George Robert Newhart, known as Bob Newhart, was born on September 5, 1929, in Oak Park, Illinois. He was the son of George David Newhart, a part-owner of a plumbing and heating supply business, and Julia Pauline (Burns) Newhart, a housewife. Raised in a Roman Catholic household, Newhart was of Irish and German descent. He attended St. Catherine of Siena Grammar School in Oak Park and later St. Ignatius College Prep, a Jesuit high school in Chicago.