Mike Nussbaum in 2005.Photo:Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty
Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty
Mike Nussbaum, a veteran stage and screen actor from Chicago whose credits includeMen in Black,Field of DreamsandFatal Attraction, died at the age of 99 Saturday, just days before he would’ve turned 100.
His daughter Karen Nussbaum confirmed the news to various outlets includingThe Associated Pressand theChicago Sun-Times, saying the cause of death was “old age.”
According toThe Hollywood Reporter, Nussbaum performed on Chicago stages for 50 years and was given a lifetime achievement award from the League of Chicago Theaters in 2019. That same year, he was performing inHamletat the age of 95.
“He was a great dad and a good man,” Karen said of the actor via theChicago Tribune.“He loved acting and he also loved turning the spotlight on other people. He hated fascism from boyhood and he raised three children who cared about justice.”
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Hailing from Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood, Nussbaum didn’t start acting on a full-time level until he was in his 40s; he had previously worked as an exterminator, per the AP.
He became associated with fellow Chicagoan David Mamet, having performed in the playwright’s works such asGlengarry Glen Ross,American BuffaloandRelativity, according to theSun-Times. (He won a Drama Desk award for his work inGlengarry Glen Rossin 1984, per the AP) Other theatrical productions Nusbaum was involved in throughout his career included Tom Stoppard’sJumpersand Arthur Miller’sDeath of a Salesman.
Mike Nussbaum in 2019.Neil Steinberg/Chicago Sun-Times via AP
Neil Steinberg/Chicago Sun-Times via AP
In addition to the theater, Nussbaum amassed onscreen credits such asMen in Black, where he played the alien jeweler Gentle Rosenburg; a book publisher inFatal Attraction; and a school principal inField of Dreams, perThe Hollywood Reporter. And according to hisIMDbprofile, he also appeared onFraiser,The X-FilesandL.A. Law.
“He was the godfather of the working Chicago actor,” Barbara Gaines, a former artistic director of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, told the Tribune. “He had the Chicago rigor, the Chicago intelligence and the Chicago passion, but his default emotion was always humor.”
Nussbaum once spoke about what accounted for his long career in actingin an interview with theSun-Timesin 2019: “I’m lucky. Genetic luck. I work out and I try to eat sensibly. I gave up smoking about 50 years ago. It’s just pure luck.”
“RIP Mike Nussbaum - a truly great actor of stage and screen - with stage his greatest love - I’ve seen him on stage all my life -always pitch perfect in anything he ever did - and a true gentleman - Chicago Icon,” writerJohn Cusackon X, the platform previously known as Twitter.
“#Chicagohas lost a fine man and a marvelous actor. Goodnight, Mike Nussbaum—you were one of a kind,”The Gilded AgestarCarrie Coonshared.
Laverne & ShirleyandThis Is Spinal TapactorMichael McKeanwrote: “Never not good. RIP Mike Nussbaum.”
source: people.com
