In 2007, when she was 74, Barbara Russell was explaining why retirement wasn’t in the cards.
“I keep performing because the excitement of getting the laugh and hearing the applause is still as rewarding as it was when I tap-danced to ‘Little Old Lady Passing By’ at age 6,” Ms. Russell told the late Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Barbara Cloud. “I love theater because age doesn't matter.”
Ms. Russell, 85, a popular presence on Pittsburgh stages for six decades and a stalwart of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” died Saturday. The North Side resident had received a cancer diagnosis mere weeks earlier, said her sister, Joan Mazziotti Kimmel.
The actress was known to Pittsburghers as half of the popular comedy team of Brockett and Barbara, with the late Don Brockett, but children nationwide knew her from “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” including the first episode, when she appeared as the eccentric Mrs. Russellite, collector of lampshades. She appeared in later episodes as herself and the voice of Mrs. Hilda Dingleborder, among other characters, and for many years she performed programs for elementary school and pre-K Pittsburghers.
Her comedic talents were her trademark, but Ms. Russell also has the distinction of appearing among the undead in George Romero’s zombie horror movie “Day of the Dead.” And she recently wrapped an independent film, “That’s Amore,” that shot in and around Pittsburgh.
“She was looking forward to whatever was next,” said Ms. Kimmel, who posted the news Saturday on Facebook, writing, “Barbara passed away tonight after a very short illness, very little pain and a life very, very well-lived. She loved you all and thought of each of you as one of her very best friends.”
Ms. Kimmel, 13 years younger than her sister, said they grew up in a house filled with laughter. She also had lived across the street from her sister, and Ms. Russell’s children, Joanna Caruso and Aaron Russell, grew up “like siblings” to her own daughter, Becky.
On Sunday, Ms. Kimmel recalled that Barbara Russell “had more friends than just about anyone else I’ve ever known, and she kept them. From childhood, from school, from theater, from the neighborhood — she didn’t lose friends, ever.”
Ms. Russell was born June 16, 1933, in Black Lick, Indiana County. She attended Willkinsburg High School and Indiana University of Pennsylvania, which honored her in 2000 with a Distinguished Alumni Award.
Joining forces with Mr. Brockett, she became a favorite of Pittsburgh audiences as they performed musical comedy revues with titles such as “Last Polka in Pittsburgh.” They also took their act on the road from here to New York City, and collaborated on the 1963 album “Out of Folkus.”
Joanne Rogers, Fred Rogers’ widow, heard the news from Leslie Brockett, Don’s widow, “and I am just in a state of disbelief. It’s one of the hardest things to imagine Barbara not here anymore.”
Ms. Rogers described Ms. Russell as “one of the most brilliant ladies in my life. She really loved the comedy life she lived, but also I’m a fan of hers as an educator. She loved her work with kids, and it gave me great pleasure to hear about it.”
Pittsburgh actress Mary Rawson was feeling the loss of her friend of 50 years as she recalled being with her at the June closing of the Pittsburgh Playhouse in Oakland.
“That’s where she had gotten her start,” Ms. Rawson said, “and that’s where Don Brockett saw her doing a show that led to their long collaboration. He said, ‘That’s the funniest lady I’ve ever seen. I want to work with her.’”
Musician Joe Negri, also a series regular on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” was “busted up” over the loss of “a fabulous gal.” He and his wife often socialized with Ms. Russell and her long-time partner, Ed Grentz.
Mr. Negri recalled a summer when he and Robert McCully teamed with Brockett and Barbara on a revue that was, as usual, a satiric look at Pittsburgh.
“I’ll never forget I did a sketch with Barbara about her learning to play the guitar,” Mr. Negri said. “We would ad-lib it every night, and every night we’d have a ball, and every night the audience would love it. I just remember her so fondly from that, and what a jovial, happy person she was.”
He noted that she had recently begun to play the ukulele and loved to play old-time songs on it.
In her long and varied career, Ms. Russell had worked the City Theatre, Theatre at Hartwood, Pittsburgh CLO, Pittsburgh Musical Theater and Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre. Although she scaled back on the size of her roles, she continued to be a regular performer at the Mountain Playhouse in Jennerstown, Somerset County, where she first appeared in 1960 — her first time working with Mr. Brockett, who was choreographing “Paint Your Wagon.”
Ms Russell returned in to Mountain Playhouse in 1995, to play Dolly Levi in Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker,” the basis for “Hello, Dolly!,” and continued to act there until 2016.
Producer Teresa Stoughton Marafino recalled that Ms. Russell was not only “hilarious” in her final two roles at Mountain — “Nana’s Naughty Knickers” and “Social Security” — but “people flocked just to see her.”
“When you were with her, she always told these great funny stories and then she had you tell funny stories,” Ms. Stoughton Marafino said. “What I’ll remember about Barbara is warmth and laughter.”
Ms. Russell also championed the up-and-coming, and in 2007 was the recipient of the Pittsburgh New Works Festival Lifetime Achievement.
Among the actress’s greatest achievements are the good will and laughter she inspired, evidenced by the outpouring of admiration on social media.
Joanne Rogers summed up those feelings, saying simply, “I cherish having had her in my life.”
In addition to Mr. Grentz, Ms. Russell is survived by a son, Aaron Russell of New York City; a daughter, Joanna Caruso of Edgewood; two sisters, Joan Mazziotti Kimmel of North Side and Mary Mazziotti of Lawrenceville; three brothers, Joseph Mazziotti Jr. of Pine, Richard Mazziotti of North Carolina and Robert Mazziotti of New York City; and two grandchildren. A memorial service will be held Thursday at Odell Robinson Funeral Home, 2025 Perrysville Ave., North Side. Visitation is 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.
Sharon Eberson: seberson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1960. Twitter: @SEberson_pg.
First Published: August 26, 2018, 7:44 p.m.
