Joseph Raymond Maross (February 7, 1923 – November 7, 2009) was an American stage, film, and television actor whose career spanned over four decades. Working predominantly on television in supporting roles or as a guest star, Maross performed in a wide variety of series and made-for-television movies between the early 1950s and mid-1980s.
Early life Born in Barnesboro, Pennsylvania, Maross served in the Marine Corps during World War II and was stationed in Hawaii. He attended Yale University after the war and received his theater arts degree there in 1947."PASSINGS/Joe Maross", obituary, archives of the Los Angeles Times, November 11, 2009. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
Career Maross's Broadway credits include Ladies Night in a Turkish Bath (1949) and The Innkeepers (1955). The first feature film in which he was cast is the 1958 World War II drama Run Silent, Run Deep. He can also be seen in subsequent productions such as Elmer Gantry, Zig Zag, Sometimes a Great Notion, The Salzburg Connection, and Rich and Famous.
Maross achieved greater acting success on television, where he became a familiar face to American audiences, especially during the 1950s and 1960s. He can be seen in episodes of assorted series originally broadcast during that period. He has roles in the 1959 episode "A Personal Matter" on Alfred Hitchcock Presents and in three episodes of Perry Mason: "The Case of the Crying Cherub" (1960), "The Case of the Lavender Lipstick", and "The Case of the Potted Planter" (1963). He also appears in supporting roles or as a guest star in Behind Closed Doors, Mission: Impossible, The Fugitive, The Outer Limits, Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Invaders, Gunsmoke, The Virginian, Twelve O'Clock High, Kentucky Jones, The Time Tunnel (in an episode in which he portrays George Armstrong Custer), Hawaii Five-O, the Mannix episode "Cry Silence", Hawkins, The Rockford Files, the Cannon episodes "Call Unicorn" and "Blood Lines", the Combat! episode "A Little Jazz", and the Bonanza episode "Escape to Ponderosa". Maross is a central character as well in two episodes of The Twilight Zone: "Third from the Sun" and "The Little People". While the frequency of his work on television began to decline by the late 1970s, Maross continued to perform into the 1980s. An example of this is his portrayal of Captain Mike Benton in the series Code Red, which aired for one season on ABC from 1981 to 1982.
Support for film organizations Maross was a founding member of "Projects 58", an acting, writing and directing group based in Los Angeles. He was also a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Death In November 2009, at age 86, Maross died of cardiac arrest at a convalescent hospital in Glendale, California.
Filmography Year Title Role Notes1958 Run Silent, Run Deep Chief Kohler 1958 The Restless Gun Kaleel Episode: "Hang and be Damned"1959 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Joe Philips Season 4 Episode 15: "A Personal Matter"1960 Elmer Gantry Pete 1960 Bonanza Jimmy Sutton Episode: "Escape to Ponderosa"1960 Perry Mason Assistant District Attorney Ernest Helming Episode: "The Case of the Lavender Lipstick"1960 The Twilight Zone Jerry Riden Episode: "Third from the Sun"1961 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Tony Coe Season 6 Episode 30: "You Can't Trust a Man"1962 The Twilight Zone Peter Craig Episode: "The Little People"1962 Gunsmoke Dan Beard Episode: "Coventry"1963 The Virginian Landegger Episode: "Echo of Another Day" 1965 Kentucky Jones Ned Scratch Episode: "Bad Penny" 1965 Gunsmoke Charlie Britton Episode “Chief Joseph"1967-1973 Mission Impossible Sheriff Brad Owens, Frank Bates, Mark Walters, Clegg, Jay Braddock Episodes: The Frame, The Widow, Homecoming, The Connection, The Fighter1970 Zig Zag Lieutenant Max Hines1971 Sometimes a Great Notion Floyd Evenwrite 1972 The Salzburg Connection Chuck Emergency Season 6 Episode 8| 11-19-1976 Captain Hook "Hookrader"1976 The Six Million Dollar Man Gustav Tokar Season 3, Episode 13: "The Golden Pharaoh"1976 The Rockford Files Perry Lefcourt Season 3, Episode 11: "The Trouble with Warren"1977 Sixth and Main Peanuts 1978 Wonder Woman Shubert Episode: "The Fine Art of Crime"1981 Rich and Famous Martin Fornam
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