The Only Major Actors Still Alive From Newhart

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"Newhart" remains one of the best sitcoms of the 1980s, which is impressive considering Bob Newhart had just finished six seasons of his hugely popular sitcom "The Bob Newhart Show." That series went off the air in 1978, but as Newhart noted during a 2018 panel (via The Hollywood Reporter), "I was coming back to television because I loved it." He found inspiration in the lobby of a hotel in which he was staying. "I realized how similar a hotel was to what 'The Bob Newhart Show' had been," he recalled. "The patients were the guests at the hotel, and no matter how crazy they were, you had to do what they wanted you to do, and you go along." In 1982, "Newhart" debuted on CBS. 

Newhart starred as Dick Loudon, an author who, along with his wife, Joanna (Mary Frann), moved from New York to Vermont to oversee the the 200-year-old Stratford inn. Across eight seasons, Dick and Joanna ran the inn with the help of now-beloved characters like handyman George Utley (Tom Poston), heiress turned maid Leslie Vanderkellen (Jennifer Holmes), who was quickly replaced by her cousin Stephanie Vanderkellen (Julia Duffy), and brothers Larry, Darryl, and Darryl (William Sanderson, Tony Papenfuss, and John Voldstad, respectively). After Season 2, Dick became the host of a local TV show overseen by producer Michael Harris (Peter Scolari). It all ended with one of the most famous series finales, in which Newhart awakens as his "The Bob Newhart Show" character and realizes the entirety of "Newhart" was a dream.

Sadly, Newhart passed away at the age of 94 in 2024. Meanwhile, Frann died in 1998, Poston passed away in 2007, and Scolari died in 2021. But there are several "Newhart" stars who are still alive today.

As Larry, William Sanderson was the only one of the three "Newhart" brothers that actually spoke. The trio debuted in the second episode of the series, with Larry introducing his siblings using his now famous line, "Hello, my name is Larry. This is my brother Darryl and my other brother, Darryl." The peculiar brothers were a perfect foil to Bob Newhart and his reliable straight man schtick, with Larry revealing to Dick Loudon during their first meeting that he "just likes crawling under houses."

In Season 3, Larry and his brothers took over the Minuteman Cafe next to the Stratford Inn, which allowed Sanderson, Tony Papenfuss, and John Voldstad to stay with the show throughout its 1982-1990 run. As such, Larry became the role for which Sanderson was best-known throughout his career. But despite that, he had plenty of impressive entries on his filmography, to the extent that Sanderson is arguably one of the greatest character actors of all time.

The same year he debuted as Larry, Sanderson also played one of his best known characters. Namely, he portrayed Tyrell Corporation genetic designer J.F. Sebastian in "Blade Runner," who suffers a grim fate at the hands of Rutger Hauer's Roy Batty. Beyond that, Sanderson appeared in the critically-derided 1984 Clint Eastwood gangster movie "City Heat" and 1994's "The Client." He was also in the groundbreaking Western miniseries "Lonesome Dove" and portrayed Sheriff Bud Dearborne and E. B. Farnum in "True Blood" and "Deadwood," respectively.

In 2019, Sanderson released an autobiography titled, "Yes, I'm That Guy: The Rough-and-Tumble Life of a Character Actor." A year later, he announced his retirement from acting. The now 82-year-old's final screen credit was for his portrayal of Farnum in 2019's "Deadwood: The Movie."

Now 76, Tony Papenfuss remains best known as one of the brothers Darryl. Audiences grew fond of him and his siblings despite the fact he never uttered a word throughout six seasons of "Newhart." Papenfuss similarly looks back fondly on his time on the show, telling CBS News in 2012, "The entire experience was wonderful. There couldn't have been a more comfortable set." While Darryl remains his most memorable role, however, Papenfuss' career went on long after "Newhart" came to an end.

