Ernest Carroll (26 May 1929 – 30 March 2022) was an Australian

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden fr ...

, entertainer, radio and television personality, comic writer, television producer and comic strip writer, most recognised for his role as the sidekick opposite

Daryl Somers Daryl Paul Somers (né Schulz; 6 August 1951) is an Australian television personality and musician, and a triple Gold Logie award-winner. He rose to national fame as the host and executive producer of the long-running comedy-variety program '' ...

, as the man behind (and inside)

Ossie Ostrich Oswald Q. Ostrich, better known simply as Ossie Ostrich, is an Australian television puppet character in the form of a pink ostrich, created, performed and voiced by Ernie Carroll who appeared firstly on the ''Tarax Show'', and then opposite Daryl ...

on ''

Hey Hey It's Saturday ''Hey Hey It's Saturday'' was a long-running variety television program on Australian television. It initially ran for 28 years on the Nine Network from 9 October 1971 to 20 November 1999, with a recess in 1978. Its host throughout its entire ...

'', ''Cartoon Corner'' and ''

The Daryl and Ossie Show ''The Daryl and Ossie Show'' is an Australian comedy show, broadcast through Somers Carroll Productions which aired on Network Ten (The 0-10 Network) in 1978, hosted by Daryl Somers, Ossie Ostrich (portrayed by Ernie Carroll), Monique Daams an ...

''.

Life and career

Early life

Carroll was born in

Geelong Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon ...

, the son of a fruit farmer.Wendy Tuohy. "Carroll stays behind Ossie - for the kids", ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', 5 August 1993, p. 37. After attending the Vincent School of Broadcasting in Melbourne, he made his radio début on 3TR which at that time was based in Sale. He became well-known at 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 Graham Cyril Kennedy AO (15 February 1934 – 25 May 2005) was an Australian entertainer, comedian and variety performer, as well as a personality and star of radio, theatre, television and film. He often performed in the style of vaudevilli ...

. He created the character of the "squeaky-voiced moppet" Joy-BelleRoss Warneke. "Hey Hey, I'm Outta Here", Age Green Guide supplement, 4 April 1995, p. 10. and Professor Ratbaggy, which owed its origins to Denzil Howson's Professor Nitwitty from the late 1950s, and he appeared as Uncle Ernie.''TV Week'', 26 June 1958, Victorian edition, p. 2. He also penned the comic strip versions of Gerry Gee, Joy-Belle and Ossie Ostrich.

Career

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 ''

'' with

. Carroll 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 The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

for the

0-10 Network Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

and ''

'', 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 Somers Carroll Productions is an Australian television production company. Somers Carroll was formed by Daryl Somers and Ernie Carroll, to produce ''Hey Hey It's Saturday'', after original producer Gavin Disney left the series. Somers Carroll a ...

. Carroll was notoriously eager to keep the illusion of Ossie separate from his role as puppeteer; for instance, he would refuse to have his picture taken with the puppet. An article about Carroll in ''The Age'' in 1993 described one episode of ''Hey Hey'' in which

Nigel Kennedy Nigel Kennedy (born 28 December 1956) is an English violinist and violist. His early career was primarily spent performing classical music, and he has since expanded into jazz, klezmer, and other music genres. Early life and background Kenn ...

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!'"

Death

Carroll died on 30 March 2022, aged 92, at Racecourse Grange Aged Care in Mornington, Victoria, Australia, where he had lived with his partner of almost 50 years, Miffy Marsh.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll, Ernie 1929 births 2022 deaths Australian television presenters Australian radio personalities Male actors from Melbourne Male actors from Geelong Australian puppeteers