Beloved comedian Bob Newhart dies at 94
Never, in the lively history of show business, has there been anybody like Bob Newhart and it was in Chicago that he burst onto the entertainment landscape. For more than half a century he remained a vital, admired and impossible-to-imitate presence in nightclubs, on albums, in films and, most profoundly, on TV.
After a lifetime of making people laugh, Newhart died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 94.
He worked nearly to the end of his life, contributing last year to “Bob and Don: A Love Story,” a documentary by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio about his longtime friendship with the late comic Don Rickles. He was guided by a philosophy once expressed to the Hollywood Reporter: “As long as you’re able to physically do it I can’t imagine ever not doing it. It’s been a way of life for me. It’s a pain in the ass getting there, with the planes and the canceled flights and the hotel rooms, but then you walk out on that stage and it’s a great audience and you’re having a great time. Why would anyone say, ‘You know, I’m really tired of making people laugh?’”
Tributes have started pouring in, from those who knew him personally to the millions who enjoyed and admired him through his work.
It started here, when he was born George Robert Newhart in Oak Park on Sept. 5, 1929, and grew up in Chicago in the vicinity of Austin and Washington boulevards. He was the only son of George David Newhart, part owner of a plumbing and heating-supply business and housewife Julia Pauline. He had three sisters — Virginia, Mary Joan and Pauline — and all attended St. Catherine of Siena School in Oak Park.