Happy Heavenly Birthday Nipsey Russell! Julius "Nipsey" Russell was an American entertainer best known for his appearances as a panelist on game shows from the 1960s through the 1990s, including Match Game, Password, Hollywood Squares, To Tell the Truth, and Pyramid. There seems to be some uncertainty about Nipsey’s date of birth. Some sources give his birthday as September 15th, while Britannica lists his birthday as October 13, 1924. THE DAN WIEST CONNECTION: I worked out of Nipsey Russell’s f

" NIPSEY RUSSELL " best known for his appearances as a panelist on game shows from the 1960s through the 1990s, including Match Game, Password, Hollywood Squares, To Tell the Truth, and Pyramid. His appearances were often distinguished by short, humorous poems he recited during the broadcast, which led to his nickname "the poet laureate of television". He had one of the leading roles in the film version of The Wiz as the Tin Man. He was a frequent guest on the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast series