Ernie Carroll Biography – Ernie Carroll Wiki
Ernie Carroll was an Australian puppeteer, entertainer, radio and television personality, comic writer, television producer, and comic strip writer, best known for his role as the man behind Ossie Ostrich on Hey Hey It’s Saturday, Cartoon Corner, and The Daryl and Ossie Show.
He went to study at the Vincent School of Broadcasting in Melbourne. His first radio job was on 3TR which at that time was based in Sale. He became well known in Geelong radio station 3GL in the 1950s, and joined Melbourne television station GTV-9 in its first active year, 1956, as a producer for children’s television. He worked on shows such as The Tarax Show both on-screen and as a producer, and later wrote for Graham Kennedy. He created the character of the ‘squeaky-voiced moppet’ Joybelle and “Professor Ratbaggy”, which owed its origins to Denzil Howson’s “Professor Nitwitty” from the late 1950s, and he appeared as “Uncle” Ernie. He also penned the comic strip versions of Gerry Gee, Joy-Belle, and Ossie Ostrich.
His greatest fame was as the puppeteer and voice of “Ossie Ostrich”, initially on The Tarax Show then on the long-running and successful variety show Hey Hey It’s Saturday with Daryl Somers. He hired Somers to work on Cartoon Corner, and played the role of Ossie when Somers’ co-host, the footballer Peter McKenna, was forced to withdraw: Carroll ‘decided to replace McKenna with… one of his old puppet characters he had stashed in a suitcase.’ Cartoon Corner, with Somers and Carroll as hosts, ran between 1971 and 1977 when both men left the Nine Network for the 0-10 Network and The Daryl and Ossie Show, an arrangement that would only last a year and which saw them return to Nine in 1979.
Ossie, played by Carroll, was also Somers’ sidekick on Hey Hey from 1971 until December 1994, when Carroll retired. He reprised his role as Ossie in 2009 with the second Hey Hey reunion special and later returned to the show’s reinstatement in 2010. Carroll and Somers created the television production company, Somers Carroll Productions.
The deceased was notoriously eager to keep the illusion of Ossie separate from his role as a puppeteer: he would, for instance, refuse to have his picture taken with the puppet. An article about Carroll in the Melbourne Age in 1993 described one episode of Hey Hey in which Nigel Kennedy told viewers ‘Something like, “Hey look, there’s a bloke over there with his arm up the bird”‘ to which Carroll responded with ‘a rare on-air putdown… “Some people have no sense of fantasy!”‘
Ernie Carroll Age
The late Carroll was born on May 26, 1929, in Geelong, Australia. He died on March 30, 2022, in Mornington, Victoria, Australia at the age of 92.
Ernie Carroll Partner
According to sources preview to The Cardinal Facts, Carroll did not mention his marital life on social media to ascertain whether he was married before. Nevertheless, he lived with his partner of almost 50 years, Miffy Marsh. Besides his partner, he is also survived by his daughter Lynne, and son Bruce.
Ernie Carroll Family
He is survived by his two children, his daughter Lynne, son Bruce, and his grandchildren. Carroll was born in Geelong, Victoria, the son of a fruit farmer.
Ernie Carroll Death
Ernie died on March 30, 2022, aged 92, surrounded by loved ones at Racecourse Grange Aged Care where he lived with his partner of almost 50 years, Miffy Marsh.
The news was confirmed online by friend and Hey Hey host Daryl Somers, who said Carroll died peacefully and of natural causes inside his unit at a Mornington retirement village in Victoria. “It is with overwhelming sadness I announce the passing of my beloved friend and mentor Ernie Carroll,” Somers wrote on Facebook. “I am so grateful for Ernie’s early guidance of my career. He auditioned me for the hosting role on Cartoon Cornerback in early 1971.
Ernie Carroll Cause of Death
The late puppeteer died of natural causes on Wednesday morning (March 30, 2022, aged 92) at his retirement home in Victoria, surrounded by family.
