Born George Robert Newhart in Oak Park, Illinois, 1929, Bob got his professional start in comedy following a two-year stint in the army as a clerk. He tried selling his comedic telephone bits to local radio stations, as Britannica says, which caught the attention of a DJ and led to a record deal with Warner Brothers. From that point on, Bob’s unique humor tickled the funny bone of the American public.
Fans are well-acquainted with the quietly demented undercurrent flowing through Bob’s work, and indeed, he was once known as a “sick comic,” per a 2019 interview with The New York Times tells us. In fact, Bob said that his wife of nearly 60 years, Ginny, said: “If people ever found out what you find humorous, they’d stop showing up.” That would have been a shame, because Bob kept doing standup into his 90s.
In the end, Bob was all about comedy and laughter, calling it a “narcotic” (per Today, on YouTube) and the key to a successful marriage. He also said, per Cinema Blend, that The Rock should play him in a biography (Bob was 5 foot, 8 inches tall), “I am always confused for him. Fans start talking wrestling and I have to say, ‘No, I am not him.'”
When his hit ’80s TV show, “Newhart,” ended, it was one of the more memorable and controversial series finales in television — his character wakes up and reveals the entire show was a dream. When asked how he felt about fans who felt cheated that they’d devoted eight years to a simple dream, Bob simply told The New York Times, “Okay.”
Bob’s wife, Ginny, died in April 2023, not long after the couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary (via NBC News). Bob is survived by four children, Courtney, Jennifer, Robert, and Timothy.
