The legendary comedian George Robert Newhart was born September 6, 1929. He died in Los Angeles, California, after a series of short illnesses. He was 94.
Bob Newhart was one of North America’s greatest comedians. His Grammy-winning comedy record, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart is just as funny now as when it was recorded in 1960.
Genre Roles
But at SciFi.Radio we remember Bob Newhart was the voice of Bernard in Disney’s The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under. He appeared on The Big Bang Theory and its prequel Young Sheldon as Sheldon Cooper’s hero Professor Proton. In the Librarian franchise, he played Judson, not only in the original cable movies, but in The Librarians TV series. In the Christmas movie Elf (2003), he played Walter Hobbs, Buddy’s biological father.
Not technically sci-fi, but sci-fi-adjacent by the mere presence of David McCallum (Ilya Kuryakin in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Dr. Joseph Bloom in VR5, Steel in Sapphire and Steel, Frank Cobb in seaQuest DSV, Vance Hendricks in Babylon 5, Gideon in The Haunting of Morella) Bob Newhart appeared on NCIS as Dr. Donald Mallard’s friend and predecessor, Dr. Walter Magnus, now suffering from Alzheimer’s and unable to remember how many crimes he solved and how many people he helped. Newhart guest starred in one episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Show, and in one episode of Captain Nice.
Awards and Accolades
Bob Newhart won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for playing Professor Proton on The Big Bang Theory. He was awarded a Kennedy Centre Mark Twain Prize for comedy in 2002. His comedy records were nominated for five Grammy Awards, but he only won three. Newhart was nominated for nine Emmy Awards between 1962 and 2016, but he only won one, in 2013. Between 1962 and 1986, he was nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards. He won his only Golden Globe in 1962. In 1993, Newhart was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. The Publicists of the International Cinematographers Guild granted him their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. In 1962 he won a Peabody Award. Although he never won a Saturn Award, he was nominated for an Emmy for playing Judson in The Librarian III: Curse of the Judas Chalice. The movie won the 2009 Saturn Award for Best Presentation on Television. Bob Newhart received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999. In 1998, Billboard recognized Newhart’s first album as number 20 on their list of most popular albums of the past 40 years, and the only comedy album on the list.
Personal Life
He was married to Virginia Quinn, who predeceased him last year. They had four children together: Jennifer, Tim, Courtney, and Robert William. Our deepest condolences to them and their families, and our thanks for sharing their father with us for so many years. He had ten grandchildren. Bob Newhart served in the U.S. Army. He wore his country’s uniform proudly and honorably. During his army days, Staff Sergeant Newhart was assigned to the Armed Forces Radio Service.
Please turn down your SciFi.Radio stream so you can listen to Bob Newhart’s classic King Kong skit.
Bob Newhart was a genuinely funny man, and in this sad world, we need more of those. He’ll be missed, but he won’t be forgotten. He’ll always be with us.
Susan Macdonald is the author of the children’s book “R is for Renaissance Faire”, as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in “Alternative Truths”, “Swords and Sorceress #30”, Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, “Cat Tails” “Under Western Stars”, and “Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid”. Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio’s web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions, Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.
I remember watching Bob Newhart as a teenager and wondering, “Why is he funny?” Because he was funny without doing anything that seemed like it would be funny.
Bob Newhart was often the “straight man,” including in his TV shows. (And being the straight man can be a lot harder than it looks.)
But he also mastered a combination of deadpan and stammering that I don’t recall anyone else doing. The slight stammer was apparently just how he spoke. But he managed to take something that most comic actors could only use at certain specific moments, and that comedians rarely used, and make it work.
Bob had a brilliant comic mind, and will be missed.