Obituaries - Nov. 11, 2009

Joe Maross, 86, a prolific character actor whose film and television career spanned the 1950s to the 1980s, died of cardiac arrest Saturday at a convalescent hospital in Glendale, said his son, Michael.

Maross appeared in several movies, including “Run Silent, Run Deep,” “Elmer Gantry,” “Sometimes a Great Notion” and “Rich and Famous,” but he was best known for his work in television.

Beginning on live TV in New York in 1952, he had roles in dramatic anthology series such as “Lux Video Theatre,” “Studio One” and “Armstrong Circle Theatre.”

Maross moved to Hollywood in 1957 and appeared in scores of series, including “Perry Mason,” “Gunsmoke,” “The Twilight Zone,” “The Fugitive,” “Mission: Impossible,” “The Rockford Files,” “Dallas” and “Murder, She Wrote.”

Born Feb. 7, 1923, in Barnesboro, Pa., Maross served in the Marines during World War II.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in theater arts at Yale University in 1947 and appeared on Broadway in the ‘50s in “Ladies Night in a Turkish Bath” and “The Innkeepers.”

Maross, who once was married to actress Carol Kelly, was a founding member of the Los Angeles-based acting, writing and directing group Projects 58.