Marion Ross
Birthday:
Birthplace:
Albert Lea, Minnesota, USA
Marian Ross dreamed of stardom from childhood, going so far as to change the spelling of her first name to Marion because she thought it would look nicer on a marquee. When her family moved from Minnesota to California, the 16-year-old aspiring actress plunged into the busy world of amateur theatricals in the San Diego area. She was voted Outstanding Actress at San Diego State University in 1950, then went on to work at the prestigious La Jolla Playhouse. Mel Ferrer, La Jolla's resident director, recommended that Ross try her luck in Hollywood. She worked steadily in TV and films from 1953 onward, but stardom was still outside her reach. Ross played a succession of maids, nuns, nurses, and that nebulous classification, the Heroine's Best Friend. She showed up in small roles in such films as Forever Female (1953), Lust for Life (1955), and Operation Petticoat (1959), earning the respect of her fellow workers but very little in the way of public recognition. "I've always had a way of not attracting attention," she would note with resignation later in life. On television, Marion played unstressed recurring roles on such series as Life with Father, Mrs. G Goes to College and Mr. Novak. She finally achieved stardom as Marion Cunningham, mother of 1950s high-schooler Richie Cunningham, on the weekly sitcom Happy Days. What started out as a shaky midseason replacement in January of 1974 ended up ABC's number-one hit; Ross hitched her wagon to the ever-rising Happy Days star until its final episode in 1983. During this period, she reactivated her stage career, with considerably more success than she'd enjoyed in the 1950s. Ross' post-Happy Days TV gigs included a 1986 guest shot as the new bride of Captain Stubing (Gavin MacLeod) on The Love Boat and the brief 1989 series Living Dolls. In 1991, Marion Ross earned an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of archetypal Jewish mother Sophie Berger on the TV "dramedy" Brooklyn Bridge. In the decades to come, Ross would find ongoing success with recurring roles on TV series like The Drew Carey Show and Gilmore Girls, as well as providing voice acting for animated series such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Handy Manny.
Photos
Highest Rated Movies
Filmography
MOVIES
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | BOX OFFICE | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | The Happy Days of Garry Marshall |
|
— | 2020 |
No Score Yet | Angels on Tap |
|
— | 2018 |
No Score Yet | A Reason |
|
$5.3k | 2015 |
No Score Yet | Sweet Surrender |
|
— | 2014 |
No Score Yet | Signed, Sealed, Delivered for Christmas |
|
— | 2014 |
No Score Yet | A Perfect Christmas List |
|
— | 2014 |
No Score Yet | Heebie Jeebies |
|
— | 2013 |
No Score Yet | Dear Dracula |
|
— | 2012 |
No Score Yet | Keeping Up With The Randalls |
|
— | 2011 |
No Score Yet | Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster |
|
— | 2010 |
No Score Yet | Flower Girl |
|
— | 2009 |
17% | Superhero Movie |
|
$25.9M | 2008 |
67% | Smiley Face |
|
— | 2007 |
No Score Yet | Where There's a Will |
|
— | 2006 |
22% | Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star |
|
$22.8M | 2003 |
No Score Yet | The Last Best Sunday |
|
— | 1999 |
No Score Yet | About Sarah |
|
— | 1998 |
No Score Yet | Ken Follett's 'The Third Twin' |
|
— | 1997 |
22% | The Evening Star |
|
— | 1996 |
No Score Yet | Hidden in Silence |
|
— | 1996 |
No Score Yet | Just Like Us |
|
— | 1983 |
No Score Yet | The Survival of Dana |
|
— | 1979 |
23% | Grand Theft Auto |
|
— | 1977 |
No Score Yet | Honky |
|
— | 1971 |
88% | Colossus: The Forbin Project |
|
— | 1970 |
No Score Yet | Blueprint for Robbery |
|
— | 1961 |
83% | Some Came Running |
|
— | 1959 |
81% | Operation Petticoat |
|
— | 1959 |
86% | Teacher's Pet |
|
— | 1958 |
No Score Yet | Lizzie |
|
— | 1958 |
No Score Yet | Steve Canyon |
|
— | 1958 |
No Score Yet | The Proud and Profane |
|
— | 1956 |
100% | Lust for Life |
|
— | 1956 |
92% | Sabrina |
|
— | 1954 |
86% | Pushover |
|
— | 1954 |
No Score Yet | Secret of the Incas |
|
— | 1954 |
No Score Yet | Forever Female |
|
— | 1954 |
88% | The Glenn Miller Story |
|
— | 1953 |
TV
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet |
The Odd Couple
2015-2017
|
|
|
75% |
Chasing Life
2014-2015
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Hot in Cleveland
2010-2015
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Exes
2011-2015
|
|
|
65% |
Two and a Half Men
2003-2015
|
|
|
23% |
Anger Management
2012
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Middle
2009-2018
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Major Crimes
2012-2018
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Handy Manny
2006-2013
|
|
|
70% |
Up All Night
2011-2013
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Children's Hospital
2010-2016
|
|
|
84% |
Grey's Anatomy
2005
|
|
|
81% |
Nurse Jackie
2009-2015
|
|
|
54% |
The Boondocks
2005-2014
|
|
|
79% |
Brothers & Sisters
2006-2011
|
|
|
89% |
The New Adventures of Old Christine
2006-2010
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Out of Practice
2005-2006
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Family Guy
1999
|
|
|
85% |
Gilmore Girls
2000-2016
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
King of the Hill
1997-2010
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Drew Carey Show
1995-2004
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Touched by an Angel
1994-2003
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
American Experience
1988
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
SpongeBob SquarePants
1999
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Wild Thornberrys
1998-2004
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Family Law
1999-2002
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
That '70s Show
1998-2006
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Early Edition
1996-2000
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Promised Land
1996-1999
|
|
|
100% |
Brooklyn Bridge
1991-1993
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Night Court
1984-1992
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Happy Days
1974-1984
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Streets of San Francisco
1972-1977
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Ironside
1967-1975
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Mission: Impossible
1966-1973
|
|
|
78% |
The Brady Bunch
1969-1974
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Fugitive
1963-1967
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Rawhide
1959-1965
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Perry Mason
1957-1966
|
|
|
Quotes from Marion Ross' Characters
Aunt Lucille: | Oh, and shave your pubes, no one wants to go down on a tumbleweed. |