Newhart's alive and well in "The Librarian: The Curse of the Judas Chalice"

At 79, Bob Newhart could be choosy about what he does. He's had hit television shows that are considered classics, best-selling comedy albums, a long successful stand-up comedy career and has even been in movies.

A few years ago, though, he hadn't been on TV all that much lately.

"I was in a bookstore and a man came up to me. He said: 'I guess you have been told you look like him,' " Newhart says during a telephone interview to promote the new TNT film "The Librarian: The Curse of the Judas Chalice."

"Sometimes I will say 'Yes, and he has ruined my life.' But I just told him 'I get that all the time.' " The man then asked Newhart, "Is he dead?"

That's when Newhart told his wife he had to get back to work.

"The Librarian: The Curse of the Judas Chalice" is the third in a TNT series. Newhart says he was drawn to the project because the films have never taken themselves too seriously.

Newhart plays the mysterious Judson. He's the boss of Flynn Carsen (Noah Wyle), who is a librarian by day and an adventurer at night. The latest film has Carsen in New Orleans, where he must find the Judas Chalice before Prince Vlad Dracula does.

There is humor, too. Newhart points to a scene in which Judson and Carsen have a discussion in a New Orleans barbershop, and Judson pops up as numerous characters.

Newhart says it is a tribute to the film's writing that he delivers lines as multiple characters, yet the scene keeps the measured timing that is his trademark. His deadpan delivery developed over the past half century through stand-up work, numerous movies and classic series like "The Bob Newhart Show."

Before Newhart became famous for his self-titled TV comedies, his stand-up routine included fake phone calls. Many of those calls involved historical characters: Abraham Lincoln dealing with Madison Avenue or one of George Washington's men complaining about conditions at Valley Forge.

"The Curse of the Judas Chalice" is the last movie in the series scheduled to be produced by TNT. Newhart hopes the next film will be a theatrical release.