LOSS OF AN ICON

Ruth Buzzi, ‘Sesame Street’ Star Comedian, Dies at 88

Buzzi rose to fame playing the handbag-wielding Gladys Ormphby on ‘Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.’

Ruth Buzzi, the comedic actress who starred in Sesame Street and played Gladys Ormphby on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, died Thursday. She was 88. “Ruth Buzzi died peacefully in her sleep at home in Texas,” a post on her Facebook page read Friday. “She was in hospice care for several years with Alzheimer’s disease.” In 1993, she began a six-year run as shopkeeper Ruthie on Sesame Street—a role she reprised in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999). Buzzi was also the voice of the character Suzie Kabloozie. Over a 45-year career, Buzzi made over 200 TV appearances and earned five Emmy nominations, including three for her performance in Laugh-In, an NBC variety sketch comedy that ran from 1968 to 1973. The only regular to appear in all six seasons, she won a Golden Globe in 1973 for her work on the show. Buzzi also brought her beloved Gladys character to the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts in Las Vegas, where she famously swung her handbag at the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Lucille Ball. The actress and comedian also played Margie “Pete” Peterson on ABC’s That Girl, and was part of the original Broadway cast of Sweet Charity in 1966. Buzzi retired from acting in 2021. “She wants you to know she probably had more fun doing those shows than you had watching them,” her husband, actor Kent Perkins, wrote Thursday.