Photo: NBC Television / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
What grabs me about Ted Ross is the sheer specificity of his triumph: he didn't just appear in The Wiz, he defined the Cowardly Lion well enough to win a 1975 Tony and then reprise it on film opposite Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. That kind of role ownership is rare. A kid from Zanesville, Ohio finding the comic vulnerability to make that lion both funny and tender takes real craft, not just charisma. I admire performers who can carry a single iconic character from stage to screen without losing the spark, and the fact that he held his own in such a star-stacked cast tells me his presence was the genuine article.
Overview
Theodore Ross Roberts (June 30, 1934 – September 3, 2002) was an American actor 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 recreated the role in the 1978 film version which also starred Diana Ross (no relation), Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor, Nipsey Russell, and Lena Horne.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Ted Ross
- Name (Japanese)
- テッド・ロス
- Reading
- てっど・ろす
- Born
- June 30, 1934 – September 3, 2002
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Cancer / Dog
- Origin
- Zanesville, Ohio, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- stage actor / television actor / film actor / musician / music publisher
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Roosevelt High School
- University
- Private
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Stage actor — see all → · Television actor — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.