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RossJolly

  • Actor
Ross-Jolly-Key-Image.jpg

Alongside a busy theatre career as actor and director, Ross Jolly has screen credits spanning five decades. One screen role stands out: likeable joker John, in hit office comedy Gliding On. Jolly first played John when Roger Hall's play Glide Time debuted in Wellington in 1976. Five seasons of the sitcom followed, plus 1998 sequel TV Market Forces. His other TV roles include early race relations drama Against the Lights, John Clarke comedy The Wonderful World of... and fantasies Cuckoo Land and Worzel Gummidge Down Under. He was also one of the writers behind A Lawful Excuse, an episode of pioneering 1970s drama Winners & Losers.

 

Screenography

Birdsong
2013 As: Laptop Executive Short film
Until Proven Innocent
2009 As: Sunday Star-Times Editor Television
Who Laughs Last?
2006 Subject Television
Dark Knight (TV series)
2000 - 2001 As: Lord Balfour Series

“Behind the scenes panic, clothes flying in all directions. On the set supposed professional calm ... two versions so any enormous gaffe can be edited out. Another nerve-wracking 30 minutes, laughs in different places, different things going awry...”

— Ross Jolly on making an early episode of Gliding On, The Listener, 29 August 1981

Related images

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The cast of Roger Hall comedy series Gliding On. Standing from the left: Michael Haigh (as Jim), Susan Wilson (Beryl), Ray Henwood (Hugh), Ross Jolly (John), Katy Beasley (then Katy Platt, as Raewyn) and Barry Hill (Wally). Ken Blackburn (the boss) sits at the desk.
Kindly supplied by TVNZ
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Ross Jolly plays John, the self-styled Don Juan of the Service Department, in Roger Hall's Gliding On.
Kindly supplied by TVNZ.
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Cast and creator share a farewell toast to comedy series Gliding On in 1985. From left, Michael Haigh (who played Jim), Jane Waddell (Irene), Gliding On creator Roger Hall, Ray Henwood (Hugh), Katy Beasley (then Katy Platt, as Raewyn) and Susan Wilson (Beryl).
Kindly supplied by TVNZ
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29 October 1985: An actors rehearsal for TV series Gliding On at Broadcasting House in Wellington. From left to right Ray Henwood, Ross Jolly, Bruce Phillips and Susan Wilson.
Kindly supplied by TVNZ.