Ginnie Newhart, Wife of Legendary Comedian Bob Newhart, Dead at 82

Ginnie Newhart's death comes three months after she and husband Bob Newhart celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in January

Ginnie Newhart, the wife of legendary comedian and actor Bob Newhart, has died. She was 82.

Publicist Jerry Digney confirmed the sad news in a statement to PEOPLE.

"Ginnie Newhart, 82, beloved wife of 60 years to comedy legend Bob Newhart, passed away Sunday April 23rd, after a long illness," Digney said.

Bob also shared the news in a statement on Twitter. "We lost our beloved Ginnie Quinn Newhart - Wife, Mother and Grandmother on April 23rd, 2023 after a long battle with illness. She was our rock and we miss her terribly."

Ginnie's death comes three months after she and the Emmy winner celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in January.

Related:Who Is Bob Newhart's Wife? All About Ginnie Newhart

In a 2019 interview with PEOPLE, Bob looked back on his early beginnings with his wife, thanks to a blind date arranged by their mutual friend, actor Buddy Hackett.

"Buddy said, 'I've got a girl for you,'" Bob recalled. "'She's going with another guy, but I don't think he's right for her, so I'm going to fix you up on a blind date. You'll meet her and you'll date and you'll get married. Then you'll have kids and you'll call one of the kids Buddy.' Which we did."

The pair wed the following year and went on to welcome four children. After being together for six decades, the pair credited the longevity of their marriage to laughter.

"The marriages of comedians, no matter how stormy, seem to last a long time, and I attribute it to laughter," Bob said in a 2022 interview with Parade. "No matter how intense the argument you're having, you can find a line, and then you both look at each other and start laughing. It's over, you know? I think that sense of humor is very important to the longevity of a marriage."

Ginnie shared a similar sentiment in her 2005 interview with PBS. "Comedians are just fun to be with," she told the outlet. "They seem to have longevity in their marriages."

Related:Bob Newhart Says 'Laughter' Contributes to Success of His 57-Year-Long Marriage with Wife Ginnie

In 2020, Bob told CBS Sunday Morning that Ginnie had always been there for him, through both successes and failures. "She'd be in the dressing room. She'd say, 'Something's wrong with the sound system. I couldn't hear anything,'" he remembered. "I said, 'Honey, nothing was wrong with the sound system. They didn't laugh!'"

Ginnie recalled that the first 10 years of his career were difficult for her husband, whom she described as being "terribly shy" when he was off stage. "I always thought that maybe he would go into teaching, or do something else," she said. "But then I realized that it was definitely in his blood and he was … starting to enjoy it. I knew that he was hooked."

During the run of The Bob Newhart Show from 1972 to 1978, Bob's publicist Sam Honigberg asked Ginnie if she would be on the show.

"He said, 'Well, we need background dancers in the back of Gisele MacKenzie and whoever else.' And the next thing I know, I'm on a flat, I'm moving and I'm not a dancer. But they had to pay me less," she told PBS for Bob Newhart: Unbuttoned in 2005. "I did a couple of those things where I was a dancer in the background, which I was not a dancer."

Related:Bob Newhart's Life in Photos

Ginnie, the daughter of character actor Bill Quinn, is also credited with creating the beloved finale of her husband's show Newhart in 1990 in which his character Dick wakes up as Bob Hartley who suggests the second CBS series was a dream.

"Ginny knew I was unhappy with CBS," Bob told Yahoo Entertainment in May 2020. "She told me, 'You know what the final show should be? You wake up in bed with Suzie and you describe this dream you had about owning an inn 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. She said, 'I'll be there in a New York minute.'"

"I gave the idea to the writers, and they filled out the rest," he said of the surprise ending.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Following Ginnie's death, Newhart star Julie Duffy paid tribute to her on Twitter, writing, "Funny, candid, huge heart. Gave me the best advice in everything from decorating to childbirth and children and yes, husbands. I loved her. RIP Ginnie Newhart."

Ginnie is survived by Bob, their four children Rob, Tim, Jennifer and Courtney, and their 10 grandchildren.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.