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Revision as of 08:21, 9 November 2002 by 210.49.196.232 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)George Robert Newhart (born September 5, 1929) is an American actor, comedian, and writer.
Newhart began as a popular stand up comedian in the 1950s. His 1960 comedy album, The Button Down Mind of Bob Newhart, went straight to number one on the charts, beating Elvis Presley and soundtrack to The Sound of Music. In the mid 1960s, Newhart appeared on The Dean Martin Show 24 times, and the The Ed Sullivan Show 8 times.
From 1972 to 1978, Newhart starred in the popular Bob Newhart Show on CBS.
Newhart guest hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson a total of 87 times.
In 1982, Newhart returned to primetime with a new sitcom, Newhart, on CBS. When the show went of the air in 1990, it ended with a surreal episode where Newhart wakes up in the morning on the set of his 1970s show and realizes that the entire Newhart series had been a dream. The premise of the final show has come to be referred to as "breaking the fifth wall" - the fifth wall being that no two television characters could possibly be the same person. The idea for that last show came from Newhart's wife, Virginia Quinn. The two were married on January 12, 1964 and have four children together.
From 1992 to 1994, Newhart made an attempt to come back to television with a series called Bob. But it did not develop a strong audience and went off the air two years later. In 1997, Newhart returned again with George and Leo on CBS. The show, which costarred Judd Hirsch, was cancelled by the network before it really had much of a chance to succeed.