Ruth Buzzi, Comedic Actress Who Gained Fame on 'Laugh-In,' Dies

Her other recurring characters on Laugh-In included Flicker Farkle; Busy-Buzzi, a Hollywood gossip columnist; Doris Swizzler, a cocktail-lounge regular who got drunk with husband Leonard, played by Dick Martin; and an inconsiderate flight attendant.

“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.”

Buzzi remained friends through the years with Laugh-In co-stars Lily Tomlin and Jo Anne Worley.

Born Ruth Ann Buzzi on July 24, 1936, in Westerly, Rhode Island, she was the daughter of Angelo Buzzi, a nationally known stone sculptor. Her father and later her brother operated Buzzi Memorials, a gravestone and monument maker in Stonington, Connecticut, where she was head cheerleader in high school.

Buzzi enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse at age 17. Two years later, she traveled with singer Rudy Vallee in a musical and comedy act during her summer break. That earned her an Actors’ Equity union card before she graduated from the playhouse’s College of Theatre Arts.

Buzzi moved to New York and was immediately hired for a lead role in an off-Broadway musical revue, the first of 19 such shows she performed in on the East Coast.

(From left) "Laugh-In" cast members Lily Tomlin, Henry Gibson, Ruth Buzzi and Gary Owens in 2002. "Laugh-In," which aired on NBC from 1968 to 1973, was a groundbreaking sketch comedy show that inspired "Saturday Night Live" and many others.

Nick Ut/AP Photo

She got her national television break on The Garry Moore Show in 1964, just after Carol Burnett was replaced by Dorothy Loudon on the series. She played Shakundala the Silent, a bumbling magician’s assistant to Dom DeLuise’s character Dominic the Great.

Buzzi was a regular on the CBS variety show The Entertainers, whose hosts included Burnett and Bob Newhart.

She was in the original Broadway cast of Sweet Charity with Gwen Verdon in 1966.

Buzzi toured the country with her nightclub act, including appearances in Las Vegas.

She was a semi-regular on That Girl as Marlo Thomas’ friend. She co-starred with Jim Nabors as time-traveling androids on The Lost Saucer in the mid-1970s.

Her other guest appearances included variety shows hosted by Burnett, Flip Wilson, Glen Campbell, Tony Orlando, Donny and Marie Osmond, and Leslie Uggams.

She appeared in Ball’s last comedy series, Life With Lucy.

Buzzi guested in music videos with “Weird Al” Yankovic, the B-52’s and the Presidents of the United States of America.

She did hundreds of guest voices in cartoon series, including Pound Puppies, Berenstain Bears, The Smurfs and The Angry Beavers.

She was Emmy-nominated for her six-year run as shopkeeper Ruthie on Sesame Street.

Her movie credits included Freaky Friday, Chu Chu and the Philly Flash, The North Avenue Irregulars and The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again.

Buzzi was active on social media and had thousands of followers whom she rewarded with such one-liners as “I have never faked a sarcasm” and “Scientists say the universe is made up entirely of neurons, protons and electrons. They seem to have missed morons.”

She married actor Kent Perkins in 1978.

The couple moved from California to Texas in 2003 and bought a 640-acre 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.