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Barbara Rickles, the widow of late comedian and actor Don Rickles, passed away on what would have been the longtime couple's 56th wedding anniversary. Before Rickles passed away in 2017, Don and Barbara had been married for 52 years since tying the knot on March 14, 1965. 56 years to the day later, Barbara Rickles died in the hospital after battling non-Hodkin's lymphoma and other ailments in recent years. She was 84 years old.

In the 1960ss, Don Rickles met Barbara through his agent and the pair hit it off instantly. She served as a partner of sorts for his career and has often appeared alongside him as herself in documentaries and other TV specials. The couple was inseparable all the way up until Don's death. Although he was known for his scathing insult comedy, Don also had nothing but the best things to say about his wife, at one point telling Al Roker that he...

Barbara Rickles, the widow of famed comedian Don Rickles, died Sunday on what would have been the couple’s 56th wedding anniversary. She was 84.

Rickles died at her home in Century City of complications from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, publicist Paul Shefrin told The Hollywood Reporter. Her husband died in April 2017 of kidney failure at age 90.

Born Barbara Sklar and raised in Philadelphia, she first met the insult comedian when she was working as a secretary for his agent, and they married in 1965. She and Don often vacationed with comic Bob Newhart and his wife, Ginnie.

In his 2007 ...

Barbara Rickles, the widow of famed comedian Don Rickles, died Sunday on what would have been the couple’s 56th wedding anniversary. She was 84.

Rickles died at her home in Century City of complications from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, publicist Paul Shefrin told The Hollywood Reporter. Her husband died in April 2017 of kidney failure at age 90.

Born Barbara Sklar and raised in Philadelphia, she first met the insult comedian when she was working as a secretary for his agent, and they married in 1965. She and Don often vacationed with comic Bob Newhart and his wife, Ginnie.

In his 2007 ...

Los Angeles – With the flourish of trumpets in “The Bullfighter’s Song,” a pugnacious man would strut on stage and launch a volley of hilarious insults on some unsuspecting targets. That act was Don Rickles, whose show business nicknames included “The King of Zing,” “The Merchant of Venom” and the magnificently ironic “Mr. Warmth.” Rickles died in Los Angeles on April 6th, 2017. He was 90.

In his early career, Rickles was a throwback to the cocktail and burlesque joints of the 1950s and ‘60s, where a burgeoning stand up comic would do anything to engage the audience and keep a gig. With a quick wit and rat-a-tat delivery, Rickles developed a persona that would keep him working virtually all the way to the end. He went from the “Rat Pack” era, through comedy roasts of the 1970s, to the voice of Mr. Potato Head in the “Toy Story” series, and never...

Don Rickles is acerbic, insulting and -- at age 87 -- still wickedly funny. Bob Newhart is polite, charming and -- at age 83 -- also wickedly funny. Put the two together and you strike comic gold.

And that's exactly what Aarp did last week when it brought the two men, best friends for nearly 50 years, together for the first time on stage at the organization's 2013 Life@50+ National Event & Expo in Las Vegas.

"If Hitler had lived, Bob would have chatted him up... that's how polite Bob is," Rickles quipped before a full house of Aarp members.

Dubbed "Don Rickles In Conversation With Bob Newhart," the pair's performance entertained thousands of people for close to an hour. There were plenty of the usual Rickles' jibes, but there also was a lot of personal conversation around their friendship, their shared family vacations and the ways in which Las Vegas has changed. And,...