Bob Newhart’s The Big Bang Theory Role Is Even More Heartbreaking Now
Despite initially coming as a guest star, the actor played a huge role in Sheldon Cooper’s life.
Over the years of its TV run, The Big Bang Theory has had many guest stars, but one of few ones that forever remained in all the viewers’ hearts was Bob Newhart’s Professor Proton.
The actor died this Thursday at the advanced age of 94, leaving a huge legacy for his admirers to honor in the years to come, yet it may also come as something obvious that Newhart’s career path had a significant influence on the iconic sitcom’s entire storyline.
Disheartening enough, the actor’s legendary role in The Big Bang Theory was the last one he ever performed in his life.
Newhart was initially introduced as Professor Proton in The Big Bang Theory’s season 6, where Sheldon and Leonard hire him to just spend some time with the scientist who actually inspired both characters to pursue higher achievements in the field.
It is then revealed by the series that both Sheldon and Leonard grew up watching Professor Proton’s scientific TV show for kids which remained one of their best childhood memories. This was later on confirmed by Young Sheldon ’s repetitive homages to the character during several scenes where child Sheldon was desperate to see Professor Proton’s latest episode on TV.
However, even all the love that he got from Leonard and Sheldon, as well as from other kids he managed to entertain with scientific experiments, wasn’t enough for the character to be as happy as he deserved to.
The Big Bang Theory repeatedly made it clear that, despite getting more than enough attention from Sheldon, Professor Proton, in the real life known as Arthur Jeffries, always felt pretty lonely, especially when his career as the children’s show host was over.
In The Big Bang Theory’s season 6 episode titled The Proton Resurgence, Professor Proton’s first appearance on the show is accompanied by a heartbreaking story of his ex-wife and mother of his son cheating on him with a puppeteer who made Professor Proton’s puppet sidekick, Gino the Neutrino.
At some point, Sheldon and Leonard find out that Arthur Jeffries has passed away, but since the character was just too admired by the audience to let him go so soon, the sitcom reintroduced Professor Proton as a ghost that kept haunting Sheldon’s dreams every so often.
The Big Bang Theory’s iconic role was definitely a worthy conclusion for Bob Newhart’s abundant career that lasted for decades, and there’s no doubt about his character being honored for everything he’s ever done for Sheldon and Leonard’s career in science.