Ross James Jennings (13 November 1944 – 25 March 2016) was a New Zealand actor, becoming one of New Zealand's most experienced television producers and directors, whose credits included The Mad Dog Gang, Close to Home, Moynihan, Inside Straight, feature film I Live with Me Dad, Australian TV series Special Squad and Acropolis Now, NZ's soap Homeward Bound, New Zealand's first reality series, Police Ten 7, Middlemore, Strip Search, Heroes and Melody Rules.
[1][2] As a member of the NZ Players and Children's Art Theatre, Ross Jennings toured NZ as an actor before being granted a QE2 Arts Council Grant to study acting in England where he worked at Salisbury Theatre and took on minor television and film roles, before returning to New Zealand in 1971.
He devised, created and produced TVNZ's highly successful 36 hr live to air Millenium Show as well as devising, creating and producing Māori Television's ANZAC Day show - a 17-hour, annual, live to air programme which played a large part in the resurgence of the ANZAC Day revitalisation in NZ, as well as becoming Māori Television's flagship programme.
In his final year, he wrote, co-directed, and produced the live, outdoor performance of The Passion Play staged at the Villa Maria winery in Māngere in 2015.
The family held funerals on consecutive days the following week at St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Pukekohe.