 And the Empire State Building is paying tribute to comedian Bob Newhart, who passed away yesterday. While older generations remember Newhart for his TV shows in the 70s and 80s, younger people remember him as Will Ferrell's dad in the movie Elf, which was partly filmed at the Empire State Building. The building tweeted a photo of Newhart in his elf costume saying, We will miss you, Papa. Newhart was 94 years old. WGCH News Center time is 859.