Ginnie Newhart, wife of legendary comedian and actor Bob Newhart, has died. She was 82 years old.
Advertiser Jerry Digney confirmed the sad news in a statement to PEOPLE.
“Ginnie Newhart, 82, the beloved wife of 60 years to comedy legend Bob Newhart, passed away on Sunday, April 23, after a long illness,” Digney wrote.
Bob also shared the news at: Statement from Twitter. “We lost our beloved Ginnie Quinn Newhart – Wife, Mother and Grandmother on April 23, 2023 after a long battle with the disease. She was our rock and we miss her so much.”
Ginnie’s death comes three months after she and the Emmy winner. Celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary In January.
In a 2019 interview with PEOPLE, Bob looked back at his first beginnings with his wife, thanks to a blind date arranged by their mutual friend, actor Buddy Hackett.
“Buddy said, ‘I have a daughter for you,'” Bob recalled. “‘She’s dating another guy but I don’t think she’s the right person for him, so I’ll set you up with a meetup date. You’ll meet him, date and marry. Then you’ll have kids and call one of them Buddy.’ Which we did.”
The couple married the following year and went on to have four children. After being together for sixty years, the couple attributed the longevity of their marriage to laughter.
“Comedian marriages, no matter how tumultuous they are, take a long time, and I attribute that to laughter,” Bob said in an interview in 2022. Parade. “No matter how fierce your argument is, you come up with a sentence and then you both look at each other and start laughing.
Ginnie shared a similar sentiment in an interview with PBS in 2005. “It’s fun to be with comedians,” She told the outlet. “They seem to have longevity in their marriage.”
Bob said in 2020 CBS Sunday Morning That Ginnie was always by her side, in both her successes and failures. “He’d be in the locker room. He’d say, ‘There’s something wrong with the sound system. I couldn’t hear anything,'” she recalled. “Dear, I said there’s nothing wrong with the sound system. They didn’t laugh!”
Ginnie recalled that the first 10 years of her career were tough for her husband, whom she described as “very shy” when off stage. “I always thought maybe you’d go to teaching or something,” she said. “But then I realized it was definitely in his blood, and he… started enjoying it. I knew he was addicted.”
during his run The Bob Newhart Show From 1972 to 1978, Bob’s broadcaster, Sam Honigberg, asked Ginnie if she would be on the show.
“He said, ‘Well, we need background dancers behind Gisele MacKenzie and the others.’ And the next thing I know, I’m in an apartment, I’m moving and I’m not a dancer. But they had to pay me less,” he said. Bob Newhart: Unbuttoned in 2005. “I’ve done a few things where I’m a background dancer and not a dancer.”
The daughter of character actor Bill Quinn, Ginnie is also credited with creating the beloved finale of her husband’s show. Newhart In 1990, the character Dick wakes up as Bob Hartley, who suggests that the second CBS series was a dream.
“Ginny knew I wasn’t happy with CBS,” Bob told Yahoo Entertainment in May 2020. guesthouse in Vermont.’ I said, ‘Honey, that’s a great idea. Suzanne was actually at the same party and we told her about it when we saw her. ‘I’ll be in New York in a minute,’ she said.
“I gave the idea to the writers and they filled the rest,” he said of the surprise ending.
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After Ginnie’s death, Newhart star Julie Duffy paid tribute to her on Twitter, writing, “Funny, sincere, big heart. She gave me the best advice on everything from decorating to birth and kids and yes husbands. I loved her. RIP Ginnie Newhart.”
From Ginnie, Bob, his four children Rob, Tim, Jennifer and Courtney, and 10 grandchildren survived.