Ross Elliott was an American television and film character actor. He began his acting career with Orson Welles

Orson Welles

George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...

 in Mercury Theatre

Mercury Theatre

The Mercury Theatre was a theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and John Houseman. After a string of live theatrical productions, in 1938 the Mercury Theatre progressed into their best-known period as The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a radio series that included one of the...

, where he performed in Welles' famed radio program The War of the Worlds

The War of the Worlds (radio)

The War of the Worlds was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker...

.

Throughout his career, he appeared in more than one hundred television programs, including the recurring role of crewman Cort Ryker on The Blue Angels

The Blue Angels (TV series)

The Blue Angels is a 1960-1961 syndicated television series about the Blue Angels of the United States Navy. The program starred Dennis Cross as Commander Arthur Richards, the head of a four-man squadron which tours the country to give flight exhibitions...

(1960–1961), starring Dennis Cross

Dennis Cross

Dennis Cross was an American actor who was the lead star of the syndicated television series The Blue Angels, fictional stories of daredevil United States Navy pilots which aired from 1960-1961...

 and Don Gordon. Elliott appeared 59 times in a reoccurring role as Sheriff Abbott on The Virginian

The Virginian (TV series)

The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...

. He also appeared on The Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked Texas Ranger who, with his Native American companion Tonto, fights injustice in the American Old West. The character has become an enduring icon of American culture....

, Gray Ghost

Gray Ghost (TV series)

The Gray Ghost is an American historical series which aired in syndication from October 10, 1957, to July 3, 1958. It depicts the true story of Major John Singleton Mosby, a Virginia officer in the Confederate Army, whose cunning and stealth earned him the nickname "Gray Ghost".-Synopsis:The Gray...

, Meet McGraw

Meet McGraw

Meet McGraw is an American dramatic television series starring Frank Lovejoy in the role of the hard-hitting detective McGraw, a man specifically given no first name in the program. Forty-one half-hour episodes aired on NBC during the 1957-1958 season, sponsored by Procter & Gamble. The series was...

starring Frank Lovejoy

Frank Lovejoy

Frank Lovejoy was an American actor in radio, film, and television. He was born Frank Lovejoy Jr. in Bronx, New York, but grew up in New Jersey. His father, Frank Lovejoy Sr., was a furniture salesman from Maine...

, Pony Express

Pony Express (TV series)

Pony Express is a half-hour syndicated western television series which ended its 39-episode schedule in 1960, the centennial of the launching of the Pony Express, a short-lived venture promoted by William Hepburn Russell of the freight company Russell, Majors and Waddell...

, Dragnet

Dragnet (series)

Dragnet is a radio and television crime drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners...

, The Barbara Stanwyck Show

The Barbara Stanwyck Show

The Barbara Stanwyck Show is an American anthology drama television series which ran on NBC from September 1960 to September 1961. Barbara Stanwyck served as hostess, and starred in all but four of the half-hour productions. The four she did not star in were actually pilot episodes of potential...

, Lassie

Lassie

Lassie is a fictional collie dog character created by Eric Knight in a short story expanded to novel length called Lassie Come-Home. Published in 1940, the novel was filmed by MGM in 1943 as Lassie Come Home with a dog named Pal playing Lassie. Pal then appeared with the stage name "Lassie" in six...

, Leave it to Beaver

Leave It to Beaver

Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...

, and I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...

. He may be best remembered, however, as playing the TV director in the classic 1952 "Vitameatavegamin" episode of I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...

, in which Lucy does a commercial for a tonic that is 23% alcohol.

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