Question: Some fans feel that during the third season of UNCLE, the show lost its way by having too much humor. He was appearing on THE LIEUTENANT at the time.
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I knew him from before when he took a class at USC where I was a guest lecturer. Ross: Vaughn was slightly uptight, very serious. Question: Some television shows have a fairly relaxed feel to them, while others are pretty tense. In that period, I was writing BATMAN, UNCLE and THE MONKEES all at the same time with offices eventually at all three studios. Boris was a character, story editor Irv Perlberg was a good guy, the set was enjoyable except for the fact that Sherman Marks directed one of my episodes after screwing up a Batman episode of mine the week before. Question: How did UNCLE compare, writing wise, to other television shows you worked on? Besides UNCLE, and the aforementioned Batman, I know you also developed the Lynda Carter version of Wonder Woman. Which one are you, Richman or Ross?” And that was the last time I collaborated with anyone on TV. When Don Richman went to Seattle, I came in alone and Ingster said to me. I actually did more than one re-write but I would have to look at the episode guide to remember the others I worked on. Yes, he wanted more humor but he had to hold me down because I made it too funny in places.
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Smoking one cig after another, lots of yelling. What was he like to work for? Was he the one pushing for more humor in scripts? Question: Boris Ingster was the producer during the season you wrote for UNCLE.
#THE GUY FROM UNCLE TV#
Ross: I have been a regular on FALCON CREST, SUPERIOR COURT and have acted in numerous films and TV shows. Question: Besides your UNCLE role, you also had a small role on Batman (Ballpoint Baxter, I think)? Did you do this sort of thing on a regular basis? I am already 6-6 and said that he would look like a midget but he replied the taller I was, the stronger and more macho he would seem for having beaten me up. Question:What was it like for you a pretty tall fellow, working with a somewhat shorter David McCallum? Because of the speed at which I wrote, Doug Benton recalled that and when he went to work at COLOMBO he called me in to do a fast script, Turned out to be ANY PORT IN A STORM which won 5 Emmys and was originally designed for Victor Buono but Donald Pleasence got the part. But I had the script ready at 7 that morning and they started shooting. That script was re-written overnight at the MGM office on a typewriter that was so old the letters were worn off the most used keys and since I am not a touch typist (not then anyhow) it was arduous. Ross: I woudn’t do the re-write unless I had a part on the film because I knew all I would get was the fee and no residuals for the writing. I understand you also did an uncredit rewrite on that script. Question: Besides your two writing credits you also had a role (“beatnik” is how your role was listed) in The Pop Art Affair. and becoming an adman before his untimely death.)
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UNCLE was in that building, so I walked downstairs and pitched a story with my sometime partner Don Richman (he was more interested in sports and wound up as the Seattle Supersonics GM before coming back to L.A. I had an office at FOX in (Batman producer William) Dozier’s building and then someone else wanted it fo a month so I drove to MGM, found an empty office, called the operator, told her I was occupying that office and settled in. Were you recruited to write for UNCLE specifically because you were a writer on Batman? Question: During the third season of UNCLE, the producers went for a more lighthearted approach, reportedly spurred by the success of Batman on ABC. After the Ross interview, there is a Q and A with actress Yvonne Craig. Ross passed away in March 2000 of cancer. Ross then agreed to do the following interview by e-mail. For more details CLICK HERE to read a May 2012 post on The HMSS Weblog. He particularly approved how I noticed he used the same joke on UNCLE and Batman. In 1999, Ross contacted the Webmaster to pass along a compliment. He’s also went before the cameras, including a small role as a beatnik in The Pop Art Affair. He wrote for many shows, including Batman (where he was a very frequent contributor) and Columbo. Stanley Ralph Ross (1935-2000), a veteran television writer, worked on the third season of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.