Bob Newhart, the deadpan accountant-turned-comedian, became one of the most popular TV stars of his time.
In an era when comedians raged loudly against modernity, a razor-sharp Newhart made his name with a hesitant, almost stammering delivery, playing one end of a conversation in which he was seemingly the only sensible person speaking.
Whether he was a security guard whose first night on the job at the Empire State Building happens to coincide with King Kong climbing the building ("Something has come up and it’s not covered in the manual ... yes, I looked in the index."), or a speech writer trying to talk Abraham Lincoln out of editing the Gettysburg Address ("You changed four score and seven to 87? Abe, that’s meant to be a grabber."), Newhart’s bewildered everyman struck a universal chord and made him a star.
Born George Robert Newhart in Chicago to a German-Irish family, he was called Bob to avoid confusion with his father, who was also named George.
A talented teenage impersonator, Newhart studied for a degree in commerce before serving two years in the army.
After a succession of short-term accountancy jobs, he started making up comic phone calls with a colleague to relieve his boredom, eventually recording a selection of them.
The tape found its way to Warner Brothers which signed Newhart to a record contract and booked him into a Houston nightclub for two weeks in February 1960.
Six of his routines were recorded during his two-week stint and the subsequent album, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart, was an instant hit; it and its sequel The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back! were at one stage at one and two in the charts.
"I’ve always likened what I do to the man who is convinced that he is the last sane man on Earth . . . the Paul Revere of psychotics running through the town and yelling `This is crazy’ but no-one pays attention to him," Newhart wrote in his autobiography.
His performances were always subtly subversive, without the profanity or shock used by his contemporaries, a tactic which allowed him to sneak some rapier-like wit in under the audience’s guard.
A short-lived TV series followed, and Newhart became a regular variety-show host and guest, as well as touring.
"When I first started out in stand-up, I just remember the sound of laughter," Newhart once said.
"It’s one of the great sounds of the world."
In 1972 he was approached to star in The Bob Newhart Show, in which he played a straight-man psychologist opposite a parade of unusual personalities who invaded his professional and private life.
A huge success, it ran for six seasons and, inevitably, sparked calls for a revival or spin-off.
Lightning seldom strikes twice in the same place but Newhart, which premiered in 1982, was at least, if not more, successful.
This time Newhart was an amiable Vermont innkeeper and writer, but a similar parade of the preposterous happened outside his window every week.
It bowed out in memorable style in 1990 with Newhart — reverting to his old Chicago psychologist character — waking up in bed with his screen wife in his first series, Suzanne Pleshette, cringing as he tells her about the strange dream he had: "I was an innkeeper in this crazy little town in Vermont. The handyman kept missing the point of things, and then there were these three woodsmen, but only one of them talked."
In real life, Newhart married Virginia Quinn, known to friends as Ginny, in 1964, and remained with her until her death in 2023. They had four children.
Before winning an Emmy in 2013, Newhart had been nominated three times for his acting on Newhart, once for writing on his 1961 variety show and twice for appearances on other shows. He also was a frequent guest on variety shows and talk shows.
He appeared in a number of movies including On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Catch-22 and Elf.
In 2002, he was awarded the Kennedy Centre's Mark Twain Prize for American Humour.
Bob Newhart died on July 18 aged 94.
Bob Newhart zingers
"I think it was Jack Benny who once said, ‘A comic says funny things, but a comedian says things funny’. I guess I’d fall into that latter grouping."
"No matter what hyenas sound like, they are not actually laughing."
"A collision is what happens when two motorists go after the same pedestrian."
"Sometimes you forget you're famous. You wonder, Why is that person staring at me?"
"This stammer got me a home in Beverly Hills, and I'm not about to screw with it now."
"I think you should be a child for as long as you can. I have been successful for 74 years being able to do that. Don’t rush into adulthood, it isn’t all that much fun." — Agencies.
