- published: 19 Aug 2013
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Ruth Ann Buzzi (born July 24, 1936) is an American comedian and actress of theatre, film, and television. She is especially known for her performances on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973, for which she won a Golden Globe Award and received five Emmy nominations.
Buzzi was born at Westerly Hospital, Westerly, Rhode Island, the daughter of Rena Pauline and Angelo Peter Buzzi, a nationally recognized stone sculptor. She was raised in Wequetequock, Connecticut, in a rock house overlooking the ocean at Wequetequock Cove, where her father owned Buzzi Memorials, a business still operated by her older brother Harold. Her father was born in Arzo, Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, a few miles from the Italian border. He carved the marble eagles at Penn Station in New York designed by artist Adolph A. Weinman (who also designed the Walking Liberty half dollar and Mercury dime for the U.S. Mint), the granite Leif Erikson memorial in Providence, Rhode Island, the animals seen in relief on the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and made thousands of tombstones. He was asked to work on the carving of the Presidents on Mount Rushmore but declined, out of a fear of heights. Her mother was born in the United States to immigrants from northern Italy.
I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali is an animated series featuring heavyweight boxing legend Muhammad Ali, who starred as his own voice. The short-lived series was broadcast Saturday mornings on NBC in the fall of 1977, but was cancelled after just 13 weeks.