Ted Ross

Acting

Ted Ross

Born 1934-06-30 · Zanesville, Ohio, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ted Ross (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 and Michael Jackson. Ross went on to appear in the films Arthur and 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 film The Fisher King. Ross was born Theodore Ross Roberts in Zanesville, Ohio, but he moved with his family to Dayton at age seven. He died from complications of a stroke he suffered in 1998. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ted Ross, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Police Academy poster
6.7

New rules enforced by the Lady Mayoress mean that sex, weight, height and intelligence need no longer be a factor for joining the Police Force. This opens the floodgates for all and sundry to enter the Police Academy, much to the chagrin of the instructors. Not everyone is there through choice, though. Social misfit Mahoney has been forced to sign up as the only alternative to a jail sentence and it doesn't take long before he falls foul of the boorish Lieutenant Harris. But before long, Mahoney realises that he is enjoying being a police cadet and decides he wants to stay... while Harris decides he wants Mahoney out!

Police Academy

1984

The Fisher King poster
7.3

Two troubled men face their terrible destinies and events of their past as they join together on a mission to find the Holy Grail and thus to save themselves.

The Fisher King

1991

Amityville II: The Possession poster
5.7

Anthony and Dolores Montelli, along with their four children, move into their dream house in Amityville and are immediately plagued by a string of paranormal experiences. When the abusive Anthony wrongly places the blame on the children, Dolores recruits a local Catholic priest to exorcise the house.

Amityville II: The Possession

1982

The Wiz poster
6.2

Dorothy Gale, a shy kindergarten teacher, is swept away to the magic land of Oz where she embarks on a quest to return home.

The Wiz

1978

Arthur poster
6.5

Arthur is a 30-year-old child who will inherit $750 million if he complies with his family's demands and marries the woman of their choosing.

Arthur

1981

Arthur 2: On the Rocks poster
5.5

Arthur loses his fortune for staying with Linda, right as the two were preparing to adopt a child. As their marriage suffers, Arthur plans for a way to get his money back, but first he must sober up and get a real job.

Arthur 2: On the Rocks

1988

Stealing Home poster
6.3

Billy Wyatt, a former high school and minor-league baseball player, receives a telephone call from his mother revealing that his former child-sitter, and later in his teens, his first love, Katie Chandler, has died. Wyatt returns home to deal with this tragedy, reminiscing over his childhood growing up with his father, Katie, and best friend Alan Appleby.

Stealing Home

1988

Ragtime poster
7.0

A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence, and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York City.

Ragtime

1981

Fighting Back poster
5.8

An Italian deli owner forms a vigilante group to rid his Philadelphia neighborhood of street punks.

Fighting Back

1982

The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings poster
6.1

Top baseball pitcher Bingo Long is fed up with how his Negro League team owner treats him, so he forms his own lineup, recruiting big-hitting Leon Carter and Charlie Snow, who dreams of playing in the majors. Boycotted by black teams, Long's outfit play minor league white teams, earning more attention as entertainers than as players. However, their success wins them a chance to play again in the Negro League, this time as equals.

The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings

1976

Parole poster
7.0

High school dropout Jimmy McCusick goes to prison for robbery. After suffering a gang-rape and then drawing the attention of a hardened life-term convict, he is put in protective confinement. Upon being paroled he finds himself unable to hold onto either his girlfriend or his job. Parole officer Andy Driscoll must find a way to keep Jimmy from sliding back into crime.

Parole

1982

Minstrel Man poster
NR

Two black brothers in a traveling minstrel show in the early part of the twentieth century have two different goals. One brother is determined to succeed in a field that is dominated by white performers in blackface, and the other is a composer fighting to break away from the stereotypes associated with black minstrel performers.

Minstrel Man

1977

Death Penalty poster
8.0

A strong-willed psychologist tries to rehabilitate a member of a Pittsburgh street gang who has been found guilty of the murder of two other teenagers in a playground rumble.

Death Penalty

1980

Wiz on Down the Road poster
7.5

A short promotional film on the making of “The Wiz” (1978). Includes a brief history of Oz portrayals in film and behind the scenes interviews.

Wiz on Down the Road

1978

F.D.R.: The Last Year poster
6.9

Though visibly frail and weary, President Franklin D. Roosevelt runs for a precedent-setting fourth term. He also oversees plans for the D-Day Invasion and engages in tempestuous summit meetings with his wartime allies Stalin and Churchill.

F.D.R.: The Last Year

1980

The Fourth King poster
7.0

The animals decide they must send a representative after the three wise men begin following the star of Bethlehem. Uno, the Lion, arrogantly decides he should be the one to go, and that he does not need any help. Feathers, who brought Jesus's birth to the attention of the animals, insists on traveling with him, and soon he is followed by a beaver, a rabbit, and a turtle.

The Fourth King

1977

Purlie poster
6.5

Purlie is a musical based on Ossie Davis' 1961 play Purlie Victorious. In the early days of the civil rights movement, a Southern plantation owner holds his sharecroppers in virtual slavery. Purlie comes home as a preacher who will shake things up and bring freedom to his people. This 1981 television adaptation won a CableACE Award.

Purlie

1981