Ruth Buzzi Is A Farmer's Wife



All Photos:  Alan Mercer    Hair:  David Blackstock

Ruth Buzzi is a comedienne and actress of theatre, film, and television. She is especially known for her performances on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973.

Ruth Buzzi was born the daughter of Rena Pauline and Angelo Peter Buzzi, a nationally recognized stone sculptor. She was raised in Wequetequock, Connecticut, in a rock house overlooking the ocean at Wequeteqouck Cove, where her father owned Buzzi Memorials, a business still operated by her older brother, Harold. Her father carved the marble eagles at Penn Station in New York, the granite Leif Erikson memorial in Providence, Rhode Island, the animals seen in relief on the Natural History Museum in New York, and made thousands of tombstones from the family business near Stonington, in the tiny hamlet of Wequetequock.

Ruth attended Stonington High School, about a mile from her home. She was the head cheerleader and began gaining experience there, performing before crowds. At 17, she flew to California and enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse for the Performing Arts from which she graduated with honors; her classmates included Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman. She studied voice, dance, and acting and also took courses in cosmetology just in case the acting career failed to attain success. Before even graduation from college, she was a working actress, however, obtaining her Union card and working part time in musical and comedy revues. She moved to New York after graduation and on her very first audition was hired for a lead role in an off-Broadway musical; that was the first of 19 such revues in her career.

Before leaving New York for a career in Los Angeles as a TV star, Ruth appeared in a Bob Fosse classic Broadway hit, 'Sweet Charity,' with Gwen Verdon. Between New York musical variety shows, Ruth made numerous national television commercials, some of which won awards including the coveted CLEO.

Ruth Buzzi's first national appearance on television came on the 'Garry Moore Show' just after Carol Burnett was replaced by Dorothy Loudon on the series. Ruth Buzzi saw her first taste of national fame as "Shakuntala" the silent, bumbling magician's assistant to her comedy partner Dom DeLuise as "Dominic the Great". They were an instant hit with the public.

Ruth was a member of the regular repertory company on the CBS variety show 'The Entertainers' (1964–1965). In the late 1960s, she was featured as a semi-regular on the sitcom 'That Girl' as Marlo Thomas's friend and in a comedy-variety series starring Steve Allen. Her character parts in the Allen sketches led her to be cast for NBC's new show 'Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.' Ruth Buzzi was the only featured player to appear in every episode of 'Laugh-In.'

Her most famous character is the dowdy spinster Gladys Ormphby, clad in drab brown with her bun hairdo covered by a visible hairnet knotted in the middle of her forehead. In most sketches, she used her lethal purse, with which she would flail away vigorously at anyone who incurred her wrath. On 'Laugh-In,' Gladys most often appeared as the unwilling object of the advances of Arte Johnson's "dirty old man" character Tyrone F. Horneigh.

Ruth, as Gladys, later became a regular part of Dean Martin's "Celebrity Roasts", usually punishing Martin for his remarks about her unappealing looks and poor romantic prospects. In one such exchange, Gladys accusingly questioned Martin about who had been chasing her around a hotel room in the wee hours; Martin's response, "The exterminator!" earned him a beating as he broke up laughing along with the audience. Gladys then declared to the audience that, when Martin and other men looked at her, only one thing came to their minds. Martin, still laughing, could barely get out the answer, "Rabies!" which earned him an even fiercer beating from Gladys.

She is still seen frequently on 'Sesame Street' in comedy sketch clips from her seven years on that show, and is often heard as the voice of outlandish failed torch singer, "Susie Kabloozy".

Ruth Buzzi was a semi-regular guest star on many television series including 'Donny & Marie,' 'The Flip Wilson Show,' 'The Dean Martin Music and Comedy Hour,' the 'Dean Martin Roasts,' 'The Carol Burnett Show,' 'Tony Orlando and Dawn,' and variety series hosted by Leslie Uggams and Glen Campbell.

