Nipsey Russell Biography

Julius "Nipsey" Russell was an American comedian and actor. He was most famous for his appearances as a guest panellist on game shows from the 1960s through the 1990s. Some of the shows he was featured on were ‘Match Game’, ‘Password’, ‘Hollywood Squares’, ‘To Tell the Truth’ and ‘Pyramid’. A native of Georgia, he served in the US Army as a medic during the World War II. After he came home from the war, he began working as a carhop at the Atlanta drive-in The Varsity. He would often earn extra money by making the customers laugh. In the 1950s, he began his career in the entertainment business by working in the nightclubs. His first significant collaboration came about in 1952 when he got together with Mantan Moreland for a stage act. He got more exposure after his appearance on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’. In 1964, Russell was featured in ABC's ‘Missing Links’, which effectively made him the first black performer to become a regular panellist on a daily network game show. His performances were often accompanied by Russell reciting his own poetry. His colleagues in the industry, such as Dick Clark, Bill Cullen, and Betty White, dubbed him "the poet laureate of television”. He had also been called “The Poet Laureate of Comedy” and “Harlem's Son of Fun”.