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This was published 2 years ago
Ossie Ostrich creator Ernie Carroll dies
By Mathew Dunckley and Marta Pascual Juanola
Ernie Carroll, the man behind beloved TV character Ossie Ostrich, has died at the age of 92.
His friend and Hey Hey It’s Saturday co-star Daryl Somers announced on Wednesday night that the television pioneer had died.
Ernie Carroll, the man behind Ossie Ostrich, has died.Credit: Fairfax Media
“It is with overwhelming sadness I announce the passing of my beloved friend and mentor Ernie Carroll,” Somers said in a social media post.
“Ernie was a pioneer of television starting back in the ’50s, coming from a radio background to GTV9 when television was in its infancy.”
Somers said Carroll died of natural causes in a Melbourne retirement village.
“He was a cartoonist, camera operator, sponsor liaison, officer, producer, writer, on camera character playing Professor Ratbaggy and, as himself, illustrating and narrating the adventure of Joybelle in the kids shows he also produced out of GTV9 in the ’60s. He wrote comedy for the King of variety television, Graham Kennedy on In Melbourne Tonight.”
Daryl Somers with co-host Jacki MacDonald and Ossie Ostrich on Hey Hey It’s Saturday in 1987.
“Of course he was best known for his creation of Oswald Q Ostrich (Ossie), my lovable and nonsensically funny ‘sidekick’ on Hey Hey It’s Saturday for 25 of its 30-year run.”
Born in a Geelong fruit farming family, Caroll made his radio debut on radio station 3TR before moving to 3GL in the 1950s. He joined Channel Nine in its infancy as a producer, working on projects such as the children’s variety program The Tarax Show, where he played Professor Ratbaggy and was the voice behind the squeaky-voiced moppet, Joybelle.
The Age reported in 2006 that Ossie Ostrich was born on radio station 3GL, and first appeared in the mid-1960s on The Tarax Show, “after Carroll was inspired by a French television show that had a talking duck”.
Hey Hey It’s Saturday, an institution of Australian television, ran for 28 years on the Nine network between 1971 and 1999. The show was hosted by Somers and Caroll’s puppet Ossie Ostrich, alongside running commentary from John Blackman.
Jackie MacDonald, Denise Drysdale, Jo Beth Taylor and Livinia Nixon also stepped in to co-host the show at various times.
Carroll retired in 1994, but returned to television screens in 2009 for a Hey Hey reunion special and later a reinstalment of the show in 2010.
Nine’s director of television, Michael Healy, said the network was deeply saddened by Carroll’s death and described the 92-year-old as a pioneer of Australian television.
“As a member of the Nine family for several decades he brought immense laughter and joy to generations of Australians,” he said.
“We express our deepest condolences to Ernie’s extended family, including Daryl and the Hey Hey family.”
3AW host Simon Owens was among the first to share a tribute to Carroll on social media.
“So terribly, terribly sad to hear of the passing of Ernie Carroll. A huge part of my childhood and memories that will stay with me forever,” he wrote on Twitter. “Thanks for the laughs.”
Meanwhile, comedian Marty Fields described Carroll as a magnificent performer and pioneer.
Somers said Carroll was survived by his partner of almost 50 years Miffy Marsh, his daughter Lynne, and son Bruce, who had requested privacy.
From The Age 2006
When The Tarax Show folded, Ossie was shelved at Channel Nine until Carroll revived him for a new show with Daryl Somers in 1971 called Hey Hey It’s Saturday, the spin-off of a show called Cartoon Corner, the report by Peter Barrett says.
In December 1994, Carroll, then 65, decided to leave Hey Hey, taking Ossie into retirement, too.
“I’d been in television for 40 years,” Carroll said in 2006. “I just thought it was time for me to give it away. I thought the show needed to be adjusted a bit at the time and I thought it was easier to do without the puppet.”
Before Carroll retired to his home on the Mornington Peninsula he dropped Ossie off at the Victorian Performing Arts Museum.
The puppet, who has had “about a dozen” heads over his lifetime and various bits and pieces replaced, recently travelled to Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum where he will be on display as part of On the Box: Great Moments in Australian Television 1956-2006 from April 6 until late January next year.
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