Ruth Buzzi, who was so hilarious that the lonely bachelor Gladys Ormphby, the lady who swung her handbag like a deadly weapon, on Rowan & Martin’s laughteris dead. She was 88 years old.
Buzzi died Thursday from Alzheimer’s complications at his home near Forth Worth, Texas, said his long -standing representative, Mike Eisenstadt, The Hollywood Reporter. In July 2022, her husband, actor Kent Perkins, revealed that she was “bedridden and incapable” after having undergone a series of blows.
Buzzi appeared in the original Broadway production of the musical Sweet Charityplayed the friend of Marlo Thomas Margie “Pete” Peterson on ABC This girlplayed in front of Jim Nabors during a Saturday morning children’s show, Lost saucerand spent many years on Sesame Street.
At the start of his career, Buzzi had an act of comedy with Dom Deluise in which he played the incompetent magician Dominic the Great and her assistant, Shakuntala.
Buzzi was one of the first hires of producer George Schlatter for Laugh In 1967 and stayed with the show for all its race until March 1973. She played many characters – drunk Doris Swizzle, Buzzi Buzzi Buzzi Buzzi, Hooker Kim, and the silent film Diva Laverne Blossom – but it was her Gladys who remain unforgettable.
Covered from head to foot in dull brown and sporting a hairstyle in a bun covered with a gel knotted in the middle of his forehead, Gladys could be found on a park bench, where the dirty old man Tyrone F. Horneigh (Arte Johnson) would rest towards her and make an insulting and insulting remark. Gladys would then reply by disparaging Horneigh with his handbag. (He looked dangerous but was actually filled with old tights and cotton.)
The actress of the size of a pint received three of her five career nominations for the Emmy for having played the character, one of which is an appearance in a roast celebrity of Dean Martin in 1974. (She also presented herself as Glady Sink.)
“So many people ask me to hit them with my handbag,” said Buzzi to Nick Thomas in 2016. “In fact, a few years ago, we were at a party by Beverly Hills and in Elton John. He immediately made his way to me and said:” For the list of God, Ruth, please, strike me with your bag.
She was born on July 24, 1936 in Westerly, Rhode Island, and grew up in Connecticut. His father was a sculptor. When she fought during a dance class but shed light on it, her instructor proposed to teach her something different – a “funny ballet”, she recalls in an interview of 1983 Orange Coast Magazine.
“” All the other girls will do it directly and you will be a little absent “, said the professor. “Well, I did it, and it was a great success. This is what launched me (in comedy) and I continued to make funny dances and that it is funny and funny in high school.”
At 18, she boldly moved across the country to register for the Pasadena Playhouse, where her classmates understood Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman, then appeared in front of Rudy Vallee in a production of San Francisco of the production of San Francisco de Jenny kissed me.
Buzzi then played in The Broadway Revue Misleadingwhere she improvised several characters and The New York Times pointed out that she had “the quality of a young Nancy Walker”.
In 1961, when she played secretary Agnes Good in a production of Aunt Mame In Pennsylvania, she insisted too much about the Schlumpiness of this character, and this would serve as a model for Gladys.
Later, she expressed Granny Goodwitch on the cartoon Linus! The lion in the heart and made television advertisements before appearing on The Garry Moore Show in 1964 and with Deluise on the variety show ArtistsOrganized by Carol Burnett and Bob Newhart, a year later.
In January 1966, she started an 18 -month -old passage with the musical of Bob Fosse and Neil Simon Sweet CharityWith Gwen Verdon, then left that for a concert The hour of comedy Steve AllenA summer replacement for the Smothers brothers program. While working on it, she was approached to join Laugh.
When she auditioned for Schlatter, instead of bringing brilliant photos of 8 by 10, she showed him photos of Gladys standing in a garbage bucket.
Buzzi and Nabors have played time travel in time on the 1976 ABC series Lost saucerProduced by Sid and Marty Krofft. She later appeared as the mother of Screech (Dustin Diamond) Bell and played on a western for Italian television, Lucky Luke.
On Sesame Street In the 90s, Buzzi portrayed Ruthie, the owner of the Finders Keepers store, then resumed the character in The adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999). She also expressed the character Suzie Kabloozie in the series.
Buzzi also had roles on the big screen in Weird Friday (1976), The Apple dumplin gang rolls again (1979), The villain (1979) and CHU CHU and Flash Philly (1981).
The survivors include her husband, whom she married in December 1978. The couple left Hollywood 15 years ago to live with a 600 -acre cattle and horses in the county of Erath in Texas.
Donations in his memory can be made to the Alzheimer’s association.
“Ruth Buzzi brought an singular energy and charm to sketch the comedy that made her a star on Laugh And Dean Martin Celebrity Roasis, “said the Executive Director of the National Comedy Center, Journey Gunderson, in a press release.” His characters, in particular the unforgettable Gladys Ormphby, captured the delicious absurdity of the time. We remember her with admiration and appreciation for the joy and the laughter she brought to generations of fans. »»
