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I'm a funky entertainment master. I OWNED the $20,000 Pyramid and Match Game. 'Ease on Down the Road'? That was me.... I hold the long run record as a nightclub performer. I established it during the years that I held fourth as resident jester, folk philosopher, and humorous observer of life at New York's Club Baby Grand. The stars and super stars of show business came repeatedly to see my performances and they became fans. I am a bachelor, poet, photographer, speed typist, ex-army officer, and lexicologist. I cannot resist a joke about my schooling and education. I went to school at Washington High and Cincinnati University, but was educated in the streets and backstage! My one philosophy is "keep laughing and keep living!"- Nipsey Russell was born in Atlanta Georgia in 1918. Russell got his start in Rock and Roll and other music reviews in the 1950s. In the 1960s Russell achieved his first major role as Officer Anderson in "Car 54, Where Are You?" (1961). After being on the show for a year Russell was a mainstay on variety shows, appearing on Laugh-In, "The Dean Martin Show" (1965), the Jackie Gleason Show, among many others. Russell also appeared in so many small shows in the 1960s as an always unique personality that would liven up almost any program. As the 1970s approached Nipsey Russell became a popular game show panelist, appearing mostly on To Tell The Truth, "Match Game PM" (1975), and many others. Nipsey was known as Television's Poet Laurete. On such shows like The Tonight Show, and many other very popular talk shows of the day.Nipsey's film roles have been remarkably scarce, but will always be remembered for his role of the Tin Man in the 1978 remake of the Wizard of Oz, The Wiz (1978/I). The movie was a box office failure, but since the movie has been considered a cult classic. But Russell's skill cannot be weighed by his television and movie appearances. He is an accomplished actor and singer on stage.- Nipsey died in 2005.