Bob Newhart, sitcom star and deadpan comedy legend, dies at 94

No one ever listened funnier than Bob Newhart.

Any acting coach will tell you, of course, that an ability to really, fully listen to what another actor is saying is one of the trade’s essential tools. It’s one thing to do so when someone is actually speaking to you – but to appear to listen when nothing is being said? Newhart, who died Thursday at 94, turned that into an art.

The droll stand-up comedian and actor died at home in Los Angeles after a series of short illnesses, his longtime publicist Jerry Digney announced.

Obviously, we cherished his delivery of a line as well: the pauses, the stutters, the sudden bursts of exasperation as this gifted man – who always occupied the sane, quiet center – finally got pushed over the edge. But it was his mastery of a slow-burn silence that made him a TV star, one of the few to have his name in the title of two beloved, classic and critically acclaimed CBS sitcom hits: "The Bob Newhart Show" in the 1970s and, a few years later, "Newhart."

And to complete the circle, he gets credit for what may be the best series finale ever: A "Dallas"-inspired surprise that dismissed "Newhart" as a dream and put its star back in bed with his wife from the earlier "Newhart Show," Suzanne Pleshette.

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Newhart was grievously overlooked by the Emmys for his work on both classic comedies, but his three Grammys and Mark Twain comedy prize likely softened the blow. Comic justice was done when he finally received the TV Academy's highest honor in 2013 for his portrayal of Professor Proton on "The Big Bang Theory," a recurring role that introduced Newhart to a new generation of sitcom fans.

If this man, who was practically the definition of “unassuming” and looked more like an accountant than a star, he came by it naturally: He was an accountant when he got his comedy start, doing monologues built around one-sided telephone calls. That led to a best-selling, landmark 1960 album, "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart," the first to receive the Grammy for best album, and then to guest stints on most every variety show of the day.

Find a clip. The comic genius lies not just in how hilarious he is in his escalating reactions to the unheard caller on the other side, but in how easily he convinces us that there really is someone on the other end of that fake phone.

Newhart developed his craft listening to his idols, such as Jack Benny, on the radio.

"They say my timing is very similar to Jack's. I don't think you can teach timing. Jack was the bravest comic I've ever seen work, because he wasn't afraid of silence," the longtime stand-up comic told USA TODAY in 2017.   

Newhart spent a decade on the '60s variety show circuit, with stints on two well-regarded but short-lived shows of his own, another namesake comedy, "The Bob Newhart Show," and "The Entertainers." Then in 1972, the production company behind "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" offered him a sitcom, and his first classic was born – a new series with a recycled title, "The Bob Newhart Show."

Newhart was Bob Hartley, a Chicago psychologist with a smart, gorgeous wife, Emily (Pleshette); a thriving practice featuring memorable patients (one feared geese); and an orbiting circle of offbeat friends and colleagues played by, among others, Bill Daily, Peter Bonerz, Marcia Wallace and Tom Poston. Each week, Bob would sort out his patients’ and friends’ problems, with Emily as the one person who could sort out his.

It ranked with the decade’s smartest and funniest shows, and that was some decade for sitcoms. The bottom line is simple: "The Bob Newhart Show" fully deserved its spot on what is probably the best single lineup of all time, the 1973 CBS Saturday combo of "All in the Family," "M*A*S*H," "Mary Tyler Moore," "Bob Newhart" and "The Carol Burnett Show."

Two things made the show stand out. It showcased Newhart's supreme knowledge of his own abilities and how secure he was in them – enough to allow supporting characters to carry the crazy while he remained sane. He knew what he could do and what he wouldn’t do: When the writers went against his demand that Bob and Emily never have children with a script in which Emily was pregnant, he told them it was very funny and asked them who they were going to get to play Bob.

And the other thing? That would be Bob and Emily, perhaps the wittiest, warmest, most loving representation of a marriage between two equals ever put on TV. Whenever someone tells you that marrying off the main characters destroys the sexual tension on a series, point them to Bob and Emily, who were as good together on the day the show premiered in 1972 as on the day it ended in 1978.

Second acts are hard to come by in American television for those who get their name in the title. And for a while, it looked as if Newhart’s follow-up, the 1982 sitcom "Newhart," would prove the one-hit-only rule. The show, which cast Newhart as how-to author turned innkeeper Dick Loudon, was not a failure in its first season, but it seemed aimless and it never caught fire.

So Newhart had it overhauled, starting with a switch in format that dropped the studio audience in favor of film, an approach better suited to the show's quieter and yet more surreal comic style. The show kept the best members of the supporting cast – Tom Poston as the caretaker and William Sanderson, Tony Papenfuss and John Voldstad as the beloved brothers Larry, Darryl and Darryl – then jettisoned the worst and hired two better additions, Julia Duffy and Peter Scolari. The result was another, even longer-running hit with a completely different tone, as if Bob Hartley had wandered into "Green Acres."

"Newhart" left the air in 1990, but Newhart was far from finished. There were two more series, "Bob" and "George & Leo" (George being Newhart’s real first name). There were guest shots and roles in film and in TV movies, including "Elf," "ER" and "The Librarian," and his hilarious portrayal of "Big Bang" TV scientist Professor Proton, whose annoyance with superfan Sheldon Cooper extended beyond the grave. 

In 2018, Newhart employed his famed listening skills – which he also put to use hosting Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show" over the years – in a series of audio interviews with a younger generation of comedy stars titled, "Hi, Bob!," a reference to the ubiquitous greeting – which became a prompt in a drinking game – in "The Bob Newhart Show." 

In 2020, at age 90, Newhart celebrated the 60th anniversary of his "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart" album's rise to No. 1 on Billboard’s albums chart. In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, he said, "I wasn’t really prepared for what all it turned out to be. But I guess nobody was. No one dreamed it would have this impact.”

For the most part, Newhart's reputation rests solidly and securely on his comedy album and on his two great sitcoms, a reputation built on an ability to be still. For decades Newhart could make us laugh just by looking and listening and that’s a gift, and a pleasure, we won’t soon forget.

Listen to someone today in his honor.

Newhart is survived by four children, Jennifer, Courtney, Timothy and Robert, and several grandchildren.  His wife of 60 years, Virginia “Ginnie” Newhart, passed away in 2023.