Bob Newhart

Graduated from St. Ignatius College Preparatory School in Chicago, Illinois, in 1947.

Appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" (a.k.a. "Toast of the Town" (1948)) 8 times.

Was a fan of both shows: "I Love Lucy" (1951) and "The Milton Berle Show" (1966).

Was stationed at Camp Roberts in San Luis, Obispo, California, in 1952.

Drafted in the U.S. Army and served stateside during Korean War until he was honorably discharged in 1954.

Began his contract career as a comedian for Warner Bros. Records in 1959.

Prior to hitting his success on the comedy circuits in the 1960s, Bob worked as an accountant for a Chicago firm. He hated every minute of it.

His 1960 comedy album [i]The Buttoned-Down Mind of Bob Newhart[/i] went to #1 on the charts, beating out Elvis Presley and [i]The Sound of Music[/i] original Broadway cast album. The album won three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for 1960.

Every television series he starred in has his name in the title: "The Bob Newhart Show" (1961), "The Bob Newhart Show" (1972), "Newhart" (1982), "Bob" (1992), and "George & Leo" (1997) (George is his real first name, Robert is his middle name).

Guest hosted "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962) 87 times.

Appeared on "The Dean Martin Show" (1965) 24 times.

Best friend of Suzanne Pleshette from 1971-2008.

Newhart insisted that there never be any 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 CBS series, "The Bob Newhart Show" (1972), 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?".

Is the best and closest friend of the late Suzanne Pleshette, and spoke at her funeral, alongside another ex-"The Bob Newhart Show" (1972) co-star and best friend, Marcia Wallace, on 24 January 2008. Both Pleshette and Wallace co-starred in "The Bob Newhart Show" (1972) with him.

His former "The Bob Newhart Show" (1972) and "Newhart" (1982), co-stars, Marcia Wallace, Bill Daily, Tom Poston, William Sanderson, Julia Duffy and Peter Scolari, had all guest-starred on the same episode of "George & Leo" (1997) in 1997.

Best known by the public for his starring roles as Dr. Robert 'Bob' Hartley on "The Bob Newhart Show" (1972) and as Dick Loudin on "Newhart" (1982).

His wife came up with the idea for [i][/i]The Last Newhart[/i] (the last episode of "Newhart" (1982)), in which the entire 1982 series was all a dream of Dr. Bob Hartley of "The Bob Newhart Show" (1972).

Was a heavy smoker for years, until he was ordered by doctors to stop in 1985.

Was hospitalized with a nosebleed, followed by polycythemia, after all that smoking, but soon recovered. [3 September 1985].

Was considered for the role of Andy Stone in Casino (1995).

Nominated for a 2007 Grammy Award in the best spoken word album category for his album [i]I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This![/i].