Celebrities who are American treasures

If you remember Newhart only from his excitement on Twitter over the Cubs winning the World Series a few years ago, you’ve really missed out. Heck, if you remember him only from his role on “The Big Bang Theory,” you’ve missed out too. Newhart is responsible for two classic sitcoms, both of which bear his name. No knock on “Newhart,” but “The Bob Newhart Show,” which stars Newhart as psychologist Bob Hartley, is the one that is a must see if you enjoy comedy.

C’mon, what more can be said about Betty White? We’ve been fawning over her for years. Every year she trends on Twitter on her birthday and then trends more because people are expressing their relief at finding out why she’s trending. White has been a staple of television since the ‘50s and remains funny and sharp well into her ‘90s.

It seems unbelievable that Van Dyke is 93. He’s about the spryest man in his 90s around. Why? He still fancies himself as a song-and-dance man. Ever seen him perform with his barbershop quartet? We promise you it will be the rare barbershop performance worth watching.

Yeah, there are people who say things like “Oh you could never make a movie like "Blazing Saddles" or "The Producers" today.” Those people will also tell you that the 93-year-old Brooks is still a treasure. He’s one of the faces of American comedy, and he’s still funny and sharp when he shows up on talk shows to tell his delightful anecdotes.

You want to talk prolific? Let’s talk Brooks’ old comedy partner (and lifelong best friend). Reiner is 97, and he’s still an active Twitterer. In the last decade, and remember that he’s 97, he’s written 10 books. Does he probably get some help? Perhaps, but who wouldn’t want to help Reiner? The man is a living legend, and we are lucky we’ve had him this long.

From a man approaching 100 to the youngest person on this list, it’s pretty impressive that Queen Bey is already considered a national treasure. That’s what happens when you are the biggest pop star in the world. Everything Beyonce does is news. She can do stuff like make a visual album like “Lemonade” and get people excited about it. Her biggest fans may be a little, um, intense, but ever the more casual members of the Beyhive will be hoping to consider her a treasure for decades to come.

Goldblum is everybody’s favorite eccentric actor. His talk show appearances are must watch. Anytime he’s promoting a movie every outlet seeks him out to get him to do some wacky thing to post on YouTube, and it almost always seems to go viral. There’s nobody quite like Goldblum, a genuine movie star who is also a total weirdo.

The late Fred Rogers was an American treasure while he was alive, so you couldn’t cast just anybody to play him in a movie. The choice was Tom Hanks, who has been charming audiences for decades. To think it all started with a sitcom where he pretended to be a woman to get an apartment.

We only meme the ones we love. OK, maybe that’s not true, but Reeves certainly has gotten the meme treatment mostly out of people’s love for the star actor. Yeah, people used to poke fun at his stoner bro vibe, but he was still adored. Then he became an action superstar, even turning the simple premise of John Wick killing a bunch of people into a three-film (and counting!) series.

Adjacent to the title of “American treasure” is the moniker of “America’s sweetheart.” There have been several actresses over the years who have gotten that designation, and Bullock was one of them. She’s also been able to hold onto her career even after she exited ingénue status. The Academy gave her a de facto career achievement Oscar when she was named Best Actress for the iffy film “The Blind Side,” and we all totally got it.

The Fonz was the epitome of cool on “Happy Days.” Winkler, the actor who played him, seems to be the epitome of a nice guy. Sure, he’s played against that image on shows like “Arrested Development” and “Barry,” but that just makes us like him more. When he finally won an Emmy, something he never did as The Fonz, it was greeted with pure joy.

Murray was the biggest comedy star in the world in the ‘80s and early ‘90s. Films like “Ghostbusters” and “Groundhog Day” bought him a bunch of goodwill. Then he also went ahead and cultivated the legend of Bill Murray. You’ve heard the stories of him showing up at random parties or approaching people on the street and covering their eyes with his hands. Some of the stuff does come across as a little strange, but for some that just bolstered his treasure status.

Parton rose from extreme poverty to become a country music superstar. Through it all, she’s been happy to make quips about herself and her appearance while also writing some truly heartbreaking songs. She had the audacity to start her own theme park, Dollywood, and it worked because people liked her just that much.