Prior to his debut on the sitcom, Papenfuss appeared in two high-profile Hollywood productions. He played a theater assistant in 1981's "Escape from New York" before portraying a Russian officer in 1982's "Firefox" (a now forgotten Clint Eastwood Cold War movie that "Top Gun" fans would absolutely love). After that, 91 episodes of "Newhart" kept him busy. Following the cancellation of that show, Papenfuss went on to appear in several well-known series of the 1990s, including "Seinfeld," two episodes of "Murphy Brown," and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." Small though these roles were, they kept him working in well-known productions. The actor then reprised the role of Darryl on a 1997 episode of the ABC sitcom "Coach" and even showed up as the mute brother in Newhart's short-lived late-'90s sitcom "George and Leo."

Papenfuss continued to work solidly throughout the early 2000s and 2010s, mostly in independent and smaller projects, including a 2009 drama called "Into Temptation" starring Brian Baumgartner of "The Office" fame. His most recent known role was in the 2021 TV movie "Breakdowns," in which he co-starred as "Tony."

John Voldstad played the other Darryl on "Newhart," and it remains his biggest role. The actor clearly enjoyed his time on the sitcom, too, telling the Independent Tribune in 2014 that he and Tony Papenfuss would create their own internal monologues, which they would silently recite during their "Newhart" scenes. "We just went on our own," he explained. "There was always something going on in our minds."

Outside of "Newhart," Voldstad has appeared in some impressive projects. In 1982, the year the sitcom debuted, Voldstad appeared alongside his fellow-"Newhart" star Julia Duffy in a CBS miniseries titled "The Blue and the Gray," which starred Gregory Peck as President Abraham Lincoln. The year prior, he'd landed a role in Ivan Reitman's war comedy "Stripes," on which he worked with Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and John Candy. After "Newhart" wrapped up, Voldstad continued to appear in multiple projects, including guest spots on beloved '90s sitcoms like "Home Improvement" and small roles in films such as "Forrest Gump" and the surprise hit 1993 horror comedy "Leprechaun." He even reunited with Papenfuss in 1997 to reprise his role as Darryl in "Coach."

In the early 2010s, Voldstad moved to Alabama and soon started working part-time as part of the visitor services staff at the city's NASCAR Hall of Fame. As of 2024, he was still working at the museum, telling WTVA 9 News during an interview that year, "My friends [at the museum] introduce me when they're doing a tour and say, 'Hey, this is the other brother Daryl, remember him?" The now 75-year-old also doesn't seem to be slowing down, indicating during his WTVA interview that he was open to more acting "if it comes up."

At the time that Julia Duffy was asked to appear in a guest spot as Stephanie Vanderkellen on "Newhart," she was starring in a medieval comedy series called "Wizards and Warriors." After that show was canceled, she returned to the Stratford Inn as a series regular. Starting with "Newhart" Season 2, Duffy portrayed Stephanie full-time until the show ended in 1990. Afterwards, she played Allison Sugarbaker on Season 6 of another CBS sitcom, "Designing Women," but left after that season.

Duffy continued to work solidly in the 1990s, appearing in 28 episodes of the NBC sitcom "The Mommies" and landing guest spots in multiple popular shows of the era. These included "Grace Under Fire," Nickelodeon's "Drake & Josh," and "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" (which, at one time, briefly featured her former "Newhart" co-star John Voldstad).

Her career didn't let up in the early 2000s, with Duffy landing a supporting role in 2003's "Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd" and the Coen Brothers' "Intolerable Cruelty." Duffy also appeared in four episodes of "Shameless" in the early 2010s before landing a recurring role in the 2024 "Night Court" revival, which ran for three seasons on NBC. In 2018, she also published a book titled "Bad Auditions," in which she recounts her real life experiences trying out for various roles.

More recently, Duffy played Mary Jones Davidsoul on "Palm Royale," one of Apple TV's most interesting comedy series that was unfortunately canceled after two seasons. Now 74, Duffy has a main role on Peacock's "The 'Burbs" TV series, which stars Jack Whitehall and Keke Palmer and has already been renewed for a second season.