The iconic finale of Bob Newhart’s “Newhart” television series was inspired by Ginnie Newhart, who was Bob Newhart’s wife of 60 years and served as his creative inspiration. Ginnie Newhart has passed away. She was 82 years old.
After a protracted illness, Newhart passed away on Sunday in Los Angeles, according to publicist Jerry Digney. No other information was available. Recently, the couple commemorated their 60th year of marriage.
Ginnie Newhart is credited with coming up with the concept for the “Newhart” finale from 1990, which had a smart reference to her husband’s “The Bob Newhart Show.” The second season of “The Bob Newhart Show,” in which Newhart played a Vermont innkeeper, was revealed to be a dream when he woke up next to his on-screen wife in Chicago.
Bob Newhart And Ginnie Have Been Together For Over 60 Years
Ginnie Newhart came up with the concept for her husband at a Christmas dinner attended by Suzanne Pleshette, his on-screen wife. That series ran for six seasons, from 1972 to 1978, and helped establish Newhart as a television comedy icon.
Bob Newhart, 93, their four children, and ten grandkids survive her. According to Digney, the Newharts met on a blind date arranged by actor-comedian Buddy Hackett. The Newharts were good friends with comic Don Rickles and his wife Barbara, with whom they regularly traveled.
The Newharts said in interviews that their marriage’s durability was due to their ability to laugh together. The daughter of character actor Bill Quinn, who starred in “The Birds,” “Twilight Zone: The Movie,” and more than 230 other movies and television shows, Ginnie Newhart was born Virginia Lillian Quinn.
Ginnie Newhart’s funeral will be held in private, according to Digney.