Streep is our most decorated living actor. She has three Oscar wins and has been nominated a whopping 21 times. When she agreed to join the cast of “Big Little Lies,” it turned heads. Of course, it’s not all serious dramas for Streep. Sometimes she makes stuff like “Mamma Mia!,” sings ABBA and just has a great time.

To think that once upon a time Poehler was a founding member of the guerilla improv group Upright Citizens Brigade. Their show on Comedy Central featured a lot of hidden camera pranks. Then Poehler made the move to “Saturday Night Live,” and her career took off. As Leslie Knope on “Parks and Recreation,” Poehler portrayed one of the sweetest, most positive TV characters in sitcom history. That’s a long way from the first episode of “Upright Citizens Brigade,” where she played a girl scout who befriended the Unabomber.

Yes, Martha Stewart went to prison for insider trading, which can hurt someone's American treasure status. Fortunately, the homemaking maven already had built up a ton of goodwill, as she basically became the face of cooking and home décor in the United States. Also, she’s friends with Snoop Dogg! If Snoop likes her, she must be doing something right.

Back when women weren’t given variety shows, or the chance to really lead any show other than the occasional sitcom or drama, Carol Burnett became the face of the most successful variety show of her era. Unlike some other older members of this list, Burnett hasn’t done much in recent years, but whenever she does pop up it makes people happy. A couple of members of her variety troupe, Harvey Korman and Tim Conway, have passed on, but Burnett is still with us.

Few musicians inspire the intense devotion of The Boss. His iconic songs are legion, he’s New Jersey’s favorite son and then there are the concerts. For years Springsteen has been putting on incredibly long concerts, often going over three hours. He’s nearly 70, and he’s still going strong. Here’s hoping he never runs out of energy.

Do we really need to say anything more than “Luke Skywalker?” Probably not, right? Hamill will always be an American treasure, and a geek god, due to his iconic role at the center of the “Star Wars” universe. That being said, his voiceover work as the Joker is always quite good.

Speaking of the Joker, Keaton famously fought him when he played Batman. Before that, though, Keaton was a comedian and one who actually once worked for Mr. Rogers. There was a period of time after his movie star days when Keaton sort of dipped out of the zeitgeist, but then he came roaring back with the polarizing “Birdman,” which won Best Picture and his role as a villain in “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” Talk about coming full circle.

Keaton also fought DeVito when he was Batman, with the diminutive actor playing the Penguin. DeVito is sort of the impish devil of this list of national treasures. Whether it’s his role in the gleefully vulgar “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” or moments like when he showed up on a morning show still drunk off alcohol from the night before, you never know what DeVito might do.

OK, so Fox is Canadian by birth, but we feel like it’s fair to welcome him into the circle of American treasures anyway. After all, he rose to fame on the American sitcom “Family Ties” before starring in the blockbuster “Back to the Future” series. Sadly, illness has kept Fox from having the career he could have, but he’s still done plenty to make him an adored person.

Cher doesn’t mess around. Whether it’s on Twitter, where she is a pro, or on stage Cher always speaks her mind. However, despite the fact she does ruffle feathers, it makes her fans just love her more. The singer and actress could rest on her laurels, but she refuses to do so. She’s too busy performing to all her adoring fans and throwing shade on the internet.

Whether you’re a Coen Brothers fan or watched sitcoms in the ‘90s, you probably have a soft spot for Goodman. When Roseanne went off her rocker and got kicked off the reboot of her own show, they decided to keep the show going as “The Conners.” You don’t do that if people don’t want to turn in to see the likes of Goodman on their TV. He even did a solid job playing Fred Flintstone.

Jerry Seinfeld, to be honest, seems like kind of a jerk. The less said about Michael Richards the better. Jason Alexander seems fine, but it’s Louis-Dreyfus who has risen to treasure status from the “Seinfeld” cast. She was great as Elaine, of course, but she has had a fine career after that. Her character on “Veep” may be an American politician, but she would never be considered an American treasure. The actual JLD, though, just kept racking up the Emmys for her hilariously caustic performance.