Bob Newhart, legendary comedian and actor, has died at age 94 .
The actor who started out as a standup comedian and ventured into TV and movies has passed away, according to a statement from his longtime publicist Jerry Digney. His publicist said that the Bob died Thursday morning in Los Angeles after a series of short illnesses. He called the star’s passing an "end of an era in comedy" per CNN .
The late 94-year old's deadpan style of humor left a mark as it was exhibited in his lengthy extensive and varied career from comedy albums to films to being in critically acclaimed CBS sitcoms. He has received many honors for his work including the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and his induction into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame.
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Bob was born September 5, 1929 in Oak Park, Illinois to a homemaker and a part owner of a plumbing supply company as well as three sisters. He graduated from Loyola University of Chicago in 1952 with a business degree.
Before finding his true passion in the arts, the Chicago native served in the Army for two years during the Korean War, enrolled in law school, dropped out and then worked as an accountant and a copywriter.
According to Bob's official bio , he and his friend Ed Gallagher began doing improvised comedy routines. Someone suggested the two record and syndicate them. The pair was unsuccessful and eventually Ed, an advertising executive, took a job offer in New York. As Bob became a solo act, another friend - disc jokey Dan Sorkin - helped him by introducing him to the head of Warner Brothers Records.
The head at the newly-formed Warner Brother Records offered him a contract and that is when his comedy album The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart was brought to life. It was the first comedy album to go to number one on the Billboard charts. He went on to do seven more albums and earned three Grammy Awards throughout his career from his first album in 1962.
With the success of his comedy album, he landed his own variety show on NBC titled the Bob Newhart Variety Show. Although, the show was lauded and won the Emmy for best comedy series in 1962, it was canceled after one season due to low ratings.
He continued to dabble in television with his hit sitcom in 1972 called The Bob Newhart Show, which lasted for six seasons. He played Dr. Bob Hartley, a psychologist who got into humorous shenanigans with his family, patients, friends and colleagues. Throughout the successful sitcom, he created the one-sided phone conversation that become a signature bit in comedy.
The iconic comic spearheaded another sitcom four years after the end of his first called Newhart. That show lasted for eight seasons. In the 90s, Bob did more sitcoms that did not last long. 1992's Bob ran for only one and a half seasons. and George & Leo in 1997 was canceled in the middle of its first season.
But in 2003, he cemented himself more to a newer generation as Papa Elf in Elf opposite Will Ferrell's titular character. And then in 2013 had a recurring role as Arthur Jeffries aka Professor Proton, a former children's science show host, on The Big Bang Theory. His last role was as Professor Proton again in the The Big Bang Theory spinoff, Young Sheldon.
The former accountant is surivived by his four children Robert Jr., Timothy, Courtney and Jennifer and ten grandchildren. He shared his four children with wife Virginia “Ginny” Quinn who died last year. The two married on January 12, 1963.
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