- Born
- Died
- Birth nameMartin Rosenblatt
- Height5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
- Born in Grodek, Poland, Ross Martin grew up on New York City's Lower East Side. He spoke Yiddish, Polish, and Russian before even learning English and later added French, Spanish, and Italian to his amazing repertoire.
Despite academic training (and receiving honors in) business, instruction, and law, Martin chose a career in acting. His first film was the George Pal production Conquest of Space (1955). Soon after, he caught the eye of Blake Edwards who cast him in a number of widely varied roles, culminating with a fantastic part in The Great Race (1965).
Ross somehow managed a series in between, the short-lived Mr. Lucky (1959). With the release of The Great Race (1965), CBS cast him in what was to become his most famous part, Secret Service agent Artemus Gordon in The Wild Wild West (1965), opposite Robert Conrad. Perhaps the show's cancellation in 1969 was for the best - he suffered a near-fatal heart attack in 1968.
Afraid to take the risk of having a lead actor with a heart condition, the networks snubbed him with regards to a lead role, yet he appeared as a guest star in an amazing number of programs, not all dramatic masterpieces. Yet Ross loved to act, and took every role which came his way. Ross Martin collapsed while playing tennis, the heart condition finally taking its toll on July 3rd, 1981.
- IMDb mini biography by: Kristin Sabo / edited by Hans Delbruck
- SpousesOlavee Lucile Parsons(September 10, 1967 - July 3, 1981) (his death)Muriel B. Weiss(June 17, 1941 - March 15, 1965) (her death, 3 children)
- ChildrenGeorge MartinPhyllis MartinRebecca Martin
- His ability at speaking many different languages and doing many different accents
- Chameleonic acting skills
- An accomplished musician, he was a violin virtuoso at age 8, playing solo with the junior symphony orchestra.
- In Suitable for Framing (1971), many a viewer notes the marvelous interplay between Martin and Peter Falk. This is to be expected; Martin was Falk's acting instructor in years past. The two also worked together in The Great Race (1965).
- His natural ability for dialects led him to radio while in his 20s, performing on three daytime radio serials at once, including the part of a 62-year-old Viennese gent. At one time, the prolific actor was a regular in eight separate major series on all the different networks. He ended up with his own radio program, "The Ross Martin Show.".
- Best remembered by the public for his co-starring role as "Artemus Gordon" in The Wild Wild West (1965).
- At the time of his death in 1981, Martin and Robert Conrad were in the planning stages of another "Wild, Wild West" TV series.
- On the hazards of a job requiring changes in appearance: "I went home one afternoon to pick up a script without bothering to change, and a half an hour later the Beverly Hills Police were at my door because a neighbor had reported a suspicious stranger lurking around Ross Martin's house. I had to peel off my beard to prove who I was."
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