Jane Fonda Remembers ‘Kind, Wry, and Very Funny’ Bob Newhart: ‘Just Like on Screen’

Jane Fonda and Bob Newhart‘s paths didn’t cross much over the many decades of their respective careers — but in the last eight years, they became neighbors and friends, as Fonda wrote in an Instagram tribute to Newhart, who died Thursday at age 94.  “He was just like on the screen: understated, kind, wry, and very funny,” Fonda wrote on Instagram. “As I’m the oldest one around here these days, Bob liked to have me come over to reminisce with him about the old timers, Red Skelton, Ed Sullivan, my dad. We’d have a beer and I’d leave when one of his children would signal that he was tired.” (Hollywood can be a small town — when Newhart guest-hosted the Tonight Show in April 1977, Jane’s father, Henry Fonda, was one of his guests). 

During Covid lockdowns, Fonda, Newhart, and his wife, Ginnie, were among a group of neighbors who would gather every Friday night on lawn chairs for socially distanced socializing.  “It’s a great idea to have a friend who’s a stand up comedian,” she wrote in a 2021 journal entry on her website. “You laugh a lot.”

And in her Instagram tribute, she recalled that after one of those gatherings in May 2021, Newhart learned that Fonda would be alone for Mother’s Day and invited her to join his family for the holiday. “They were so welcoming,” Fonda wrote. “I will miss our times together.”

Fonda noted that Newhart’s best friend, Don Rickles, who also lived in their neighborhood, died in 2017. “All of us here envision Bob back with his bestie and with Ginnie, his beloved girl.,” she wrote. “They’re probably doubled over laughing.”

Newhart was a groundbreaking comedian and decade-spanning sitcom star (The Bob Newhart Show, Newhart) who was as recognizable to younger generations as his own thanks to his roles in Elf and Young Sheldon.