Bob Newhart, everyman comic who elevated sitcom to art form, dies at 94

Bob Newhart, the former accountant who rose to comedy superstardom with a mathematical precision in timing a deadpan routine down to a decimal point, died Thursday, according to his publicist.

He was 94. Newhart certainly looked the part of the weary everyman that he played so well on the comedy albums that launched his career, and on the two major sitcoms that bore his name — “The Bob Newhart Show,” which ran on CBS from 1972 to 1978, and “Newhart,” which ran on the same network from 1982 to 1990.

But there was as much Stan Laurel as there was Oliver Hardy in Newhart’s repertory, said actor Peter Scolari, a friend and costar on “Newhart” through most of the 1980s. It’s just that Newhart chose to leave most of the wildest slapstick for his scene partners.

By the time he auditioned for the show during its third season, Scolari was already an established television veteran. Still, he was nervous enough reading opposite Newhart that he started stammering.