Latest news with #Buzzi
Epoch Times
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Epoch Times
Comedian and ‘Laugh-In' Star Ruth Buzzi Dies at 88
Ruth Buzzi, the comedian and actress best known for her portrayal of the sharp-tongued, purse-wielding Gladys Ormphby on 'Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In,' has passed away at 88. Her agent, Mike Eisenstadt, said that Buzzi passed away Thursday at her home in Texas after battling Alzheimer's and receiving hospice care. Shortly before her death, her husband, Kent Perkins, shared a message on Facebook, asking fans to share pictures, memories, and cherished moments from her career. 'She asked me to thank all of you for being so good to her for so many years,' the Buzzi's career spanned 45 years, including stage performances and over 200 television appearances. She won a Golden Globe and was a two-time Emmy nominee for 'Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In,' which ran from 1968 to 1973. She was the only regular to appear in all six seasons, including the pilot. Buzzi was first spotted by 'Laugh-In' creator and producer George Schlatter when she was playing various characters on 'The Steve Allen Comedy Hour.' Related Stories 4/7/2025 1/9/2025 Schlatter saw a picture of her dressed as Gladys Ormphby, sitting in a wire mesh trash barrel, clad in drab brown with her bun covered by a hairnet knotted in the middle of her forehead. That image made a deep impact. 'I must admit that the hairnet and the rolled-down stockings did light my fire,' Schlatter wrote in his 2023 memoir 'Still Laughing: A Life in Comedy.' 'My favorite Gladys line was when she announced that the day of the office Christmas party, they sent her home early.' The Gladys character used her purse as a weapon against anyone who bothered her. Her most frequent target was Arte Johnson's dirty old man character Tyrone F. Horneigh. 'Gladys embodies the overlooked, the downtrodden, the taken for granted, the struggler,' Buzzi told The Connecticut Post in 2018. 'So when she fights back, she speaks for everyone who's been marginalized, reduced to a sex object or otherwise abused. And that's almost everyone at some time or other.' Buzzi took her act to the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts in Las Vegas, where she bashed her purse on the heads of entertainment legends like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Lucille Ball, among others. Gladys Ormphby wasn't the only personality Buzzi portrayed. Her other recurring characters on 'Laugh-In' included Busy-Buzzi, a Hollywood gossip columnist; Doris 'I never took my work for granted, nor assumed I deserved more of the credit or spotlight or more pay than anyone else,' Buzzi told The Connecticut Post. 'I was just thrilled to drive down the hill to NBC every day as an employed actor with a job to do.' "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" cast members, from left, Lily Tomlin, Henry Gibson, Ruth Buzzi and Gary Owens on April 2, 2002, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Nick Ut/AP Photo Love, Peace, and Laughter Ruth Ann Buzzi was born on July 24, 1936, in Westerly, Rhode Island. Her father, Angelo, was a renowned stone sculptor who ran a gravestone and monument business in Stonington, Connecticut. Buzzi enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse at age 17 and earned her Actors' Equity union card during her summer break while touring in a musical and comedy act with singer Rudy Vallee. With her degree from the College of Theatre Arts in hand, Buzzi moved to New York, where she was immediately hired for a lead role in an off-Broadway musical revue—the first of 19 such shows. But it was just the beginning. In 1964, she landed her television break on 'The Garry Moore Show,' playing Shakundala the Silent, a bumbling magician's assistant to Dom DeLuise's character Dominic the Great. Her varied TV career included appearances on 'The Entertainers,' 'That Girl,' 'The Lost Saucer,' and Lucille Ball's final sitcom 'Life With Lucy,' as well as cameos in music videos with 'Weird Al' Yankovic and the B-52's. As a voice actor, she took on hundreds of appearances in cartoon series including 'The Smurfs,' 'Pound Puppies,' 'Berenstain Bears,' and 'The Angry Beavers.' She was Emmy-nominated for her six-year run as shopkeeper Ruthie on 'Sesame Street.' On the big screen, Buzzi appeared in films such as 'Freaky Friday,' 'Chu Chu and the Philly Flash,' 'The North Avenue Irregulars,' and 'The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again.' She was also part of the original Broadway cast of 'Sweet Charity' with Gwen Verdon in 1966. Beyond her screen work, Buzzi entertained a quarter of a million followers on social media with her humor and witty remarks, including classics like 'I have never faked a sarcasm,' 'The trouble with 'You know you're old when your walker comes with curb feelers and an airbag,' was her last humorous Buzzi married actor Kent Perkins in 1978. The couple moved from California to Texas in 2003 to live on a ranch near Stephenville. Buzzi retired from acting in 2021 and suffered a series of strokes the following year. Her husband told The Dallas Morning News in 2023 that she had dementia. In a Friday The Associated Press contributed to this article. From NTD News
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Laugh-In' star Ruth Buzzi, scowling lady with the handbag, dead at 88
By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Comic performer Ruth Buzzi, who played a counterpoint to the 1960s sexual revolution for laughs as the frumpy, hairnet-wearing, handbag-swinging spinster on U.S. prime-time television hit "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," has died at age 88. Buzzi succumbed to complications from Alzheimer's disease at her ranch home near Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday, 10 years after she was diagnosed, her longtime Los Angeles-based agent Mike Eisenstadt said in a statement. "Her husband of almost 48 years, Kent Perkins, expressed to me that she was making people laugh just a few days ago," Eisenstadt said in an email message to Reuters on Friday. Born and raised in New England, Buzzi moved to California after high school to study acting and joined the Pasadena Playhouse for the Performing Arts, alongside future Oscar winners Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman. She went on to an entertainment career spanning 60 years. She was best known for her work on "Laugh-In," a groundbreaking NBC ensemble comedy hour that premiered in the summer of 1968, helping to define the pop culture of the era and launching the careers of several stars, including Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin. Buzzi devised a series of sketch comedy characters on the show. Gladys Ormphby, her most famous, was a scowling, irascible spinster who wore drab brown dresses and a hairnet with a spider-like knot in the center of her forehead. Sitting on a park bench, she would react to the approaches of a dirty old man played by Arte Johnson by mercilessly walloping him with her handbag when he muttered come-ons to her. The Gladys and Tyrone bits offered a satiric contrast to the era's sexually permissive vibe celebrated on the show, which ran until 1973. The Gladys character became so popular that she began appearing elsewhere on prime time, and it became a badge of honor for a celebrity to be thrashed by Buzzi. Appearing on one of several televised celebrity "roasts" hosted by actor-singer Dean Martin, Buzzi encountered the heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali. As Gladys, the diminutive Buzzi ranted about Ali interfering in her relationship with her boyfriend, then threateningly pointed her index finger at him. "If you want to make something of it, I want you to meet me out in the parking lot, and we'll have it out, man to man," Buzzi tells him, unleashing dozens of rapid-fire handbag hits to the head and shoulders of the bemused champion, who took it all in good humor. At another roast, Buzzi as Gladys tells Martin: "Look at you, sitting there so calm and cool, when last night you were yearning for my body." Martin responds: "That wasn't yearning, it was yawning," precipitating a handbag assault, with entertainment legend Frank Sinatra looking on and laughing. "No, it didn't hurt," Buzzi told interviewer Nick Thomas in 2016. "It looked vicious, but it was just a felt purse lined and filled with old pantyhose and cotton. I was able to swing it with all my might and it still wouldn't hurt anyone, although it looked great and sounded great with a 'thud' when it landed." Buzzi earned three prime-time Emmy Award nominations in the 1970s - for "Laugh-In" and "The Dean Martin Show" - and two daytime Emmy nods in the 1980s and '90s, including one for her work on the acclaimed children's show "Sesame Street." She won a 1973 Golden Globe award for "Laugh-In." Buzzi perfected a portfolio of zany characters. "My favorite character to play was actually 'Doris Sidebottom,' the sloppy drunk," Buzzi said. "I also had fun with 'Busy Buzzi,' the gossip columnist, and my hooker character, 'Kim Hither.'" In addition to guest appearances on various variety shows and sitcoms over the years, Buzzi occasionally played supporting roles in films such as "Freaky Friday", "The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again" and "The North Avenue Irregulars." (Reporting and writing by Will Dunham in Washington; Additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
Reuters
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Reuters
'Laugh-In' star Ruth Buzzi, scowling lady with the handbag, dead at 88
WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - Comic performer Ruth Buzzi, who played a counterpoint to the 1960s sexual revolution for laughs as the frumpy, hairnet-wearing, handbag-swinging spinster on U.S. prime-time television hit "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," has died at age 88. Buzzi succumbed to complications from Alzheimer's disease at her ranch home near Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday, 10 years after she was diagnosed, her longtime Los Angeles-based agent Mike Eisenstadt said in a statement. "Her husband of almost 48 years, Kent Perkins, expressed to me that she was making people laugh just a few days ago," Eisenstadt said in an email message to Reuters on Friday. Born and raised in New England, Buzzi moved to California after high school to study acting and joined the Pasadena Playhouse for the Performing Arts, alongside future Oscar winners Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman. She went on to an entertainment career spanning 60 years. She was best known for her work on "Laugh-In," a groundbreaking NBC ensemble comedy hour that premiered in the summer of 1968, helping to define the pop culture of the era and launching the careers of several stars, including Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin. Buzzi devised a series of sketch comedy characters on the show. Gladys Ormphby, her most famous, was a scowling, irascible spinster who wore drab brown dresses and a hairnet with a spider-like knot in the center of her forehead. Sitting on a park bench, she would react to the approaches of a dirty old man played by Arte Johnson by mercilessly walloping him with her handbag when he muttered come-ons to her. The Gladys and Tyrone bits offered a satiric contrast to the era's sexually permissive vibe celebrated on the show, which ran until 1973. The Gladys character became so popular that she began appearing elsewhere on prime time, and it became a badge of honor for a celebrity to be thrashed by Buzzi. Appearing on one of several televised celebrity "roasts" hosted by actor-singer Dean Martin, Buzzi encountered the heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali. As Gladys, the diminutive Buzzi ranted about Ali interfering in her relationship with her boyfriend, then threateningly pointed her index finger at him. "If you want to make something of it, I want you to meet me out in the parking lot, and we'll have it out, man to man," Buzzi tells him, unleashing dozens of rapid-fire handbag hits to the head and shoulders of the bemused champion, who took it all in good humor. At another roast, Buzzi as Gladys tells Martin: "Look at you, sitting there so calm and cool, when last night you were yearning for my body." Martin responds: "That wasn't yearning, it was yawning," precipitating a handbag assault, with entertainment legend Frank Sinatra looking on and laughing. "No, it didn't hurt," Buzzi told interviewer Nick Thomas in 2016. "It looked vicious, but it was just a felt purse lined and filled with old pantyhose and cotton. I was able to swing it with all my might and it still wouldn't hurt anyone, although it looked great and sounded great with a 'thud' when it landed." Buzzi earned three prime-time Emmy Award nominations in the 1970s - for "Laugh-In" and "The Dean Martin Show" - and two daytime Emmy nods in the 1980s and '90s, including one for her work on the acclaimed children's show "Sesame Street." She won a 1973 Golden Globe award for "Laugh-In." Buzzi perfected a portfolio of zany characters. "My favorite character to play was actually 'Doris Sidebottom,' the sloppy drunk," Buzzi said. "I also had fun with 'Busy Buzzi,' the gossip columnist, and my hooker character, 'Kim Hither.'" In addition to guest appearances on various variety shows and sitcoms over the years, Buzzi occasionally played supporting roles in films such as "Freaky Friday", "The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again" and "The North Avenue Irregulars."
Hindustan Times
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
'Laugh-In' star Ruth Buzzi, scowling lady with the handbag, dead at 88
WASHINGTON - Comic performer Ruth Buzzi, who played a counterpoint to the 1960s sexual revolution for laughs as the frumpy, hairnet-wearing, handbag-swinging spinster on U.S. prime-time television hit "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," has died at age 88. Buzzi succumbed to complications from Alzheimer's disease at her ranch home near Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday, 10 years after she was diagnosed, her longtime Los Angeles-based agent Mike Eisenstadt said in a statement. "Her husband of almost 48 years, Kent Perkins, expressed to me that she was making people laugh just a few days ago," Eisenstadt said in an email message to Reuters on Friday. Born and raised in New England, Buzzi moved to California after high school to study acting and joined the Pasadena Playhouse for the Performing Arts, alongside future Oscar winners Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman. She went on to an entertainment career spanning 60 years. She was best known for her work on "Laugh-In," a groundbreaking NBC ensemble comedy hour that premiered in the summer of 1968, helping to define the pop culture of the era and launching the careers of several stars, including Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin. Buzzi devised a series of sketch comedy characters on the show. Gladys Ormphby, her most famous, was a scowling, irascible spinster who wore drab brown dresses and a hairnet with a spider-like knot in the center of her forehead. Sitting on a park bench, she would react to the approaches of a dirty old man played by Arte Johnson by mercilessly walloping him with her handbag when he muttered come-ons to her. The Gladys and Tyrone bits offered a satiric contrast to the era's sexually permissive vibe celebrated on the show, which ran until 1973. The Gladys character became so popular that she began appearing elsewhere on prime time, and it became a badge of honor for a celebrity to be thrashed by Buzzi. Appearing on one of several televised celebrity "roasts" hosted by actor-singer Dean Martin, Buzzi encountered the heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali. As Gladys, the diminutive Buzzi ranted about Ali interfering in her relationship with her boyfriend, then threateningly pointed her index finger at him. "If you want to make something of it, I want you to meet me out in the parking lot, and we'll have it out, man to man," Buzzi tells him, unleashing dozens of rapid-fire handbag hits to the head and shoulders of the bemused champion, who took it all in good humor. At another roast, Buzzi as Gladys tells Martin: "Look at you, sitting there so calm and cool, when last night you were yearning for my body." Martin responds: "That wasn't yearning, it was yawning," precipitating a handbag assault, with entertainment legend Frank Sinatra looking on and laughing. "No, it didn't hurt," Buzzi told interviewer Nick Thomas in 2016. "It looked vicious, but it was just a felt purse lined and filled with old pantyhose and cotton. I was able to swing it with all my might and it still wouldn't hurt anyone, although it looked great and sounded great with a 'thud' when it landed." Buzzi earned three prime-time Emmy Award nominations in the 1970s - for "Laugh-In" and "The Dean Martin Show" - and two daytime Emmy nods in the 1980s and '90s, including one for her work on the acclaimed children's show "Sesame Street." She won a 1973 Golden Globe award for "Laugh-In." Buzzi perfected a portfolio of zany characters. "My favorite character to play was actually 'Doris Sidebottom,' the sloppy drunk," Buzzi said. "I also had fun with 'Busy Buzzi,' the gossip columnist, and my hooker character, 'Kim Hither.'" In addition to guest appearances on various variety shows and sitcoms over the years, Buzzi occasionally played supporting roles in films such as "Freaky Friday", "The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again" and "The North Avenue Irregulars."
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock reunite, ‘Little House' reboot finds its Laura Ingalls, ‘Thunderbolts' opens big, and more of today's top news stories
Gold Derby's top news stories for May 2, 2025. Comedian Ruth Buzzi died May 1 at her home in Texas. She was 88. Buzzi was best known for her work on the 1968-73 sketch comedy series Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, including her signature character Gladys Ormphby. She was part of the ensemble for all six seasons, and was nominated for five Emmys. She was also known for appearing on Sesame Street for 15 years and for her voiceover work on many animated shows. More from GoldDerby How Lee Jung-jae and the rest of the Season 2 'Squid Game' squad are submitting for Emmy acting categories Robert De Niro, Angela Bassett and every 'Zero Day' Emmy acting submission Natasha Lyonne clarifies that her AI directing debut 'Uncanny Valley' is 'not really an AI film' Singer-songwriter Jill Sobule died in a Minneapolis house fire on May 1. She was 66. Sobule's 1995 song "I Kissed a Girl" is considered to be the first openly gay-themed song to chart on the Billboard Top 20. She was also known for her song "Supermodel," which appeared on the soundtrack for the film Clueless, and her Drama Desk-nominated autobiographical musical F--- 7th Grade. Keanu Reeves and Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock, who previously starred together in the era-defining 1994 thriller Speed and the 2006 romance The Lake House, are reuniting for an untitled romantic thriller set up at Amazon MGM Studios. Speed producer Mark Gordon is also onboard. Story details are being kept under wraps, but the screenplay is being written by Zero Day co-creator . Thunderbolts, the latest Marvel movie, earned $11.5 million in previews ahead of its opening weekend, where it's projected to gross $70 million-75 million domestically and $160 million-175 million worldwide. This puts it a little behind Captain America: Brave New World, which opened to $88 million domestic over President's Day weekend. Its production budget is estimated to be around $180 million. The film features a team-up of Marvel antiheroes including Bucky Barnes (), Yelena Belova (), Red Guardian (), and U.S. Agent (). Netflix's upcoming adaptation of the book series Little House on the Prairie has cast its Laura Ingalls. Alice Halsey will play the character, a semi-autobiographical version of author Laura Ingalls Wilder, who based the book series on her childhood. Halsey made her TV debut in Apple TV+'s Lessons in Chemistry. She will be joined in the series by Luke Bracey (Elvis) and Crosby Fitzgerald (Palm Royale) as parents Charles and Caroline Ingalls and Skywalker Hughes (Joe Pickett) as older sister Mary Ingalls. which is written and executive-produced by (The Boys). The beloved books series was previously adapted into an equally beloved television show in the 1970s, which remains one of the most popular library titles on streaming. Bugonia, the next film from Academy Award-nominated director Yorgos Lanthimos, will start with a limited release on Oct. 24 before opening wide on Oct. 31. The film stars Academy Award winner in her fourth collaboration with Lanthimos, along with , Aidan Delbis, , and . The screenplay is by Succession's . Bugonia follows two conspiracy-obsessed young men who kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced she is an alien intent on destroying Planet Earth. Redwood, a new musical starring Idina Menzel, has set a closing date for May 18. The notice comes days after it earned zero Tony nominations, suggesting that the show was counting on Tony nominations to generate some hear. The production's reviews have skewed negative, and has seen declining grosses since opening. Redwood is about a grieving mother (Menzel) who climbs a giant redwood tree in an effort to process her grief. Roadside Attractions released the trailer for Western thriller The Unholy Trinity, which will open in theaters on June 13. The film stars , , and Brandon Lessard as men seeking buried treasure — and revenge — in 1870s Montana. It's directed by Richard Gray and written by Lee Zachariah. The cast also includes Q'orianka Kilcher, Tim Daly, Ethan Peck, Katrina Bowden, and David Arquette. A24 released a first look promo for horror film Bring Her Back, writer-directors Danny and Michael Philippou's follow-up to their debut hit Talk to Me. Academy Award nominee stars as a foster mother with some psychotic tendencies. In the clip, the brothers praise Hawkins' highly committed and terrifying performance, and promise that "There's some f---ed-up s--- in this film." (Wonder Woman) and Matthias Schoenaerts (The Old Guard) are set to star in Ruin, a World War II thriller from director (The Mother). The film, which is written by Kaz and Ryan Firpo (Eternals), is set in the ruins of Germany immediately after World War II and follows a newly released camp prisoner (Gadot) who forms an alliance with a German soldier (Schoenaerts) as they both seek revenge on a Nazi SS unit. The project will be for sale at the Cannes marketplace and is aiming for an early 2026 production start. (Barbie), (Fallout), and (Road House) have signed on for teen serial killer comedy Hot Ted, which hails from former SNL segment director Hannah Levy and screenwriter Grace McLeod. Greenblatt stars as a true crime podcast obsessive who suspects that Ted (Magnussen), a counselor at her summer camp, is a murderer, because he owns a van and doesn't have social media. He's either a psycho killer or the perfect man. 'Hot Ted is a psychosexual thriller as imagined by virgins. Mean Girls meets American Psycho,' Levy said in a statement. 'This is the movie I've been dreaming to make — a reinvention of the camp comedy that speaks to being a teenager right now and always.' It will be up for sale at Cannes Best of GoldDerby 'The Pitt' star Shawn Hatosy loves 'ER cowboy' Dr. Abbot as much as you do Everything to know about Ryan Coogler's 'The X-Files' reboot: Gillian Anderson finally weighs in 'I just wanted to make her feel seen': Imogen Faith Reid on portraying Natalia Grace in Hulu's 'Good American Family' Click here to read the full article.
