For those who remember, it’s rather incomprehensible to realize that the classic comedy series “Happy Days” has now been off the air for precisely a quarter-century, having departed the prime time schedule in 1984. But Marion Ross remembers those 11 seasons in which she portrayed Marion “Mrs. C.” Cunningham as if it were the proverbial yesterday.
“Not a day passes where somebody doesn’t bring it up to me,” Ross shares,
“and I think ‘Happy Days’ is more treasured than ever before. There is nothing on television that’s taken our place. I really believe that. But all of us really kind of knew that at the time, too. We were the ultimate appointment TV every Tuesday night at 8 – and the Fonz was taking over the world.”Yet it isn’t as if Ross disappeared once “Happy Days” did. The five-time Emmy Award nominee enjoyed a short but significant run as the matriarch of a Jewish immigrant family from Poland on the beloved but tragically short-lived early 1990s drama “Brooklyn Bridge.” And there were recurring roles as Drew Carey’s mom on “The Drew Carey Show;” as the evil Bernice Forman on “That ‘70s Show;” and as the matriarch on the long-running “Gilmore Girls.”
“Plus, you know, of course, that a whole generation of kids know me as the voice of Grandma SquarePants on ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’,” Ross announces with obvious pride.
“If it’s a mother or grandmother you want played, I’m your gal.”
Man, ain’t that the truth.
In fact, one could make the point that Ross, 81, is the most accomplished and versatile mother/grandmother character actress in TV annals. Certainly, no one has pulled it off with greater consistency or distinction.
Let’s also include longevity in the Ross list of motherly adjectives. Some 35 years after the “Happy Days” debut in 1974, she’s back as yet another mommy, playing a six-episode arc this season on the hit drama “Brothers & Sisters” as Ida Holden, mother to Nora Walker (Sally Field) and Saul Holden (Ron Rifkin) and grandmother to Kitty Walker (Calista Flockhart).
Ida is described as “tough, obstinate, judgmental, direct and uncompromising.” Sounds like a barrel of laughs.
“She’s a little bit on the critical side,” Ross allows.
“I’m having so much fun.”Oh, and lest we forget, there is also one last matriarch in Ross’ arsenal this year. She portrays the owner of a flower shop trying to fix up her granddaughter (Marla Sokoloff of “The Practice”) with Mr. Right in the Hallmark Channel Original Movie “Flower Girl,” which premieres Saturday, November 14 (9p.m. ET/PT, 8C).
“’Flower Girl is all about gorgeous weddings,” Ross observes,
“with each wedding more gorgeous than the last. You get white horses, carriages…girls are going to see this and say, ‘I’ve got to have that!’ It was cold, cold, cold while we shot it in November and December last year, but it was worth it, because it’s beautiful and such a nice story.”Ross says that she read the script for the film and instantly was taken with the spirit and passion of her character, Rose Durham.
“There’s nobody like Hallmark to give you a nice story and tell it well,” she maintains.
While it may seem that Ross has carried a reputation for straight-ahead, solid characters, in conversation it’s obvious the actress has a significant free-spirited streak, just as it’s clear she has lived her life by her own rules since being born Marian Ross on Oct. 25, 1928 in tiny Albert Lea, Minnesota.
By the time she turned 13, Ross had decided to change the spelling of her first name to “Marion.” Why? Because she figured it would look better than “Marian” Ross on a marquee -- in gold lettering.
“I guess it’s pretty clear not a lot of attention was paid to me when I was a kid, being the middle child,” she notes.
“I guess I was a little needier.”She would marry only once, at age 23, eloping while in college on the spur of the moment. It would end in divorce in 1969 after 18 years, and Ross has never married again, instead living with her longtime companion, actor Paul Michael, for better than 20 years. But the marriage produced two kids: Jim Meskimen, an actor, improvisational performer and voice artist; and Ellen Plummer, an Emmy-winning writer-producer on “Friends” and “Joey” (among other shows).
“I really was a wonderful mother,” Ross observes even-handedly.
“Really I was. It doesn’t surprise me that they’re so talented and successful. I raised them right. I wasn’t an absentee mom. I was there for them no matter how busy I was in my career.”But what a career it’s been. Ross’ list of credits spans the history of classic TV, from “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show” to “Father Knows Best” to “The Brady Bunch,” “The Love Boat” and “Night Court.” Of course, it was “Happy Days” that proved the difference between a steady career and real stardom.
“‘Happy Days’ was hard work,” Ross recalls,
“but it also still felt like we were children at play. Our head guy Garry Marshall kept the mood on the set light. And you know, I’m still very close to Henry (Winkler) and Ron (Howard) and Tom (Bosley). That bond never goes away.”One could say the same for Ross herself, who not only finds herself recurring on a series and starring in a new film but also has plans next summer to star alongside Paul Michael in the production The Last Romance, written by playwright Joe DiPietro specifically for Ross and Michael. It’s being presented at the famed Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.
“My life continues to be rich,” Ross says.
She is also being recognized in a way that middle children rarely are. Back in June of last year, Ross was on hand to witness it when the Albert Lea Civic Theater in her Minnesota hometown changed its name to the Marion Ross Performing Arts Center.
Ross was right all those years ago as a green teenager. That name looked pretty darn good on a marquee.
“It was an amazing honor that truly left me speechless,” Ross reflects.
“This is what I dreamed about as a kid growing up in Minnesota. I wanted it all. And you know what? I got it.”“Flower Girl” premieres Saturday, November 14 (9p.m. ET/PT, 8C).
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