Mike Nussbaum, a stalwart of the Chicago theater community, has died at the age of 99.
His daughter Karen Nussbaum confirmed the veteran Chicago actor died Saturday morning of “old age” at his home, six days shy of his 100th birthday. She was by his side when he passed.
Nussbaum was a fixture on Chicago’s stages for more than half a century.
At the Goodman Theater, his credits included David Mamet’s “American Buffalo” and “Glengarry Glen Ross,” as well as “Smokefall,” among others.
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.”
“It’s the end of an era, the end of the Chicago school of acting,” said B.J. Jones, the artistic director of Northlight Theatre, and frequent collaborator with Nussbaum. Jones most recently visited his friend of 50 years on Tuesday, where he presented Nussbaum with a script for consideration for Catherine Trieschmann’s “One House Over.”
“He said he was bored. Hilarious.” Jones said. “But he was ready to go.”
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.”
Steppenwolf ensemble member Amy Morton, who directed Nussbaum in the company’s 2004 production of “The Dresser,” issued a statement on his passing, writing: “Mike was a great actor and a wonderful collaborator. He was a grounded, generous and inspiring human being. A real gentleman.”
Actor Wiliam Petersen, Morton’s co-ensemble member at Steppenwolf, issued a heartfelt tribute via statement on Saturday.
“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.”
In an interview with the Sun-Times in 2019, when he was 95 and appearing in “Hamlet,” Nussbaum reflected on his longevity in the business.
“I’m lucky. Genetic luck. I work out and I try to eat sensibly. I gave up smoking about 50 years ago. It’s just pure luck,” he said.
A recipient of a New York Drama Desk Award (for his Broadway performance in “Glengarry Glen Ross” in 1984), numerous Jeff Awards for his work as an actor and director locally, 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.
“I get more fun out of this than I would out of anything else I love, I would hate to have to give it up,” Nussbaum said of the lifetime achievement honor during an interview with ABC-7.
Nussbaum’s film credits include “Field of Dreams,” “Things Change,” “Fatal Attraction” and “Men in Black.” In a 2015 interview with the New York Times, Nussbaum recounted how he turned down a role in Michael Mann’s film “Thief,” opposite James Caan and filmed in Chicago.
“I’d already promised to do a small Shakespeare role here for almost no money for Greg Mosher,” a Chicago and Broadway theater director, he recalled. “Dennis Farina got the movie, and he became a bigger deal than I ever did.”
His stage work took him to productions across the country including Broadway and around the world, including England’s Royal Shakespeare Company.
Nussbaum was born in Chicago on Dec. 29, 1923, and was 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 Karen Nussbaum. 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 — Karen’s PTA school plays — where his first part was the lead in a play written by another student’s parent.
While she said she enjoyed helping her father run lines at home — which often led to lines from the play becoming family in-jokes — and watching him at rehearsals, the best part of the production cycle was listening to his critiques of the production over drinks after its run had finished.
“He loved being an actor, and he loved the fun of it,” his daughter said. “But he also had a fine eye of what was good and what needed improvement.”
Nussbaum began his professional acting career here in the 1950s in community theater, including Hull House and later Second City, where he met Mamet.
“I think that being an actor in Chicago, over a number of years, is the most satisfying life I could imagine,” Nussbaum told the Sun-Times in that 2019 interview. “I found New York and LA to be …” and he paused, choosing his next word carefully, “antithetic to art. The desire for fame, the desire for glory, for money, is overwhelming in both cities. Although I had some success in both cities, I decided my life was more balanced here. I enjoy getting on the bus to go downtown and have someone come up and say ‘I loved you in such-and-such.’”
Jones said Nussbaum was one of the most inspiring and giving actors he had ever known and worked with.
“He knew how to share the stage, give focus, his discipline was extraordinary,” Jones said. “He would come to rehearsals with all of his lines memorized and ready to go. There was no shilly-shallying.
“.. He opened a lot of doors for so many actors here. He loved nothing more than to sit in his dressing room area and absorb the energy of the next generation of actors around him. He loved being in the green room and talking to other actors and that inspired people on so many levels. And when it came to acting, it was all about Chicago. It didn’t matter what small theater it was or big theater it was. Chicago was his home. It aligned with his passion for theater and working for these audiences here. It’s an artistic sensibility that had to do with who he was.”
In the aforementioned interview with the New York Times, Nussbaum addressed his love of working in Chicago theater.
“I’m lucky: Chicago has given me chances that I don’t think I would’ve gotten in New York. There’s no real fame here, not like in New York. And your salary doesn’t go up when you win a Jeff, not like when you win a Tony. But I’ve gotten steady work, great work, and all I ever wanted to do was act.
“... It was probably for the best for me as a person to have the stable life that a Chicago actor can have,” Nussbaum continued. “I think I might have become the kind of Hollywood actor that people don’t admire: a guy who loves the flash, money, women. And I like to drink. I probably would’ve drunk too much.”
Growing up, Karen Nussbaum said reading was highly valued in their family’s home, something her father enjoyed until the end when he was still joking and doing table reads with friends like Jones, even if his stage presence had slowed.
“He remained completely engaged, caring about other people, reading books every day and was always good for a laugh,” his daughter said.
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.
Contributing: Violet Miller
