Bob Newhart, celebrated comedian and lifelong Catholic, dies at 94

Bob Newhart arrives at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on Sept. 10, 2016, in Los Angeles. / Credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Jul 19, 2024 / 09:15 am (CNA).

Bob Newhart, a cultural giant who is credited with pioneering modern stand-up comedy and spoke openly of his lifelong Catholic faith, died this week. He was 94.

The native Illinoisan passed away at his Los Angeles home on Thursday, his publicist said. The actor had suffered from several brief illnesses prior to his death.

Born in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park in 1929, Newhart gained prominence in the 1960s for his stand-up comedy; he would go on to star in the successful CBS television programs “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Newhart.” He was known to later audiences for his supporting roles in the movie “Elf” and the show “The Big Bang Theory.”

Raised in the Catholic faith, Newhart attended multiple Catholic schools in Chicago, including St. Ignatius College Prep, before attending Loyola University Chicago, graduating with a degree in business management. 

He joked with the Catholic business group Legatus in 2013 that he “credited the Jesuits for the somewhat twisted way I have of looking at life.”

Newhart was married to his wife, Virginia, for 60 years, from 1963 until her death in 2023. He told Legatus in 2013 that the couple’s Catholic faith helped keep their decades-long marriage stable. 

“Being Catholic has a lot to do with it,” he said. “You work a little harder. You don’t just have your first fight and walk out the door.”

The actor said he went to Mass twice weekly. He said he regularly thanked God for helping his wife through a bout of liver cancer. “I kind of go and thank him for that. That was a very emotional time,” he said.

While in Los Angeles, the Newharts attended Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Beverly Hills, according to the parish’s website. Newhart was also a member of the Catholic Motion Picture Guild, which worked to establish moral artistic guidelines in the burgeoning Hollywood film industry. 

Newhart said he resisted the temptation to inject racy humor into his famously family-friendly comedy acts.

“There were times along the way over 50 years — mostly in the ’70s — when there was the temptation to maybe get a little bluer in my stand-up act,” he told Legatus. “It just never felt comfortable. It was like a sweater that never felt right, you know?”

His faith was known among his Hollywood friends. Fellow actor Don Rickles, who maintained a longtime friendship with Newhart, quipped in 2012: “We’re apples and oranges. I’m a Jew, he’s a Catholic. He’s low-key; I’m a yeller.” 

In an industry that has become defined by pervasive secularism, Newhart remained a steady, understated presence of faith for decades. He joked at one point that as a child his faith seemed universal. 

“I thought the entire world was Catholic when I grew up,” he said at the 1978 Chicago Emmy Awards. “Everybody I knew was Catholic. I assumed everybody on Saturday just automatically went to confession.”

The comedian stressed the benefits of humor and laughter. “No society would be either pleasant or lasting without humor,” he told Loyola University graduates at a commencement address in 2001. “Studies have shown that people with a sense of humor tend to be less egocentric, more realistic about the world, more humble in times of victory, and less defeated in times of travail.”

Speaking to Legatus in 2013, he implied that God would agree. 

“I think God has an incredible sense of humor,” he said. “All you have to do is look around the world. There’s no question that he has an incredible sense of humor.”