Rest in peace.
Posted on 10/03/2005 11:23:14 AM PDT by Borges
Actor Nipsey Russell Dies - Actor Nipsey Russell, known as "the poet laureate of television," passed away yesterday afternoon at Lenox Hill Hospital.
Eyewitness News has learned Russell died of cancer, confirmed his longtime manager, Joseph Rapp. He was in his early 80s.
Rapp said Russell was born in 1923, although some reports had him born in 1924. The manager said his age was never clear because Russell did not retain a birth certificate.
Russell achieved his first major role as Officer Anderson in "Car 54, Where Are You?"
He appeared on a string of game shows and variety shows, such as the "Dean Martin Roasts," "Laugh-In," "Jackie Gleason Show," among many others.
Russell delighted audiences with short poems, earning him the nickname "the poet laureate of television." He appeared on "The Tonight Show" and many other very popular talk shows of the day.
While he did not appear in many film roles, he will be remembered for his role of the Tin Man in the 1978 "The Wiz." The movie was a box office failure, but since the movie has been considered a cult classic.
RIP Nipsey. I always enjoyed watching him!
Rest in peace.
Well there goes the last chance of gameshows being worth watching again. He was the best reason for $20,000 Pyramid and Hollywood Squares to exist.
RIP.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Nipsey Russell has died
Boo-hoo-hoo.
RIP Nipsey.
Also don't forget Matchgame! He was on their quite alot. Three of my favorite gameshows!
Fitting tribute.
I remember him from the variety and game shows of the '60's and '70's. Sweet man.
Match Game rocks!!! Thanks to the Game Show network I can still enjoy it.
R.I.P. Nipsey.
Don Adams. Nipsey.
That's two. Who will be the third?
Hope it's not Matlock . . .
A very funny and classy guy. I saw him perform about 5 years ago in one of the last of the Borscht-Belt hotels, the Concord. He didn't have to use a single foul word to keep the audience rolling and he could reel off funny quips in Yiddish too. Apparently, he hung around with enough of the old vaudeville crowd to pick up a good amount of Yiddish.
RIP
RIP Nipsey.
I remember Matchgame. What I remember most was that for a while there were so many gameshows with celebrities on them and it seemed Nipsy was doing them in a rotation and you almost never had to go a day without one of his poems. I remember doing the Monday hunt, checking the first 2 minutes of every gameshow to see who had Nipsey. Too bad he's from before the day of the ubiquitous desk calendar.
RIP Nipsey.
He never failed to make me smile!
Third one was BOB DENVER don't forget!
Pssst, Gilligan (Bob Denver) was number 1!
Here come da judge!
Match Game is hands down the best game show of all time. Silly, stupid, making fun of contestants for stupid answers, innuendo galore, etc... what else could you ask for?
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