Posted in: CBS, Movies, TV | Tagged: bob newhart, newhart, The Big Bang Theory, the bob newhart show

Bob Newhart, Comedy Legend & Sitcom Star, Passes Away at Age 94

Legendary comedian and sitcom star Bob Newhart (The Bob Newhart Show, Newhart, The Big Bang Theory) has passed away at the age of 94.

The entertainment industry is mourning the loss of a comedy legend. Grammy, Emmy, and Golden Globe award-winning comedian Bob Newhart passed away in his Los Angeles home after a series of short illnesses at the age of 94. With his deadpan approach to comedy and a stammering delivery style (no one was better doing one-way phone call comedy than him), Newhart was a natural when it came to live stand-up and comedy albums – with The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart and The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back both winning Grammys. Though his film career included noted movies such as Catch-22, Cold Turkey, and Elf, it would be three television series in particular that will always hold special places in the hearts of millions.

Running from 1972 to 1978, Newhart would star opposite Suzanne Pleshette as Dr. Robert Hartley in the hit sitcom The Bob Newhart Show – a show that would lay the foundation for generations of sitcoms to come. Only four years later, Newhart would take on the role of Vermont innkeeper Dick Loudon on the series Newhart – which would run for eight seasons (from 1982 to 1990). To say the series was unlike Newhart's previous success would be an understatement, with Newhart also famous for having one of the more "controversial" series finales in television history that found a way to connect back to the actor/comedian's previous series.

Despite the success of both shows and other television appearances, a Primetime Emmy Award would allude Newhart until 2013, when he would walk away with the gold for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his turn as Arthur Jeffries, aka 'Professor Proton" on The Big Bang Theory – a role he would return to for several episodes. "It was weird because when I saw the Emmy, and it was about to be handed to me, it was like, 'Oh my God, I'm going to have one of those things," Newhart shared with The Big Bang Theory EP Chuck Lorre during a 2013 interview after having won the Emmy for portraying Prof. Proton. "And I turned and the audience was standing, that was just it. It emotionally destroyed me. Because, to a performer, it's from your peers. And that's what's so special about it."

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