Marion Ross biography

Synopsis

Born in Minnesota in 1928, actress Marion Ross became famous in her role as "Mrs. C" on the 1970s sitcom Happy Days. She went on to have a prolific television career that included roles on The Love Boat and Night Court.

Profile

Actress; born on October 25, 1928, in Albert Lea, Minnesota. When Ross was thirteen, she changed the spelling of her name from "Marian" to "Marion" because she thought it would look better on a marquee. As a teenager, her family moved to San Diego, California, and she enrolled at San Diego State College where she became active in theater. After graduation in 1950, she made her film debut in Forever Female (1953). Other film work followed, including The Glenn Miller Story (1954), Sabrina (1954), and Operation Petticoat (1959).

Ross is best known for her television work. Perhaps her most famous role is that of "Marion Cunningham" (a.k.a. "Mrs. C"), mother of Richie and Joanie, on the television sitcom Happy Days (1974-1984), which also starred Ron Howard as "Richie Cunningham" and Henry Winkler as "Arthur (The Fonz) Fonzarelli." Her prolific tv career also includes roles on such shows as The Love Boat, Night Court, Brooklyn Bridge, and The Drew Carey Show.

1996, Ross appeared in the film The Evening Star, the sequel to Terms of Endearment. In the late 1990s, she made several tv movies and in 1998 appeared in the "milk mustache" celebrity ads with fellow tv moms Shirley Jones (The Partridge Family) and Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch).

Ross is divorced and the mother of two children, Jim Meskimen and Ellen Plummer.