Mary Frann Was a Fan of Bob Newhart's Before She Landed 'Newhart' — Did They Get Along?

Comedian Bob Newhart and actress Mary Frann starred alongside each other in Newhart, a comedy show following an author-turned-innkeeper and his family as they lived their lives in rural Vermont.

Before Newhart aired, Bob was on The Bob Newhart Show, where Suzanne Pleshette shared the screen as his fictional wife. The two had immense on-screen chemistry, so much so that it would be talked about for years to come.

Though Mary and Bob may not have had a connection as strong as his and Suzanne's, did they get along? Here's what we know.

In a 2018 interview with Fox News, Bob recounted how he warned Mary when she landed the role of Joanna Loudon, Bob's on-screen wife in Newhart, that she had some big shoes to fill.

“Suzie and I had a great relationship. Those things are hard to find," he told the outlet. "Later, when I was doing ‘Newhart,’ I told [on-screen wife] Mary Frann, ‘You have a really tough job because they’re going to think of my wife as Suzie.'"

In a 1983 interview with The Cincinnati Enquirer, Mary admitted that she was even a fan of Bob's work before auditioning for her role on Newhart.

"I always liked the old Bob Newhart Show and liked him tremendously," she told the outlet, per Catchy Comedy. "Had I realized that, gee, this is really incredible, it might have frozen me up. But I was very relaxed, and when I read for the producers and directors, I had a terrific time."

It seems that the pair had good chemistry on-screen, even if it wasn't to the degree that Bob had with Suzanne — but there was nothing to indicate that the pair didn't get along. That said, neither has publicly commented on their on-screen relationship in the years since the show concluded.

Mary passed away in September 1998, while Bob passed away in July 2024.