Joe E. Ross (born Joseph Roszawikz; March 15, 1914 – August 13, 1982) was an American actor known for his trademark "Ooh!

[1] Ross was born on March 15, 1914, to Jewish immigrant parents in New York City who owned a candy store.

[1][2] Aged 16, he dropped out of Seward Park High School to become a singing waiter at the Van Cortlandt Inn in the Bronx.

[2] When the cafe added a female dancer and singer, Ross was promoted to announcer.

He served in the United States Army Air Corps at Camp Blanding, Florida, before being stationed in England.

Discharged at the war's end, Ross became an announcer-comic at Billy Gray's Band Box in Hollywood.

Silvers would deliberately stray from the scripted dialogue and give Ross the wrong cues, prompting a genuinely confused reaction and an agonized "Ooh!

Fred Gwynne, another Bilko alumnus, played Toody's partner, Francis Muldoon.

Ross did the voice for Toody for the episode "Car 54" of Hanna-Barbera's Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, in which Toody and Muldoon moonlight running a day care center and one of the children turns up missing.

catchphrase was emulated by Frank Welker in the animated series Fangface and Norm Prescott as Theodore H. Bear in The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle's Quacula episodes.

[10] He was often known as a difficult person to work with[8][9] and co-workers complained that he was continually vulgar, even cursing around children.

"[8] Others, however, called him "a man of sweet character"[8] and he was described as a "trouper, cooperative and hard working" during his career.

[11] Who's Who in Comedy: Comedians, Comics, and Clowns from Vaudeville to Today's Stand-Ups described Ross as having a "Runyonesque sweetness and likeability despite his obtuseness (that) kept him performing right up to the end.