Ernest Carroll (born 26 May 1929) is a retired Australian entertainer,
radio and television personality, comic writer, television producer,
puppeteer and comic strip writer, most recognised for his role as the
man behind (and inside) Ossie Ostrich on Hey Hey It's Saturday,
Cartoon Corner and The Daryl and Ossie Show.Carroll was born in
Melbourne. He made his broadcasting début on Geelong radio station
3GL in the 1950s, and joined Melbourne television station GTV-9 in its
first active year, 1956, as 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
"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.
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 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. Ernie Carroll Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter