Latest news with #RowanandMartin'sLaugh-In
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."
Los Angeles Times
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Ruth Buzzi, who played a purse-wielding spinster on ‘Laugh-In,' dies at 88
Ruth Buzzi, famous for her work as handbag-wielding spinster Gladys Ormphby on 'Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In,' died Thursday, her family announced Friday. The actor was 88. 'Ruth Buzzi died peacefully in her sleep at home in Texas,' read the note on Facebook. 'She was in hospice care for several years with Alzheimer's disease.' Buzzi's husband of more than 40 years, Kent Perkins, announced in July 2022 that she had suffered 'devastating strokes' that left her bedridden and incapacitated. 'I am living with an attitude of gratitude for 43 years of marriage to my best friend, the greatest person I ever met, the one and only Ruth Buzzi,' he wrote at the time on social media. 'Her love for others knows no bounds, and she has spent a lifetime making people smile.' She could still speak, understand and recognize her friends and loved ones at that point, he said. Early Thursday he wrote on Facebook that Buzzi had 'asked me to thank all of you for being so good to her for so many years. She wants you to know she probably had more fun doing those shows than you had watching them.' The performer was born July 24, 1936, in Rhode Island and raised in Connecticut. She enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse College of Theatre Arts, which was affiliated with Southern California's Pasadena Playhouse from 1928 to 1968 and had more than 5,000 students over the years. She was in every episode of NBC's 'Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In' (1967-73), where she honed her comedic role as a park-bench spinster, and was among many cast members to utter the line 'Sock it to me.' That came after Buzzi became a fixture on television in the late '60s with appearances on 'The Monkees' (1967) and 'The Steve Allen Comedy Hour' (1967) and a part on 'That Girl' (1967-68). 'You can't find anyone funnier than Goldie Hawn or Ruth Buzzi or Arte Johnson,' 'Laugh-In' creator and executive producer George Schlatter told The Times in 2019. Buzzi herself told The Times in 2011 about working with John Wayne on the variety show. 'John Wayne loved us so much. He would do just about anything you would ask him to do. He did one sketch where he was Gladys' husband,' she said, referring to her famous spinster character. 'They had me wearing a little bitty cowboy hat and little bitty guns. I had to hit him, and I kept hitting him waiting for them to say cut. I turned around and said, 'Please, I don't want to hit this man.' It was so funny they put [the aside] in the show.' Among her more recent acting credits were the 2009 film 'City of Shoulders and Noses,' 'Fallen Angels' (2006) and multiple episodes of 'Passions' (2003), and she played Suzie Kabloozie in 86 episodes of 'Sesame Street.' Her final credit came in 2021 when she played Agnes in the movie 'One Month Out.' This story is developing and will be updated. Former Times staff writer Lauren Beale contributed to this report.
