Bob Newhart's deadpan humor shined on TV, albums and film

Bob Newhart, architect of the most famous dream gimmick since that "Midsummer Night's" one, and among the most beloved stars in the long history of television, died Thursday at age 94.

His publicist, Jerry Digney, told The Associated Press he died in Los Angeles following "a series of short illnesses."

Newhart — whose decadeslong career included a world-famous comedy album, a pair of hit sitcoms and, of course, the 2003 holiday movie "Elf" — closed out that second sitcom "Newhart" on May 21, 1990, with perhaps the single greatest joke of that glorious career. Instead of waking up in bed next to his sitcom wife Mary Frann, he found himself next to Suzanne Pleshette, his spouse from his first series, "The Bob Newhart Show." "I was an innkeeper in this crazy little town in Vermont," he said, where "there were these three woodsmen, but only one of them talked." (Larry, Darryl, and Darryl — of course.)

The "Newhart" finale was a parody of dream sequences then sweeping prime time ("St. Elsewhere," "Dallas") and the point was made. TV Guide later named it television's fourth greatest achievement (the moon landing was in first place), and no TV series since has dared suggest the foregoing had been a dream, except in homage, like the 2022 series closer of "Atlanta."

For 60 years, dating back to his explosive 1960 comedy album, "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart," admirers have affixed the word "deadpan" to the Newhart style — "pan" was early 20th century slang for "face" — and over the long history of comedy, was there a comic who could more effectively deploy his own in service of a punch line? Lugubrious, if not quite funereal, Newhart's eyes were deep-set, his sockets shaded, his mouth slack, that hairline in a perpetual and remorseless retreat over the decades. He was the put-upon everyman who looked out to the world beyond in bafflement. There was much to be baffled by — bus drivers, advertising, corporate America, even (again, famously) Abe Lincoln.

Newhart was a master of perfect comic timing, whose timing in fact was more about anti-timing. Diffident, uncertain, labored, tentative — pick your own favorite Newhartism — a Bob Newhart punch line was less punch, more mumble, less about the "joke," more about the delivery. Like the rest of us, he was momentarily confused by the absurdities of the world. Unlike the rest of us, he turned it all to comic gold.

Born George Robert Newhart on Sept. 5, 1929, in Chicago to a German-Irish family, he was called Bob to avoid confusion with his father, who was also named George.

At St. Ignatius High School and Loyola University in Chicago, he amused fellow students with imitations of James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Durante and other stars. After receiving a degree in commerce, Newhart served for two years in the Army. Returning to Chicago after his military service, he entered law school at Loyola, but flunked out. He eventually landed a job as an accountant for the state unemployment department. Bored with the work, he spent his free hours acting at a stock company in suburban Oak Park, an experience that led to the phone bits.

That led to "Button-Down," a series of phone gags, including that of an advertising exec who advised Lincoln (among others) to change the line "fourscore and seven" to "eighty-seven." The album sold a million copies, and suddenly the diffident comic was a hot commodity. A 1961 sitcom on NBC came and quickly went, but it was good enough to earn Newhart a Peabody Award.

He waited 11 years for the next one, "The Bob Newhart Show" in 1972, where he played a Chicago psychologist living in a penthouse with his schoolteacher wife (Pleshette). The show ran for six seasons. "Newhart," which premiered in 1982, ran even longer (eight seasons).

In real life, Newhart had married Virginia Quinn, known to friends as Ginny, in 1964, and remained with her until her death in 2023 — the long marriage a frequent source of jokes on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," whose host had had a few wives. In at least one instance, Quinn would prove pivotal in Newhart's career as well. When he decided to wrap "Newhart," he played with the idea of leaking a story to the press that had his character Dick Loudon being killed by a wayward golf ball in the series' finale, then going to heaven, where he meets up with "God," played by (who else) George Burns.

Instead, Newhart recalled in his Emmy Legends interview, “Ginny said, ‘You ought to make it a dream sequence with Suzie,’ ” referring to Pleshette.

Newhart — who continued appearing on television occasionally after his fourth sitcom ended, including "The Big Bang Theory," where he played Sheldon's beloved science TV host, Professor Proton — told The Associated Press in 2003 that he would work as long as he could.

"It’s been so much, 43 years of my life; [to quit] would be like something was missing,” he said.

His last credit was in 2020, in the pilot episode of "Young Sheldon" as Professor Proton — of course.

With AP