Biography for
Bob Newhart More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

5 September 1929, Oak Park, Illinois, USA

Birth Name

George Robert Newhart

Height

5' 8" (1.73 m)

Spouse

Ginny Newhart

(12 January 1964 - present) 4 children

Trade Mark

Stammering delivery while he talks.

Telephone monologues as part of his act.

One-sided conversations

Trivia

Newhart insisted that there be no children for his character to be the father of in each of his television series. "I told the creators I didn't want any children, because I didn't want it to be a show about 'How stupid Daddy is, but we love him so much, let's get him out of the trouble he's gotten himself into.'" In the sixth year of Newhart's successful 1972 CBS series, "The Bob Newhart Show" (1972), the writers wrote a script in which Emily Hartley was pregnant. When Newhart was asked his opinion of the script, he said, "It's very funny. Who are you going to get to play 'Bob'?".

Prior to hitting his success on the comedy circuits in the 1960s, Bob worked as a bookkeeper for a Chicago firm and hated every minute of it.

His 1960 comedy album "The Button Down Mind of Bob Newhart" went to #1 on the charts, beating out Elvis Presley and The Sound of Music (1965) cast album. The album won three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for 1960.

Father of Robert William Newhart, Courtney Newhart, Timothy Newhart and Jennifer Newhart.

He has a sister (Sister M. Joan Newhart) who is a nun.

His wife came up with the idea for "The Last Newhart" (the last episode of "Newhart" (1982)), in which the entire series "Newhart" (1982) was all a dream of Dr. Bob Hartley of "The Bob Newhart Show" (1972).

Guest hosted "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962) 87 times.

Appeared on "The Dean Martin Show" (1965) 24 times.

Appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" (a.k.a. "Toast of the Town" (1948)) 8 times.

Son-in-law of actor Bill Quinn.

Like Bill Cosby, Newhart has the ability to be funny without resorting to profanity. The closest Newhart comes is in his bit "The Driving Instructor," in which he comments, "...I don't suppose it is so damn funny".

He was awarded the Annual Kennedy Centre Mark Twain Prize for Comedy.

Nominated for a 2007 Grammy Award in the Best Spoken Word Album category for his album "I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This!".

Every television series he starred in has his name in the title: "The Bob Newhart Show" (1961), "The Bob Newhart Show" (1972), "Newhart" (1982), "Bob" (1992), and "George & Leo" (1997) (George is his real first name, Robert is his middle name).

Was considered for the role of Andy Stone in Casino (1995).

Of Irish and German descent.

Good friend of Don Rickles.

Personal Quotes

Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.

[Referring to his 1961 variety show]: It won an Emmy, a Peabody Award and a pink slip from NBC. All in the same year.

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