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 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 number 1 on the charts, beating out Elvis and "The Sound of Music" cast album. The album won three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for 1960.
Father of Robert William 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."
Bob Newhart Detailed Biography
Born
September 5, 1929
Oak Park, Illinois
Died
Bob Newhart (born September 5, 1929), is an American stand-up comedian and actor.
Born George Robert Newhart in Oak Park, Illinois. Newhart's parents were the late George David Newhart and Julia Pauline Burns, both of whom were devout Irish-American Catholics.
Newhart attended St. Ignatius College Prep and graduated in 1952 from Loyola University Chicago with a business degree. He was drafted in the U.S. Army, and served stateside during the Korean War until discharged in 1954.
After the war he got a job as an accountant for United States Gypsum. He later claimed that his motto, "That's close enough", shows he didn't have the temperament to be an accountant. He also claimed to have been a clerk in the unemployment office who made $60 a week but who quit upon learning weekly unemployment benefits were $55 a week and "they only had to come in to the office one day a week to collect it." In 1958 he became an advertising copywriter for Fred A. Niles, a major independent film and television producer in Chicago. It was at the company that he and a coworker would entertain each other in long telephone calls which they would record then send to a radio station as audition tapes. When his coworker ended his participation, Newhart continued the recordings alone, developing the shtick which was to serve him well for decades. In addition to his various standup bits, he incorporated that schtick into his televison series' at appropriate times.
