According to comedian-director David Steinberg, the "oversimplistic" view of the 1950s was that "the African-Americans were the musicians, the Italians were the singers and the comics were Jews." But along came Bob Newhart to break the mold of the last category.

Newhart was an Irish Catholic former accountant from Chicago whose low-key, Everyman manner was an overnight sensation with the public, particularly when his first record, "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart," became the best-selling LP in the country, outselling all of Elvis Presley's albums but one, and all of the Beatles' in the 1960s, besides winning album of the year and best new album.

The life of this unlikeliest of Hollywood celebrities is the subject of Kyra Thompson's loving salute on PBS' "American Masters" July 20, 9-10:30 p.m. (check local listings). It's jam-packed with astute comments from Newhart's longtime colleagues and industry pros, such as co-stars Suzanne Pleshette, Tom Poston and Marcia Wallace, comedians Tim Conway, Dick Martin and Tommy Smothers, and writer Larry Gelbart, each of whom provides insight on his masterful technique and appeal.

At the end of 90 minutes, the undeniably well-deserved testimonials from all the talking heads begin to feel a bit much, and the film could profitably have been trimmed to good effect by about 10 minutes.

The real joy of the program is the array of clips from his early TV days as a stand-up comic, to highlights from his two hit sitcoms which kept him a television staple for a good part of 14 years.

From a dysfunctional childhood and a less-than-ideal (by his own admission) relationship with his father, Newhart was still living with his parents at age 30 and working for an unemployment office. But once he took the plunge into comedy, he never looked back. His early routines --- seen in archival kinescopes and heard on acetate recordings --- included his stammering delivery and trademark telephone shtick, inheriting the mantle of the latter from George Jessel and Shelley Berman.

His timing was impeccable and, like his forebear Jack Benny whose radio routines he'd listen to as a child with his mother, he knew how to wait for a laugh.

He got his first TV show in 1961, and though it was critically praised NBC canceled it after one year. His next, "The Entertainers," also fizzled, but with "The Bob Newhart Show" and its follow-up, "Newhart," in which he played a psychologist and an innkeeper, respectively, he hit pay dirt.

It was rotund comedian Buddy Hackett who introduced Newhart to his future wife, Ginny, on a blind date, selling Newhart on the fact that she was a Catholic girl. After marrying early in 1963, they had their first child by the end of that year. "We were Catholic," Newhart says with characteristic wryness by way of explaining the apparently fast work.

A confirmed family man, he always put family ahead of his career, and made sure the kids were always part of his life, even bringing them to Las Vegas every weekend if he was performing there.

This is a glowing tribute to a man who continues to keep an amazingly high standard, and never felt comfortable being risque or edgy.

---CNS