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Ted Ross is a Actor American born on 30 june 1934 at Zanesville (USA)
Theodore "Ted" Ross Roberts (June 30, 1934 – September 3, 2002) was an American actor who was probably best known for his role as the Lion in The Wiz, an all-African American reinterpretation of The Wizard of Oz. He won a Tony Award for the original 1975 Broadway production, and went on to recreate the role in the 1978 film version which also starred Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and Nipsey Russell. Ross went on to appear in films including Police Academy, and on the television sitcoms The Jeffersons, Benson, The Cosby Show, and its spin-off A Different World. His final role was in the 1991 movie The Fisher King.
Ross was born in Zanesville, Ohio, but his mother, Elizabeth Russell, a nightclub singer in the 1920s and 1930s, moved the family to Dayton when young Ross was seven. He loved the clubs on West Fifth Street—Dayton’s answer to Harlem in the first half of the 20th century. While in junior high, Ross, who was big for his age, would dress up and strut into the Owl Club and The Palace Theater's Midnight Rambles to see great acts such as Duke Ellington.
His nightclub exploits as a teenager were not very popular at home. He dropped out of Roosevelt High in 1950 and enlisted in the United States Air Force. Two years later at age eighteen, Ross entered an amateur night contest at the Top Hat bar on Germantown Street. Home on furlough, he sang a cover of Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow", won $5 that night and found his calling. After leaving the military, Ross worked his way from Great Falls, Montana, to a strip bar in Los Angeles as a singer and MC. There he landed his first stage role in Oscar Brown Jr.'s "Bigtime Buck White".
The musical began as a workshop in Watts and moved to New York City in 1968. He starred in The Wiz and other Broadway productions, such as Purlie, Ain't Misbehavin, and Raisin in the Sun. His first film was The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, a baseball movie starring James Earl Jones and Richard Pryor. Films that followed included Ragtime, Amityville II, Police Academy, Stealing Home, and The Fisher King. One of the roles he is most fondly remembered for is that of Bitterman, Arthur Bach's long suffering chauffeur in the 1981 Dudley Moore hit, Arthur.
In 1990, Ross played Troy Maxson in a Cincinnati production of August Wilson's Fences. It was the first time his family saw him perform on stage since the contest in 1952.
He came home for good in 1997 and opened Your Place, a jazz club on West Third Street. Occasionally, Ross sat in and sang in his club, and performed as part of the Dayton Art Institutes's Just Jazz series. He was honored by Dayton’s Wayman Chapel AME Church, the Miami Valley Fisk University Alumni Club and by WROU-FM as a Black History Month Achiever. He suffered a stroke in 1998, and died from complications four years later at Good Samaritan Hospital.
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Ted Ross
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Birth name Theodore Ross Roberts
Nationality USA
Birth 30 june 1934 at Zanesville (USA)
Death 3 september 2002 (at 68 years) at Dayton (USA)
Nationality USA
Birth 30 june 1934 at Zanesville (USA)
Death 3 september 2002 (at 68 years) at Dayton (USA)
Ross was born in Zanesville, Ohio, but his mother, Elizabeth Russell, a nightclub singer in the 1920s and 1930s, moved the family to Dayton when young Ross was seven. He loved the clubs on West Fifth Street—Dayton’s answer to Harlem in the first half of the 20th century. While in junior high, Ross, who was big for his age, would dress up and strut into the Owl Club and The Palace Theater's Midnight Rambles to see great acts such as Duke Ellington.
His nightclub exploits as a teenager were not very popular at home. He dropped out of Roosevelt High in 1950 and enlisted in the United States Air Force. Two years later at age eighteen, Ross entered an amateur night contest at the Top Hat bar on Germantown Street. Home on furlough, he sang a cover of Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow", won $5 that night and found his calling. After leaving the military, Ross worked his way from Great Falls, Montana, to a strip bar in Los Angeles as a singer and MC. There he landed his first stage role in Oscar Brown Jr.'s "Bigtime Buck White".
The musical began as a workshop in Watts and moved to New York City in 1968. He starred in The Wiz and other Broadway productions, such as Purlie, Ain't Misbehavin, and Raisin in the Sun. His first film was The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, a baseball movie starring James Earl Jones and Richard Pryor. Films that followed included Ragtime, Amityville II, Police Academy, Stealing Home, and The Fisher King. One of the roles he is most fondly remembered for is that of Bitterman, Arthur Bach's long suffering chauffeur in the 1981 Dudley Moore hit, Arthur.
