(DailyDig.com) – Bob Newhart, the well-known and highly loved deadpan comedian for almost 70 years, died on July 18. He died at home in Los Angeles at 94 years old.
Jerry Digney, Newhart’s publicist, issued a press release saying that he had been suffering from a short illness. He stated that Newhart was modest about his very successful and lengthy career. In 1959, he claimed that he would give himself one year to see if he could make a career out of comedy. If that failed, he would go back to his accounting job.
Prior to his successful television career, Newhart released albums of his comedy routines, such as “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart.” They became very popular because of his new approach to humor, which captivated his fans. The stammering and pauses in his talking became a trademark of his comedy, along with his droll observations of people and life.
Newhart was born in Oak Park, Illinois, and was a fan of the Chicago Cubs. He was in the Army for two years, and after a failed attempt at law school, he worked as an accountant. As an ostentatious profession, show business was off his radar.
At some point during his work in accounting, he would imagine making prank calls on just one side of the conversation. Thus, his one-sided phone call routine blossomed.
In 1961, Newhart received an offer for a television show after several stints on the Ed Sullivan Show. “The Bob Newhart Show” lasted one season, winning an Emmy and a Peabody Award. He then had many guest roles on television and in several movies.
In 1972, “The Bob Newhart Show” became a hit as he played a psychologist in Chicago and lasted six seasons. In his second show, “Newhart,” from 1982 to 1990, he played a Vermont innkeeper. In the finale of “Newhart,” the ending scene showed him waking up next to his “The Bob Newhart Show” wife, saying that he had a strange dream that he was an innkeeper.
His four children and 10 grandchildren survived Newhart.
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