Obituary: Mike Nussbaum, America’s oldest professional actor, dies at 99

He died of previous age at his Chicago dwelling on Saturday, simply days earlier than his a centesimal birthday, his daughter, Karen Nussbaum, advised The Related Press.

“He was father and man who raised us to care about different individuals and respect different individuals and care about justice,” she mentioned.

Mike Nussbaum was acknowledged by the Actor’s Fairness Affiliation union a number of occasions previously a number of years because the oldest skilled actor within the nation. When requested about his standing as a working nonagenarian through the years, Nussbaum mentioned he merely loved the work.

“I’m gifted and fortunate to nonetheless have the ability to do the factor that’s the most enjoyable for me in life,” he advised WBEZ Chicago in 2019 when he was 94 years previous. “So long as I can do it, I’ll.”

Born in December 1923 in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood, Nussbaum first acted in summer time camps. He didn’t pursue performing full time till he was in his 40s, working for a time as an exterminator. He obtained his Fairness card within the Seventies.

Nussbaum spent greater than 50 years on phases within the Chicago space, together with on the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. He performed Shylock in a 2005 manufacturing of “The Service provider of Venice” and Gremio in “The Taming of the Shrew,” amongst many different roles.

In 1984, he received a Drama Desk Award for his efficiency in David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross,” which received a Pulitzer Prize the identical 12 months. Nussbaum labored with Mamet typically through the years.

Nussbaum carried out into his 90s, together with a 2017 function as Albert Einstein within the play “Relativity” at Northlight Theatre in suburban Skokie, the place he additionally served briefly as creative director.

“His genius was that you just couldn’t inform he was performing,” mentioned B.J. Jones, a longtime buddy and colleague who’s present creative director at Northlight. “His degree of fact was unparalleled. You by no means noticed him sweat. He wasn’t attempting to attract consideration to himself. ”

Although he was primarily a stage actor, his movie credit included a college principal in “Subject of Goals” and in “Males in Black” as Light Rosenberg, whose head opens throughout a pivotal scene to disclose a small alien creature.

A non-public funeral service is deliberate. A public memorial service shall be held subsequent 12 months.