Mike Nussbaum, a veteran theater and film actor from Chicago whose credits include Men in Black, Field of dreams and Fatal attractionhe died on Saturday at the age of 99, just days before he would have turned 100.
His daughter Karen Nussbaum confirmed the news to various media outlets, including the Associated Press and Chicago Sun-Timessaying that the cause of death was “old age”.
According to The Hollywood ReporterNussbaum performed on Chicago stages for 50 years, and in 2019 the League of Chicago Theaters presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In the same year, he performed in Hamlet at the age of 95.
“He was a great dad and a good man,” Karen said of the actor along the way Chicago Tribune. “He loved acting and he loved shining the spotlight on other people. He hated fascism from childhood and raised three children who cared about justice.”
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A native of Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood, Nussbaum didn’t begin acting full-time until his 40s; before that he worked as an exterminator, according to AP.
He linked up with fellow Chicago native David Mamet after appearing in the playwright’s works such as Glengarry Glen Ross, American buffalo and Relativityaccording to Sun-Times. (He won a Drama Desk Award for his work in Glengarry Glen Ross 1984, according to AP) Other theater productions in which Nusbaum participated during his career included Tom Stoppard Jumpers and Arthur Miller Death of a salesman.
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Mike Nussbaum 2019.
Neil Steinberg/Chicago Sun-Times via AP
In addition to theater, Nussbaum has amassed film credits such as Men in Black, where he played alien jeweler Gentle Rosenburg; book publisher in Fatal attraction; and the director of the school in Field of dreamsper The Hollywood Reporter. And according to his IMDb profile, he also appeared on Fraser, The X-Files and LA law.
“He was the godfather of active Chicago acting,” Barbara Gaines, former artistic director of the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, told the Tribune. “He had Chicago rigor, Chicago intelligence and Chicago passion, but his default emotion was always humor.”
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Nussbaum is in an interview with The Sun-Times In 2019: “I’m lucky. Genetic luck. I exercise and try to eat sensibly. I quit smoking about 50 years ago. It’s just pure luck.”
Several actors paid tribute to Nussbaum on social media following the news of his death.
“RIP Mike Nussbaum – a truly great actor on stage and screen – with the stage his greatest love – I’ve seen him on stage all my life – he was always perfect in everything he did – and a true gentleman – a Chicago icon,” writer John Cusack on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“#Chicago lost a good man and an excellent actor. Good night Mike Nussbaum – you were one of a kind.” The Gilded Age star Carrie Coon divided.
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Laverne & Shirley and This is Spinal Tap actor Michael McKean wrote: “It’s never good. RIP Mike Nussbaum.”
Richard Roeperfilm and TV critic for Sun-Timesalso posted on X about the late actor: “Chicago theater legend and film/TV character actor Mike Nussbaum passed away just six days shy of his 100th birthday… Rest well sir.”
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