Ruth had a successful nightclub act all across the United States including in Las Vegas at the Sahara Hotel and at the MGM Grand. She only performed the act for one year because she did not like the smell of cigarette smoke and disliked traveling all the time; her shows were all sold out and she was offered an extended stay in Las Vegas but opted out.

Ruth Buzzi has had featured roles in more than 20 motion pictures including 'Chu Chu and the Philly Flash,' 'The North Avenue Irregulars,' 'The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again,' 'The Villain,' and a number of westerns for the European market known as the Lucky Luke series in which she plays the mother of the Dalton Gang and other roles.

Buzzi is an inductee into the Television and Radio Hall of Fame and the Rhode Island Hall of Fame. She has been nominated by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Emmy Awards five times in several categories from comedy and variety to drama; she was recognized not only for making people laugh, but for her versatility as an actress; she is remembered for a guest starring dramatic role on 'Medical Center' with Greg Evigan in which she played the wife of a fatally ill man played by Don Rickles.

Ruth Buzzi received the coveted Golden Globe Award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for her work on 'Laugh-In.'

Ruth now lives primarily in Southlake, Texas and enjoys spending time with her husband Kent Perkins (a retired businessman) at their 220-acre ranch just west of Fort Worth, Texas where they raise Black Angus cattle and quarter horses; she has a horse named Gladys, a cat named Ratso Rizzo, and her hobby is painting.

Buzzi does not offer paintings for sale to the public, but has donated paintings to charity where they have sold for thousands of dollars. She supports children's charities including Make a Wish Foundation, the Special Olympics, St. Jude Hospital, and Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

It was my friend David Blackstock who introduced me to Ruth. We went to her home along with Richard Levi, who is in Texas now, and Tony Colbert. All four of us had a great time playing around with Ruth. There is much laughter during this conversation that I wish you all could hear. Ruth is exactly the same in real life as she is on television.

AM: Ruth, how long have you been living in Ft. Worth?

RB: I would say about four years now.

AM: So it's home now?

RB: Well it's home but then again South Lake is also home. We got a place there seven years ago. We own a shopping center in Ft. Worth. We got that right after we got the house. Because we have the shopping center we needed an office close by so that's what this is. It just happens to be a wonderful house! It's a log cabin. You feel like you're in the mountains.

AM: Yes you do! By the way I saw your longhorn cattle.

RB: Did you? There's only one and that's the little girl. My husband lets that beautiful longhorn roam around and she has beat up the cactus plant. At this point it would be yellow and blooming, but she has just ripped it up. My husband said it would grow back quickly and it has. So now I might cut some and cook it! No, no, no. (laughing) We can cook it, fry it, grill it and eat it. You do that down here you just grill away!

AM: Did you ever think you'd be living in Texas with ducks and swans and cattle?

RB: (laughing) No! My maid calls them swabs! I love her dearly but when she said that I nearly died! I like that name. I like them being called swabs!

AM: I never thought of you as this kind of person.

RB: I know, I never did either.

AM: You're from the East Coast.

RB: I am from the East and we don't have animals in the East.

AM: I think of you more like a theater person and a TV star.

RB: I was raised in Wequetequock, Connecticut. It's not Theater, trust me. It's Indians and Indians don't have swabs! In fact that's where the first Indian Casino is. Everybody goes there. I was there the first week it opened.

AM: Now did you ever do an act in a casino?

RB: I think you're getting very personal now! (we are all laughing) Do an "act" in a casino! What kind of an act? I'm now interviewing you! What kind of an act are you talking about?!?

AM: Well I meant a stage show but you can answer anyway you'd like!

RB: I've done a club act in a lot of different places. With the 'Laugh-In' people we did a small show. Really we went to places where people wanted to see us and ask a lot of questions and we just had a lot of fun. I've been in a lot of casinos because I do a lot of autograph signings.

AM: Do you enjoy meeting fans at autograph signings?

RB: Yes, yes it's fun! I wouldn't want to do it all the time but the few times I do it, like twice a year, they make you feel great. This is the first time that Kent and I aren't going to the Indy 500. Even though it's work, the one thing I miss is the parade. It's like an hour and a half long and the people scream. It seems like everybody comes to the parade. They make you feel really fabulous. I will miss that this year.

