything up."

The ending has been parodied or referenced by dozens of shows over the years, including a segment on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and a video for "Breaking Bad" with Bryan Cranston.

Following the end of "Newhart," the comedian continued acting in a variety of roles, including a dramatic turn on "ER," which earned him an outstanding guest actor in a drama series Emmy nomination.

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One of his most popular recent roles was that of "Papa Elf" in the Will Ferrell Christmas comedy, "Elf."

Newhart told CNN in 2023 for the film’s 20th anniversary that "Without question, the part of Papa Elf outranks, by far, any role I may have ever played."

He said he "fell in love" with the script after it was sent to him by his agent, telling his wife it was "going to be another ‘Miracle on 34th Street,’ where people watch it every year."

"In my opinion, there has not been anything like it in the interim," he told the outlet.

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"People wanted to believe in it. … People need that charming, wonderful thing about the Christmas spirit and its way of powering the sleigh," he added.

Newhart was introduced to another generation again thanks to his guest role on "The Big Bang Theory" in 2013.

He played Professor Proton, a children’s TV science host beloved by Jim Parsons’ character, Sheldon Cooper.

"I knew [writer-producer-director] Chuck [Lorre] from the MTM lot," Newhart told the TV Academy. "He was one of the writers on ‘Roseanne.’ He'd call me from time to time. I'd tell him, ‘I'd love to work with you, but I don't think that's the show.’"

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"Then, in about 2012, he called and said, ‘I've come for my annual turn-down.’ I said, ‘No, I like the cast and the writing on "The Big Bang Theory."' He said, ‘Let me write something and see if you like it.’ So he wrote this great character. It just caught my rhythm, kind of my view of life."

The role landed Newhart his first Emmy win in the outstanding guest actor in a comedy series category. He went on to appear as the character several more times in the series, and earned two more nominations in the process. His voiceover as Professor Proton also appears in "Young Sheldon," the spinoff of "The Big Bang Theory."

Newhart’s last credited appearance on television was a 2020 episode of "Young Sheldon."

Before that, the comedian noted he didn’t have any retirement plans. 

In 2019, at age 90, he told Closer Weekly "I always say, ‘What are you going to tell people: ‘I’m really tired of making people laugh?’ It’s a wonderful thing to be able to do. You go out and do a good show, and you and the audience are happy for an hour or so. People forget their troubles, pick themselves up and dust themselves off. How could you hate that? I don’t think I’ll ever stop performing. It’s in my blood."

"I’ve done just about everything I’ve ever thought or even didn’t think I would do," Newhart continued. "Making people laugh is all I care about."