In 1990, Ross played Troy Maxson in a Cincinnati production of August Wilson's Fences. It was the first time his family saw him perform on stage since the contest in 1952.
He came home for good in 1997 and opened Your Place, a jazz club on West Third Street. Occasionally, Ross sat in and sang in his club, and performed as part of the Dayton Art Institutes's Just Jazz series. He was honored by Dayton’s Wayman Chapel AME Church, the Miami Valley Fisk University Alumni Club and by WROU-FM as a Black History Month Achiever. He suffered a stroke in 1998, and died from complications four years later at Good Samaritan Hospital.
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Filmography of Ted Ross (10 films)
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The Fisher King (1991)
, 2h17Directed by Terry Gilliam
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Romantic comedy, Fantasy
Themes Inspiré de l'univers des contes et légendes, Films about magic and magicians, Medical-themed films, Psychologie, Radio, Films about psychiatry
Actors Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Mercedes Ruehl, Amanda Plummer, Michael Jeter, Tom Waits
Roles Limo Bum
Rating74%
Jack Lucas (Bridges), a selfish, misanthropic shock jock, becomes suicidally despondent after his insensitive on-air comments inadvertently prompt an unstable caller to commit a mass murder-suicide at a popular Manhattan restaurant. Three years later, Jack is working with his girlfriend Anne (Ruehl) in a video store in a mostly drunken, depressed state. One night while on a bender, he attempts suicide. Before he can do so, he is mistaken for a homeless person and is attacked and nearly set on fire by thugs. He is rescued by Parry (Williams), a deluded homeless man who is on a mission to find the Holy Grail, and tries to convince Jack to help him. Jack is initially reluctant, but comes to feel responsible for Parry when he learns that the man's condition is a result of witnessing his wife's horrific murder at the hands of Jack's psychotic caller. Parry is also continually haunted by a hallucinatory red knight, who terrifies him.
Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988)
, 1h53Directed by Bud Yorkin
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Romantic comedy, Romance
Themes Films about alcoholism, Medical-themed films, Christmas films, Films about drugs
Actors Liza Minnelli, John Gielgud, Dudley Moore, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Kathy Bates, Paul Benedict
Roles Bitterman
Rating46%
Arthur Bach (Dudley Moore) is still rich and still drinks too much, but he and Linda (Liza Minnelli) are now happily married. The one thing missing in their life is a child. Seeking revenge, billionaire Bert Johnson (Stephen Elliott), the father of Susan Johnson (Cynthia Sikes), the wealthy woman whom he jilted at the altar, takes control of his inheritance, leaving him broke and homeless. Susan wants him back and is willing to break up his marriage if that's what it takes.
Stealing Home (1988)
, 1h38Directed by Steven Kampmann
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Romance
Themes Sports films, Baseball films
Actors Mark Harmon, Jodie Foster, Harold Ramis, Blair Brown, Jonathan Silverman, Richard Jenkins
Roles Bud Scott
Rating65%
Billy Wyatt (Harmon) was once a very talented high school baseball player and minor-league prospect. Now in his 30s, doing poorly financially and socially, he receives a telephone call from his mother revealing that Katie Chandler (Foster), his former child-sitter—and later, in his teens, his first love—has committed suicide. She has left a note specifying Billy as custodian of her ashes.
Police Academy (1984)
, 1h36Directed by Hugh Wilson
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Comedy thriller, Crime
Themes Films about sexuality, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related film
Actors Steve Guttenberg, Kim Cattrall, David Graf, George Gaynes, Bubba Smith, Michael Winslow
Roles Captain Reed
Rating66%
Due to a shortage of police officers, the newly elected mayor of an unnamed American city has announced a policy requiring the police department to accept all willing recruits, effectively abolishing fitness requirements, educational levels, and medical standards. Not everyone in the police force is happy about the new changes.
, 1h44Directed by Damiano Damiani
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Fantastic, Horror
Themes Films about families, Films about religion, Films about sexuality, Demons in film, Ghost films
Actors James Olson, Burt Young, Rutanya Alda, Diane Franklin, Jack Magner, Andrew Prine
Roles Mr. Booth
Rating56%
The Montelli family; father Anthony (Young), mother Dolores (Alda), elder son Sonny (Magner), elder teenaged daughter Patricia (Franklin) and two younger kids, move into what they think would be the house of their dreams. Initially things begin well, but everything changes after it is discovered that there is a tunnel leading into the house - from where is unknown.
