Ted Ross
1934 - 2002Ted 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.
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Minstrel Man
William A. Graham
Glynn Turman, Ted Ross
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
Purlie
Rudi Goldman
Robert Guillaume, Melba Moore
Based on Davis' 1961 play Purlie Victorious (which was later translated into the 1963 film Gone Are the Days! and which included all of the original Broadway cast, including Ruby Dee, Alan Alda, Beah Richards, and Godfrey Cambridge), Purlie is a musical with a book by Ossie Davis, Philip Rose, and Peter Udell, lyrics by Udell, and music by Gary Geld. It won two Tony Awards and was also nominated for Best Musical. This 1981 television adaptation is directed by Rudi Goldman and stars Broadway cast members Guillaume, Moore, Hemsley, and Hopkins, with Brandon Maggart as Cotchipee, Clarice Taylor as Idilla, and Don Scardino as Charlie. The production won a CableACE Award.
Purlie
The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings
John Badham
Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones
In the world of 1930s Negro League baseball, a spirited team of renegade players travels around the Midwest looking for that one big score. Richard Pryor, Billy Dee Williams, and James Earl Jones star as three barnstorming ballplayers who take on prejudice and their own League's unfair rules while stealing cars, food and home base - anything to prove that they're the best team around. It's a showdown of brains over booby traps and sportsmanship over racial segregation as Bingo Long's All-Stars swing their way into a winning season;.
The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings
Police Academy
Hugh Wilson
Steve Guttenberg, Kim Cattrall
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
Amityville II: The Possession
Damiano Damiani
Burt Young, Moses Gunn
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 their children, physically lashing out at both them and Dolores, she recruits a local Catholic priest to exorcise the house.
Amityville II: The Possession
Parole
Michael Tuchner
Jay Acovone, Ellen Barkin
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
Arthur 2: On the Rocks
Bud Yorkin
Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli
Arthur, that irrepressible drunk, tries to sober up and get a job. Meanwhile, Ralph Marolla is conniving to trick the hapless boozer into marrying his daughter so he can gain entrée to Arthur's $750 million fortune.
Arthur 2: On the Rocks
