Bob Newhart, beloved stand-up comedian and actor, passed away on the morning of July 18th, 2024.

via The Hollywood Reporter

He died at his Los Angeles home following a series of short illnesses, his longtime publicist, Jerry Digney, announced.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Newhart was 94 at the time of his passing. A legend from Chicago, Bob Newhart won album of the year and best new artist Grammy Awards for his 1960 record, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart.

Then, in 1972, the world was introduced to psychologist Bob Hartley on The Bob Newhart Show, which ran until 1978 after 142 episodes. By 1982, he was playing Dick Loudon in Newhart on CBS, which lasted for eight seasons. He was well-known for his pauses and stammering along with his dry observational humor.

“I tend to find humor in the macabre. I would say 85 percent of me is what you see on the show. And the other 15 percent is a very sick man with a very deranged mind,” he once said during a 1990 interview with Los Angeles magazine.

via NBC News

In 1992, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. Born on September 5th, 1929 in Oak Park, Illinois, George Robert Newhart was a Cubs fan and earned a degree in commerce from Loyola University. He spent two years in the Army and later failed out of law school.

He and a friend used to amuse themselves by making prank phone calls, which later became his signature stand-up bit — pretending to have a one-sided phone conversation live on stage. He was introduced to a Warner Bros. Records executive in 1950, landed a contract, and that’s where his life in show business began.

©Disney

Newhart is connected to Disney as well — he voiced Bernard in the 1977 animated film, The Rescuers. Our thoughts are with Bob Newhart’s family and friends during this difficult time.