# Joe Maross

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.

## 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 | Notes |
| 1958 | 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 Fighter |
| 1970 | Zig Zag | Lieutenant Max Hines | |
| 1971 | Sometimes a Great Notion | Floyd Evenwrite | |
| 1972 | The Salzburg Connection | Chuck | |
| 1977 | Sixth and Main | Peanuts | |
| 1978 | Wonder Woman | Shubert | Episode: "The Fine Art of Crime" |
| 1981 | Rich and Famous | Martin Fornam | |