Top TV Moments: Ruth Buzzi

As happens following the death of every classic TV star, the passing of Ruth Buzzi generated its share of online coverage. But it seemed the tributes were more frequent and heartfelt in this case, which was nice to see and frankly, a little surprising since she’s been mostly out of the public eye for more than a decade. 

Perhaps it happened because we all first met Ruthie in a series that was not just a hit but a phenomenon – one of those shows that explodes into the public consciousness seemingly overnight that everyone is talking about the next day. Typically, they fall as quickly as they rise but still leave a lasting impression. 

Remember when television could produce moments like that? The 1960s gave us a few of them – The Monkees and Batman, The Man from U.N.C.L.E, and certainly Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In would also qualify. With its rapid-fire stream of broad slapstick, music and topical humor, it turned an unknown cast of performers into household names within weeks of its first episode.

Some, like Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin, went on to even greater fame, but the rest – Ruth Buzzi, Arte Johnson, Henry Gibson, Jo Anne Worley – rarely seemed to ever be out of work. Whether it was guest spots in films and TV shows, game shows, regional theater, voiceover work, commercials, they were always turning up somewhere, and when we saw them again it brought back happy memories of once brighter spotlights. 

It's my honor to give Buzzi one more curtain call with a look back at some of her most memorable TV moments. 

The Garry Moore Show (1964)
Buzzi made her TV debut on this popular long-running variety series that launched the careers of Carol Burnett and Durwood Kirby among others. I could not find any further details or footage. Would have been fun to see. 

Linus the Lionhearted (1964)
The first acting credit listed on IMDB has her providing the voice of Granny Goodwitch in this animated series with characters that were featured in cereal commercials. Linus’s cereal never caught on, but Sugar Bear would appear in Sugar Crisp ads for the next 20 years. 

That Girl (1967)
One year before Laugh-In debuted, Buzzi made the first of five appearances on That Girl as Ann Marie’s unlucky-in-love girlfriend, Pete Peterson. So many of Buzzi’s guest spots had her broadly playing over-the-top characters, which makes her work here as a low-key, friendly and supportive neighbor more memorable.

The Monkees (1967)
If Buzzi hadn’t been cast the following year in Laugh-In, I wonder if she would have spent more time taking roles like the one in “A Coffin Too Frequent,” as a silly little old lady going along for the ride in a barely scripted episode. Saving grace: the performance of “Daydream Believer” before the closing credits. 

Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In (1968)
Cast members came and went over the course of six seasons but Ruth Buzzi stayed for the full run – more than 130 episodes. 

She appeared in countless skits and was regularly featured in the musical “Laugh-In looks at the news” segments and the cocktail parties, but she will always be best remembered as Gladys Ormphy, the “purse-wielding spinster” whose visits to the park were always interrupted by Arte Johnson as lascivious Tyrone Horneigh:

“Do you believe in the hereafter?”
“Of course.”
“Then you know what I’m here after.”

Between this character and Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched, the name Gladys has probably been poisoned for generations. 

Here’s Lucy (1972)
In “My Fair Buzzi,” shy Annie Whipple gets a makeover from Kim (Lucie Arnaz) before their community theater musical set in the roaring 1920s. 

This episode is a great showcase for both Buzzi and Arnaz, and a reminder of how this series could mount Broadway-caliber musical numbers within the tight scheduling of a weekly series. 

ABC Afterschool Special (1974)
“The Crazy Comedy Concert” was a big departure for this series, as it wasn’t a scripted mini movie in which no teenagers were pregnant, addicted to something, or facing a family in crisis. Instead, Ruth Buzzi and Tim Conway appear as a cleaning lady and janitor tidying up the Hollywood Bowl the day after a concert. They perform some wordless pantomime skits, between performances of classical music from Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Glinka, among others. 

The Lost Saucer (1975)
It was never a favorite of mine from the Sid & Marty Krofft canon. But having recently acquired an unofficial DVD set of Kaptain Kool & the Kongs and watching some of its 16 episodes again, I found myself warming to its good-natured silliness. Jim Nabors and Ruth Buzzi play android space explorers Fi and Fum, who take a kid and his babysitter for a trip around the galaxy and then get lost and can’t find their way back to earth. 

The Dean Martin Roasts (1978)
Buzzi brought Gladys back for the roasts of Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball and Angie Dickinson. How many performers get to clobber Sinatra without getting rubbed out and tossed into the Hudson? 

Sesame Street (1994)
I know we’re a little past our Comfort TV cutoff date of 1989, but I can’t overlook the fact that after Laugh-In, Buzzi’s best TV work was done on more than 80 episodes of this PBS staple as Ruthie, owner of the shop Finders Keepers. 

One of the more unfortunate aspects of how television evolves is that we are unlikely to ever see another series achieve the kind of phenomenon status that Laugh-In and others once did. Glee was probably the last one before the TV audience became too fractured to produce a show with the same cultural impact. 

Like most everyone I’ve got 400 channels and thousands more options from streamers, but I’d give it all back for the time when just three networks gave us all something to enjoy together. That era is long gone but our fondness for its stars, like Ruth Buzzi, still remains.