Ruth Buzzi obituary

Ruth Buzzi's "restless creativity" had her taking roles all over

(Image credit: Frederick M. Brown / Getty Image)

published 13 May 2025

Ruth Buzzi thwacked her way to comedy stardom. As the frumpy, paranoid Gladys Ormphby on the NBC sketch show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, she was swathed in dowdy brown clothes, her hair parted severely down the center and a hairnet knotted at her forehead. A woman with no patience for lecherous men, Gladys was both a joke and a feminist symbol, clutching her purse as a weapon to swat any cad who got too fresh. Buzzi played plenty of other characters during her 1968–73 Laugh-In run, earning a Golden Globe award and five Emmy nominations. But Gladys was the most popular, and Buzzi appeared in that persona on other variety and talk shows as well—with the handbag. "It looked vicious, but it was just a felt purse lined and filled with old pantyhose and cotton," she said. "I was able to swing it with all my might and it still wouldn't hurt anyone. Although it sounded great with a thud when it landed."

Raised in Connecticut, Buzzi was the daughter of a renowned Swiss sculptor. Though she was head cheerleader in high school, she struggled in ballet class, said The Hollywood Reporter. Her teacher suggested making the dance comical, and "it was a big hit!" she said. "I continued to do funny dances and funny this and funny that." After graduation, she "boldly moved across the country to enroll at the Pasadena Playhouse," studying alongside Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman. Playing clumsy housekeeper Agnes Gooch in the play Auntie Mame inspired her to experiment with slumping posture and bad hair—the beginnings of what would become Gladys. After making her Broadway debut in 1966's Sweet Charity, she found her niche as an absurd outsider starting with a role on ABC's That Girl.

Yet she wouldn't be typecast. Her "restless creativity" had her taking roles all over, said The Washington Post, in off-Broadway shows, movies like 1976's Freaky Friday, sitcoms, and commercials. She even had a recurring role on Sesame Street in the 1990s, as shopkeeper Ruthie. She only fully retired in 2021 to spend time on her Texas ranch. "Nothing in her career, however, had the enduring appeal of her determinedly unappealing" Gladys, said The New York Times. "So many people ask me to hit them with my purse"—even Elton John, she said in 2016. "He immediately made his way over to me and said, 'For God's sakes, Ruth, please hit me with your purse. That's been on my bucket list for years!'"