Mike Nussbaum (1923-2023)
|
Celebrated Chicago stage and film actor Mike Nussbaum has died, just days before his 100th birthday, at his Chicago home, with family by his side.
Nussbaum was born in Chicago on Dec. 29, 1923, and raised in the Albany Park neighborhood. During World War II, he served as chief of the message center for General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Nussbaum had wanted to be an actor after finishing his military service, but had a baby and needed a job, according to daughter Karen. The Von Steuben High School grad started a small business as an exterminator, and took his acting chops to the stage that was available to him – school plays – where his first part was the lead in a play written by another student’s parent. Jump to the 1950s in Chicago and Nussbaum began his professional acting career on community theater stages like the famous Hull House, and later Second City. It is there that he met playwright David Mamet, and became one of Mamet’s “go-to” actors for Chicago premiers of his plays. At Northlight Theatre, the company he helped found while also serving as its first artistic director, Nussbaum starred in Tom Stoppard’s “Jumpers” in 1975 — the troupe’s inaugural production — and in later years delivered an unforgettable performance as Albert Einstein in Mamet’s “Relativity,” as well as roles in “Visiting Mr. Green” and “Curve of Departure.” At the Goodman Theater, his credits included David Mamet’s “American Buffalo” and “Glengarry Glen Ross,” as well as “Smokefall,” among others. Other local stage credits include “Macbeth,” “Hamlet” and “Henry VIII” at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and “Death of a Salesman” and “The Old Country” at Steppenwolf Theatre. Holiday season theatergoers may recall his various turns in American Theater Company’s “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play.” Nussbaum appeared in Steppenwolf’s 1980 production of “Death of a Salesman”, presented at Hull House, starring Tery Kinney and John Malkovich, and later appeared at Steppenwolf’s 2004 production of “The Dresser”, directed by ensemble member Amy Morton. His stage work took him to productions across the country including Broadway and around the world, including England’s Royal Shakespeare Company. Nussbaum was recipient of a New York Drama Desk Award (for his Broadway performance in “Glengarry Glen Ross” in 1984), and numerous Jeff Awards for his work as an actor and director. In 2019, Nussbaum received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the League of Chicago Theaters. At the time, he was declared the oldest working member of Actors’ Equity. That same year, he appeared in Chicago Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” at the age of 95. Famed stage, TV and screen actor Wiliam Petersen, who also got his start on Chicago stages, offered this heartfelt tribute: “Mike’s the reason I stayed in Chicago and did theatre. He told me, if I stayed here, I would become an actor. He was right. I loved him.” Notable films are “Men in Black” (1997), “Fatal Attraction” (1987), “Field of Dreams” (1989) and “House of Games” (1987). Nussbaum is survived by his second wife Julie Nussbaum, his children Karen and Jack from his first marriage, to the late Annette Brenner, and seven grandchildren. Nussbaum and Brenner’s daughter Susan also preceded him in death. |