Newhart Actors You May Not Know Passed Away
By Robert King
Mary Frann, the actress who played Bob Newhart's TV wife for eight seasons, passed away suddenly just eight years after "Newhart" wrapped. In 1998, Frann died in her sleep at her Beverly Hills home of apparent heart failure, according to her obituary in the Los Angeles Times. She was just 55 years old at the time of her death.
Following her long role on "Newhart," Frann played Clementine Duke in Jackie Collins' racy 1990 miniseries "Lucky/Chances." She admitted it was far from her role as traditional wife Joanna Loudon and noted that she wanted to show her fans she could do something "outrageous." Frann's last acting role was in an 1998 episode of "Diagnosis Murder" per IMDb.
In an interview with Closer Weekly, Newhart once said Frann had big shoes to fill as his second TV wife. "I told her she had the toughest job in television because she had to follow Suzanne Pleshette," the actor said. "But Mary did a wonderful job."
As for the possibility of a "Newhart" reboot without Frann, Newhart's co-star Julia Duffy told the outlet, "I can't imagine it without Mary."
