Ross Higgins

Higgins' entertainment industry career began in 1946, when he took a cadetship at Sydney's 2GB commercial radio station at the age of 15. This led to an on-air announcing position and hosting of breakfast and, later, evening variety shows. A trained singer, he soon began recording singles which lifted his profile around Australia. His flair for comedy came to the fore in the 1950s when he became a cast member of the very popular The Jack Davey Show. He moved between commercial radio and the ABC,[4] touring the country, hosting and singing with the ABC show band. It was during this period he performed with Peter Dawson, Slim Dusty and Mel Tormé. His radio career reached a peak in the mid-1950s and, when television arrived in 1956, he successfully made the transition, appearing on variety shows, hosting game shows on the 7 Network and in the early 1960s on Singalong and Bobby Limb's Sound of Music on the 9 Network.

Higgins used his vocal talents on thousands of projects during his 60 years in radio and television, including recording the song "Monster Mash" for ABC For Kids Video Hits,[5] and two albums of the classic Australian children's story "Blinky Bill".[6][7]

During the 1960s, Higgins consolidated his position as a leading voiceover artist, creating character voices for TV and radio ads and cartoons. His earliest character voice—"Louie the Fly"[8] (an animated fly for the Mortein fly-spray commercials),[2] was recorded by him as late as 2011.[2] It is now the longest continuously running campaign in television history, having run for over 50 years (1957–2011). Other characters that Higgins voiced included Mr. Sheen,[9] Mr. Pound[2][3] and the Paddle Pop Lion.[10]

During the mid-1960s, Higgins worked in theatre, doing several back-to-back seasons at Sydney's Menzies Theatre Restaurant—a popular nightspot where musicals were staged under the direction of Hayes Gordon.

Higgins played Rev. Larcombe in two episodes of the soap opera Motel in 1968.[11] He also had guest roles in various series, including Division 4 and Skippy. Throughout the 1970s, he and voiceover colleague Kevin Golsby dominated Australian airwaves. While enjoying this success, another break-through role came in 1977 when he and Golsby were key regular performers in sketch comedy series The Naked Vicar Show. He played various characters in the series, which lasted two seasons.[12] In 1980, a spin-off series based on a bombastic Holden Kingswood driving character he had portrayed in one sketch of The Naked Vicar Show was created. Titled Kingswood Country, the series had a successful five-year run, completing five-and-a-half seasons.

Higgins played a straight dramatic role in the soap opera Richmond Hill (1988).[13] His character, a dour policeman, was the show's main authority figure. The series was cancelled at the end of 1988. In 1992, he starred in the Ten Network's sitcom Late for School (which launched the TV careers of Matthew Newton and Stephen Curry). Higgins' final series saw him reprise the Ted Bullpitt character in the situation comedy Bullpitt! in 1997, which had two seasons on the 7 Network. Kingswood Country has since found new audiences via cable TV, DVD and YouTube.