View Full Version : Joe E. Ross


cuthbert j twillie
10-09-2008, 02:41 PM
Joe went on to marry eleven times and every one was a looker (Phil Silvers last interview on youtube)

He was a voice in the Hair Bear bunch and the voice of Sgt Flint in Hong Kong Phooey.

i would love to know more about this fabulous guy!

I can be reached on henry6@fsmail.net

tv star collector
10-09-2008, 03:17 PM
I didn't know he was married that many times. :eek:

He also had a recurring role on The Phil Silvers Show (retitled Sgt.
Bilko in syndication) and co-starred opposite Imogene Coca in the short-
lived sitcom It's About Time.

He and Fred Gwynne were a great comedy team on Car 54.

cuthbert j twillie
11-04-2008, 04:59 PM
they were excellent together! till Toody got too big headed!

missy's pop pop
07-05-2014, 07:55 PM
One of the little-known factoids about Joe E. Ross: In the late 1960's, he appeared in commercials for Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Complete Pizza Mix, to which he added one of his best Toody-isms:

"...Spread the sauce on the dough (OOH! OOH!)" :lol:

Coffeecup
05-13-2016, 09:15 PM
Married 11 times. Oh my. I happened to see a glance of him on a Love Boat or was Fantasy Island. Unfortunally I didn't see the whole show. Somehow thought he died shortly after Its about Time Show went off the air. But if he made a Love Boat appearance had to be later.

jehobden
07-31-2017, 04:09 PM
I first connected Joe E. Ross' name to his face (& voice) when I saw him in the Disney film "The Boatniks", a 1970 film which Disney re-released summer 1977. He was credited as "Nutty Sailor" there, and his lines were pretty much "Ooh, Ooh!" and "Look out!" as he crashed into a dock and sank other boats. His scenes weren't long there, but they certainly were memorable!

jehobden
08-08-2017, 02:43 PM
Married 11 times. Oh my. I happened to see a glance of him on a Love Boat or was Fantasy Island. Unfortunally I didn't see the whole show. Somehow thought he died shortly after Its about Time Show went off the air. But if he made a Love Boat appearance had to be later.

He lived until August 13, 1982 (which happened to fall on a Friday). I remember the anchorpeople on the local newscast where I first heard the news reminisce about him & his nutty characters. He outlived his younger It's About Time costar Jack Mullaney by about 1 1/2 months.

Samme
08-09-2017, 04:26 PM
I've read about Joe E. Ross and I've never gotten a sense of what made him so impossible to deal with on the set. Maybe he was stupid and big-headed, but that character worked great on the show. I enjoy reading about him, and it seems everyone tells or listens to those stories with a great sense of fun. If there was a book about him, I'd buy it. I even like what I've heard of the songs he recorded. Something about his limited talent worked. I was disappointed in "It's About Time" when I saw it after many years, but I still think he was a funny guy and an interesting character.

Marvo301
08-10-2017, 12:45 PM
Joe E. Ross got his start as a burlesque comic.

jehobden
08-11-2017, 12:51 PM
I've read about Joe E. Ross and I've never gotten a sense of what made him so impossible to deal with on the set. Maybe he was stupid and big-headed, but that character worked great on the show. I enjoy reading about him, and it seems everyone tells or listens to those stories with a great sense of fun. If there was a book about him, I'd buy it. I even like what I've heard of the songs he recorded. Something about his limited talent worked. I was disappointed in "It's About Time" when I saw it after many years, but I still think he was a funny guy and an interesting character.

I just found this Net article about Joe E. Ross, warts & all (adult language & content warning):

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2011/01/king-of-slobs.html

Fans of his, and others, should find this interesting. I for one never knew of the brief comedy team that followed Allen & Rossi, called Ross & Rossi. It didn't last long.

Hazel Anyday
08-12-2017, 08:24 PM
I read that article before and thought it was funny when they described Joe's eating habits of spraying the food all over himself and anyone eating across the table from him.

TMC
05-23-2022, 06:09 AM
I just found this Net article about Joe E. Ross, warts & all (adult language & content warning):

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2011/01/king-of-slobs.html

Fans of his, and others, should find this interesting. I for one never knew of the brief comedy team that followed Allen & Rossi, called Ross & Rossi. It didn't last long.

It goes without saying that his life was a mess. To quote this blog retrospective (http://greatbutforgotten.blogspot.com/2019/10/car-54-where-are-you-tv.html) on Car 54, Where Are You? (https://web.archive.org/web/20061031142336/http://www.jumptheshark.com/c/car54whereareyou.htm):
The success of the show went to his head. He became arrogant and didn’t bother to learn his lines. Hiken even planned to drop him and replace him with Al Lewis, but Ross begged to stay in the role. Even so, he alienated everyone on the set and went back to comedy when it was over. He later returned to TV with It’s About Time, mostly because its producer didn’t talk to anyone who worked with him.

howilu
09-15-2022, 09:44 AM
Almost every character Joe E. Ross played, even cartoon voices had him saying "Ooh ooh!". Even when he voiced the role of Botch in "Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch.!"