On Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, a lecherous old man on a park bench, played by Arte Johnson, would sidle up to a frumpy woman in a hairnet and make a pass at her. She would hit him with her handbag. The woman was Gladys Ormphby, and the actress who played her, Ruth Buzzi, was the only performer to appear in every episode of the show’s six seasons. Buzzi died at her home in Stephenville, Texas, on May 1, 2025. She was 88. Her agent said she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and was in hospice care.
Laugh-In
Buzzi was born in Westerly, Rhode Island, in 1936 and trained as an actress in California. She worked in nightclubs and revues and was in the original Broadway cast of Sweet Charity with Gwen Verdon in 1966. Laugh-In, a fast-cut sketch show that ran on NBC from 1968 to 1973, made her famous. Alongside Gladys she played a string of other characters, and her work on the show brought her a Golden Globe in 1973 and Emmy nominations.
Sesame Street and cartoons
After Laugh-In, Buzzi became a familiar face and voice to children. She spent six years as the shopkeeper Ruthie on Sesame Street, a role that also earned her an Emmy nomination, and voiced characters in hundreds of cartoon episodes, including Pound Puppies, The Berenstain Bears, The Smurfs and The Angry Beavers. Over a career of 45 years she made more than 200 television appearances.
Later life
In later years Buzzi lived on a ranch in Texas with her husband of 43 years, the actor Kent Perkins. Sesame Workshop said she had brought warmth, wit and joy to the show. Her family asked for donations to Alzheimer’s research instead of flowers.
Gladys Ormphby and her handbag became one of the best-known running jokes on American television in the late 1960s, and Buzzi played it straight every time.