CHICAGO — Mike Nussbaum, a prolific actor who appeared in films like “Men in Black” and “Field of Dreams,” died Saturday, his daughter said. He was 99.
Nussbaum, credited by the Actor’s Equity union as the oldest professional actor in the U.S., died six days short of his 100th birthday, his daughter, Karen Nussbaum, told the Chicago Tribune.
“He was a great dad and a good man,” Karen Nussbaum told the newspaper. “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.”
According to Variety, Nussbaum played book publisher Bob Drimmer in “Fatal Attraction” (1987), a school principal in “Field of Dreams” (1989) and alien jeweler Gentle Rosenburg in “Men in Black” (1997). He also appeared in “House of Games” (1987), “Things Change” (1988), “Harry and Tonto” (1974), “Losing Josiah” (1995) and “Steal Big Steal Little” (1995).
On television, Nussbaum appeared in “The Equalizer,” “The X-Files,” “Brooklyn Bridge,” “Separate but Equal,” “Frasier,” “L.A. Law,” “227,” “The Commish” and “Early Edition,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Myron Nussbaum was born on Dec. 29, 1923, and raised in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago, the entertainment news website reported. He graduated from Von Steuben High School, then left the University of Wisconsin to enlist in the U.S. Army.
After first doing theater at Jewish summer camps, Nussbaum appeared in theater, including major roles in “American Buffalo” and “Glengarry Glen Ross,” the Tribune reported.
“He was the dean of the Chicago school of acting,” Northlight Theatre Artistic Director B.J. Jones told WLS-TV. “He was born and bred here, and his wife was here, and his kids, and that was vitally important to him.
“Mike was a committed family man as well as an artist, and I believe that is what informed his art.”
Barbara Gaines, a close friend with the actor and former artistic director of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, said that Nussbaum kept his sense of humor to the end, spending his final hours enjoying a book of baseball jokes.
“He was the godfather of the working Chicago actor,” Gaines told the Tribune. “He had the Chicago rigor, the Chicago intelligence and the Chicago passion, but his default emotion was always humor.”
