W. E. D. Ross
William Edward Daniel Ross, born on November 16, 1912, in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, was a prolific writer and actor known for his extensive contributions to literature and theater. He began his artistic journey at the Provincetown Theater School in New York and managed his own traveling acting company from 1930 to 1948. During World War II, he served with the British Entertainment Services, which highlighted his commitment to the arts even in challenging times. Ross's literary output included approximately 600 short stories and about 350 novels, making him one of Canada's most productive authors. He wrote across various genres, such as mysteries, gothic romances, and Westerns, often using multiple pseudonyms to distinguish his works. Notable among his creations is Mei Wong, a Chinese detective featured in several stories. Ross also gained fame for novelizations of the daytime vampire series "Dark Shadows." He received several accolades throughout his career, including the Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee Medal in 1978 and an honorary degree from the University of New Brunswick. Ross continued to write until his death in 1995, leaving behind a significant literary legacy.
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W. E. D. Ross
Writer
- Born: November 16, 1912
- Birthplace: Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
- Died: November 1, 1995
- Place of death: Canada
Biography
William Edward Daniel Ross was born on November 16, 1912, in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, the son of William Edward Ross, a career military man, and Laura Frances Brooks Ross, an actress. He attended Provincetown Theater School in New York City in 1934 and later took courses at the University of Chicago, the University of Oklahoma, Columbia University, and the University of Michigan.
From 1930 to 1948, Ross performed while managing his own traveling acting company. He also occasionally wrote for the stage, and he won the Dominion Drama Festival Prize for Playwriting in 1934. During World War II, he served with the British Entertainment Services. Following the war, he was a film distributor for his own company and for Paramount Films and Monogram Films from 1948 until 1957. After 1957, he turned exclusively to writing.
The word “prolific” seems scarcely adequate to describe Ross’s output during the next four decades. He published some six hundred short stories in a wide range of publications, including Saint Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, London Evening News, New York Daily News, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine. Dozens of stories featured Ross’s popular mystery creation, Mei Wong, a Chinese detective who lived in Calcutta, India, he wrote many stories in collaboration with his first wife, Charlotte Edith MacCormack, who died in 1958.
Ross also wrote about 350 novels, probably a world record for a Canadian author. The exact number of books is difficult to determine because Ross worked in a variety of genres—gothic romances, supernatural fantasies, Westerns, adventures, romantic suspense stories, and mysteries—and published novels under numerous pseudonyms. These pen names were necessary to differentiate between genres. He was Dan Roberts for his Westerns and adventure stories; Ann Gilmer for straightforward romances; and Marilyn Ross, the name of his second wife, an editor whom he married in 1960, for gothic romances.
Ross’s first novel was Summer Season, published in 1962 and written as Jane Rossiter. As W. E. D. Ross or Dan Ross, he wrote romance novels, including nurse romances, romantic suspense books, and paranormal romances, including Alice in Love, The Ghost of Oaklands, Nightmare Abbey, and Nurse Janice’s Dream. His most frequent pseudonyms were Dan Roberts (The Wells Fargo Brand, Wyoming Showdown, and ten other Westerns) and Clarissa Ross (Mistress of Ravenswood, Beloved Scoundrel, and more than thirty-five romantic suspense works with exotic settings). He is undoubtedly best known for scores of novelizations written as Marilyn Ross in conjunction with the popular daytime vampire series, Dark Shadows, which aired from 1976 through 1971.
Ross was president of the Canadian Authors Association, received the Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee Medal in 1978 for his contributions to popular fiction, and was granted an honorary B.A. degree in 1988 from the University of New Brunswick. Still churning out words to the very end of his life, he died in 1995.