Comedy Legend Bob Newhart Dead at 94

Bob Newhart has died at the age of 94.

The comedy legend's publicist Jerry Digney said he died after a series of short illnesses on Thursday, July 18 in Los Angeles, per Variety .

Newhart was an Emmy award-winning television actor and comedian who was mostly known for his role as psychologist Dr. Robert "Bob" Hartley on the 1970s sitcom, The Bob Newhart Show .

Newhart began his career as a stand-up comedian in the late 1950s, credited for his deadpan and stammering delivery. In 1961, he went on to win a Grammy Award for Best New Artist for his 1960 comedy album The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart , which became the first comedy album to make number one on the Billboard charts.

The following year in 1962, he won a Golden Globe Award for Best TV Star. He also won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series for The Bob Newhart Show , although the series was ultimately canceled. It won the award while facing four other candidates: The Andy Griffith Show , Car 54, Where Are You? , Hazel , and The Red Skelton Show . Each of them managed to outlast the award-winning show.

In 1962, Newhart made his film debut in the war film Hell Is for Heroes where he portrayed the character James Driscoll. He went on to appear in a few television shows before scoring a reoccurring role in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory in 2013 as Arthur Jeffries. The role won Newhart his first Primetime Emmy Award.

He also occasionally appeared on the big screen in classics like Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde and the beloved Elf , both in 2003.

Newhart lost his wife of 60 years, Ginny Newhart , in April 2023. At the time, he announced in a statement: "We lost our beloved Ginnie Quinn Newhart. Wife, Mother and Grandmother on April 23rd, 2023 after a long battle with illness. She was our rock and we miss her terribly."

He is survived by his four children, sons, Robert William , and Timothy , and daughters, Jennifer and Courtney , as well as 10 grandchildren.