North Texas actor and ‘Laugh-In’ comedian Ruth Buzzi dies at 88, family says
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Ruth Buzzi, the North Texas comedian who starred in “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” from 1968 to 1973, has died, according to her family. She was 88.
A post on the entertainer’s official Facebook page said she died peacefully in her sleep Thursday, May 1. Buzzi was battling Alzheimer’s disease and had been in hospice care for several years.
Buzzi, who lived in Erath County, suffered a series of strokes in 2022. In 2023, the then 86-year-old comedian took to social media to dispel rumors that she had died.
She is perhaps best known for her role as Gladys Ormphby, the handbag wielding spinster on the sketch comedy series “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.” Other roles included a storekeeper on “Sesame Street” in the 1990s and voice parts on the “Berenstain Bears” and “The Smurfs.”
Singer Nancy Sinatra called Buzzi a “comedic genius.”
“Working alongside her on Laugh-In was the most fun I ever had working,” Sinatra said in a Facebook post. “I treasured her friendship and I am heartbroken to wake up to the news that she is gone.”
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Buzzi’s husband, Kent Perkins, posted a message to the comedian’s Facebook page Thursday a short time before her death.
“She asked me to thank all of you for being so good to her for so many years,” Perkins posted. “She wants you to know she probably had more fun doing those shows than you had watching them.”
Buzzi’s North Texas ties
Around eight months before Buzzi and Perkins married in late 1978, the pair traveled to North Texas for work.
They both filmed scenes at the University of North Texas in Denton for the film “The Trouble with Hello,” according to the Star-Telegram’s archives. The campus romance film, which appears to not have been released, starred Perkins as the jilted boyfriend of Georganne LaPiere and Buzzi as the owner of a local cafe.
It was a small role for Buzzi, who was the biggest name in the low-budget production.
“They talk like I’m in a leading role. I’m not. It’s just a small part,” Buzzi said in the April 11, 1978, edition of the Star-Telegram. “I mainly wanted to do a picture with Kent. In fact, I got the role because of him.”
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Around 14 months later, the Star-Telegram caught up with the couple at the W. E. Scott Theatre.
The pair were in North Texas for a few reasons – Perkins, a beer commercial in Van Horn – and Buzzi in Longview for a church benefit. Before that, the couple were at the theater to see Perkins’ sister-in-law, Pam, in “High Fever,” a fundraising show for the Fort Worth Osteopathic Hospital Service Association.
This schedule was common for the couple, who said they would travel all over for whichever project one or the other was doing.
“We help each other,” Buzzi said in the June 29, 1979, edition of the Star-Telegram. “I don’t see how two people of the opposite sex could be competitive. We can never play the same parts.”
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Buzzi won a Golden Globe Award in 1973 for her role in “Laugh-In,” and received five Emmy nominations during a career that spanned more than 40 years. She and Perkins married in 1978.
In 2003, the couple moved from California to Texas, where they bought a 640-acre ranch near Stephenville, the Associated Press reported.
Memorial arrangements will be announced and are being planned through Lacy Funeral Home in Stephenville.
Buzzi’s family is requesting donations to Alzheimer’s research in place of flowers.
This story was originally published May 2, 2025 at 11:56 AM.
