Tributes paid to comedy legend Ruth Buzzi, who called North Texas home before her death
Buzzi, whose humor America first glimpsed on the late 1960s TV show "Laugh-In," turned her iconic characters from those classic skits into an enduring comedy franchise.
Ruth Buzzi during The 20th Anniversary William S. Paley Television Festival Presents "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" at Directors Guild Theatre Complex in West Hollywood, California, United States. (Photo by Mike Guastella/WireImage)
Mike Guastella
American actress and comedian Ruth Buzzi, wearing a black hairnet and a brown cardigan, attends a Hollywood Fan Convention, in Los Angeles, California, 10th January 1996.
/ Getty Images
Throughout the 1970s, Buzzi appeared in everything from children's shows to celebrity roasts and variety programs. She shared the screen with the most famous entertainers of the 20th century and was always willing to play the foil or be the butt of the joke.
In the last decades of her life, Buzzi and her husband retired to a sprawling ranch in Erath County. Despite being a comedy legend, she became a familiar face to her neighbors and around the nearby towns, making occasional appearances.
She often shared her adventures and jokes on social media, even after a series of strokes in recent years. Alzheimer's disease finally took her life this week.
"It was just a great pleasure to meet her and call myself a fan and to call her a friend," said former DFW radio reporter Andrew Greenstein, who got to know Buzzi several years ago when he interviewed her.
Greenstein said she was just as funny off-screen as she was on-screen.
"She was absolutely hilarious," Greenstein said. "When her husband let me into the house, she had not come down yet, and as she was walking down the stairs, she was calling out to me, 'Andrew.' I had never met her in person in my entire life."
Under a photo of her ever-present smile, Buzzi's husband told fans to remember her by knowing that she had as much fun as they did while she was making them laugh.
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