Fighting Back (1982)
, 1h38Directed by Lewis Teague
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Action, Crime
Actors Tom Skerritt, Patti LuPone, Michael Sarrazin, Yaphet Kotto, David Rasche, Earle Hyman
Roles Commissioner
Rating59%
The film opens with Philadelphia TV reporters viewing and broadcasting a news story about violence in society. With the increase in crime, Philadelphia is becoming unsafe. Proud Italian-American John D'Angelo (Tom Skerritt) runs a deli in town. While driving with his wife, Lisa (Patti LuPone), D'Angelo comes across a pimp known as Eldorado (Pete Richardson) brutalizing one of his prostitutes. John's wife confronts the pimp and the pimp chases the D'Angelos, ramming his car into the back of the D'Angelos' vehicle, injuring Lisa and killing their unborn baby. John's mother Vera (Gina DeAngles) is assaulted in the neighborhood.
Arthur (1981)
, 1h37Directed by Steve Gordon
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Romantic comedy, Romance
Themes Films about alcoholism, Medical-themed films, Films about drugs, Musical films
Actors Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, John Gielgud, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Jill Eikenberry, Stephen Elliott
Roles Bitterman
Rating68%
Arthur Bach (Dudley Moore) is a spoiled alcoholic from New York City who likes to be driven in his chauffeured Rolls-Royce through Central Park. Arthur is heir to a portion of his family's vast fortune, which he is told will be his only if he marries the upper class Susan Johnson (Jill Eikenberry), the daughter of a business acquaintance of his father. He does not love Susan, but his family feels she will make him finally grow up. During a shopping trip in Manhattan, accompanied by his valet Hobson (John Gielgud), Arthur witnesses a young woman, Linda Morolla (Liza Minnelli), shoplifting a necktie. He intercedes with the store security guard (Irving Metzman) on her behalf, and later asks her for a date. Despite his attraction to her, Arthur remains pressured by his family to marry Susan.
Ragtime (1981)
, 2h35Directed by Miloš Forman
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Historical
Themes Politique
Actors James Cagney, Brad Dourif, Moses Gunn, Elizabeth McGovern, Kenneth McMillan, Howard Rollins
Roles Black Lawyer
Rating72%
The film begins with a newsreel montage, depicting celebrities of the turn of the 20th century such as Harry Houdini, Theodore Roosevelt, and the architect Stanford White (Norman Mailer), as well as life in New York. The newsreel is accompanied by ragtime pianist Coalhouse Walker, Jr. (Howard E. Rollins, Jr.). The millionaire industrialist Harry Kendall Thaw (Robert Joy), who makes a scene when White's latest creation, a nude statue on the roof of Madison Square Garden, is unveiled. The model for the statue is Evelyn Nesbit (Elizabeth McGovern), a former chorus girl who is now Thaw's wife. Thaw becomes convinced White has corrupted Evelyn and humiliated him, and publicly shoots White, killing him.
The Wiz (1978)
, 2h14Directed by Sidney Lumet
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Musical theatre, Fantasy, Adventure, Musical
Themes Films about magic and magicians, Météorologie, Monde imaginaire, Films about music and musicians, Théâtre, Le pays d'Oz, Musical films, Films based on plays, Films based on musicals, Children's films
Actors Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Mabel King, Theresa Merritt
Roles Lion / Fleetwood Coup de Ville
Rating55%
A Thanksgiving dinner brings a host of family together in a Harlem apartment, where a shy 24-year-old schoolteacher named Dorothy Gale (Diana Ross) lives with her Aunt Em (Theresa Merritt) and Uncle Henry (Stanley Greene). Extremely introverted, she has, as Aunt Em teases her, never been south of 125th Street, and refuses to move out and on with her life.
, 1h50Directed by John Badham
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Themes Films about music and musicians, Sports films, Transport films, Baseball films, Musical films, Road movies
Actors Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones, Stan Shaw, Tony Burton, Richard Pryor, Alvin Childress
Roles Sallie
Rating67%
Tired of being treated like a slave by team owner Sallison Potter (Ted Ross), charismatic star pitcher Bingo Long (Billy Dee Williams) steals a bunch of Negro League players away from their teams, including catcher/slugger Leon Carter (James Earl Jones) and Charlie Snow (Richard Pryor), a player forever scheming to break into the segregated Major League Baseball of the 1930s by masquerading as first a Cuban ("Carlos Nevada"), then a Native American ("Chief Takahoma"). They take to the road, barnstorming through small Midwestern towns, playing the local teams to make ends meet. One of the opposing players, 'Esquire' Joe Calloway (Stan Shaw), is so good that they recruit him.