Bob Newhart, the American humorist and performer, has passed away.
Famous for his appearances in the holiday movie Elf and the American television series The Big Bang Theory, Newhart was also known for his own show, The Bob Newhart Show.
According to Jerry Digney, Newhart’s representative, Newhart passed away at the age of 94 after battling “a series of brief illnesses.”
Newhart kickstarted his career as a stand-up comedian in the late 1950s.
He rose to fame nationwide in the United States when his comedy routine was recorded on vinyl in 1960 under the title The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart, which subsequently won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
Newhart at the Creative Arts Emmys award ceremony in 2016. Pic: Reuters
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Newhart was also recognized as the best new artist of 1960, with the sequel The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back! earning honors for best comedy spoken word album.
Throughout his career, Newhart made appearances in various films, usually assuming comedic roles.
These included roles in Catch 22, In And Out, Legally Blonde 2, and Elf, portraying the father of the full-size adopted son, played by Will Ferrell.
His more recent projects involved works like Horrible Bosses and the television series The Librarians, alongside appearances in The Big Bang Theory and its spin-off, Young Sheldon.
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His sitcoms, which received multiple Emmy nominations, included Bob and George & Leo.
“I suppose they believe I’m not acting, that it’s just Bob being Bob,” he remarked about his Emmy award losses.
Newhart kept making occasional television appearances even after the conclusion of his fourth sitcom and expressed his commitment in 2003 to keep working for as long as possible.
“It has been a significant part, 43 years of my life; to stop would feel like something crucial was absent,” he stated.
