Beloved comic actor Bob Newhart passed away Thursday at age 94. We remember him fondly as psychologist Robert Hartley in The Bob Newhart Show in the 1970s and as innkeeper Dick Loudon on the sitcom Newhart in the 1980s (legendary for the best series finale ever). He was also known to younger viewers as Professor Proton in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory.
Professor Proton was actually Arthur Jeffries, Ph.D. but he had hosted a children's science show that inspired Sheldon and Leonard as children to become scientists when they grew up. They later made friends with their idol. Professor Proton appeared in six episodes of The Big Bang Theory. Now TBS will air all those episodes back-to-back in a tribute to Newhart on Sunday, July 21st. Read about Newhart's Big Bang Theory character at Deadline.