Comedian Nipsey Russell, 81-ish
Posted: Tuesday, October 4th, 2005 9:10 amNipsey Russell, an actor and comedian whose impromptu versifying was familiar in years past to TV game show and late-night talk show audiences, died Oct. 2 of cancer at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
Mr. Russell didn’t have a birth certificate, so his age couldn’t officially be confirmed, said Joseph Rapp, Mr. Russell’s manager for nearly 40 years. He was either 81 or 82 and had lived for many years in New York City.
Often called “the poet laureate of comedy,” Mr. Russell may be best known today as one of the polyester-wearing guests on TV quiz show reruns, cracking wise and rhyming couplets in the company of such B-list celebrities as Paul Lynde, Fanny Flagg and Charles Nelson Reilly. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he was a frequent guest on “To Tell the Truth,” “Match Game 73,” “Masquerade Party,” “What’s My Line?” and “Hollywood Squares.” He hosted a daytime game show called “Your Number’s Up.”
In addition to his numerous TV appearances, he was the Tin Man in “The Wiz,” the 1978 black-cast remake of “The Wizard of Oz.” … Read full obituary