AM: You seem to have pointed your life in a different direction than show business.

RB: Besides this place here in Ft. Worth, and I just found this out about three years ago, I didn't know that my husband had a dream, ever since he was a little boy, to own a ranch in Texas! I NEVER knew it! Had I known this I would have thought more about the swabs, the pigs, the wild boars, the snakes, and all these things I am absolutely petrified of. He thought I would be a great cowgirl. He has found out in the last three months that I stink at it! He laughs and he's wonderful about it, thank goodness! I have disappointed him I know. I am not a cowgirl so he calls me a 'guinea on the range' because I'm Italian. Did you know that?

AM: I did.

RB: A lot of people don't know that. My real last name is spelled Buzzi but pronounced BOOTZY. The second I go to Europe it's Miss Bootsy, that's it. I like that and would love to be called that. Thank goodness when my father came here from the old country and people called him Buzzi, he didn't try to correct them and I'm glad because you'd be doing it all day long. About once a year someone will call me by the real pronunciation of my last name and I get all excited.

AM: What did your father do?

RB: He was an incredible stone sculptor. He was one of the top five stone sculptors on the Eastern seaboard in 1954. He did the eagles on the George Washington bridge. He said he never got paid for them. It was just like being a performer. Every once and a while you get a job where they are just not going to pay you. Kent and I did a children's series. We did eighteen shows in fourteen days. It was a whole cast and there was music to learn. We never got paid. 'Betsy Lee' was the name of the series.

AM: This reminds me that after 'Laugh-In' you are most known for 'Sesame Street.'

RB: Well that was the next series that I was on.

AM: How long did you do that for?

RB: Off and on for six years. It was a period that covered six years.

AM: That really makes you immortal.

RB: I think so! I believe you. It was a tough show to do. All the Muppets are incredibly talented wonderful people. I love them all. I really do, but being a human on the show you have to memorize everything. The Muppets don't have to learn anything, they can read because they are behind things. The only thing that used to get me crazy, and they will find this out now, because I never said a word, and I was just fine. What they would do when they called you for a sketch was just hang out and be funny! They had great personalities and they would talk to each other up to the last second. As a performer who just learned all that stuff you want to put your head together for like thirty seconds and you couldn't do that. They really were funny and I didn't want to miss what they were saying.

AM: But you couldn't concentrate on your part could you?

RB: No you couldn't concentrate. However it was never bad enough that I had to say anything like "SHUT-UP!" but way down deep I wanted to say, "Please be quiet." They were such wonderful people with a lot of talent. I did a lot of funny dances and songs.

AM: You are all over the internet now. Those skits are on Youtube.

RB: Now everything is coming back and I'm so happy about it. I worked hard for those people.

AM: All the 'Laugh-In' skits are out there too and the Dean Martin Comedy Roasts.

RB: I want a lot of the other Variety Shows I was onto be out there to and I guess they are. When I was on 'Laugh-In' I was the only one who did all the other Variety Shows. I would be on them more than once. I did a lot of very funny sketches, crazy funny, some of them much funnier than 'Laugh-In.'

AM: Have you looked at Youtube?

RB: Oh yes, my husband finds them. He screams and I come running down the stairs. Whoo! It's so wonderful that my husband is so proud of me. We've been married now for a long time. Thirty-two years and he gets excited seeing me in things. He wants to put them on Facebook.

AM: Are you on Facebook?

RB: No I'm not but my husband is. I don't do any of those things. I'm the one who packed up three houses. Once we build our house on the ranch there's going to be another pack up.

AM: Ruth I get the feeling that despite the hard work you are loving your life these days.

RB: Oh yes! Being a farmer's wife is a lot of work.

AM: Do you get a chance to relax and have vacations?

RB: We relax when we watch TV. We've been so many places throughout my whole career. I've been everywhere. Been there, done that. I don't care anymore. Thank goodness my husband is at a point where he doesn't care anymore either. I really just want to stay home. I love home. I LOVE home.