Trivia

Directed 12 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Peter O'Toole, George Burns, Walter Matthau, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Anne Bancroft, Shirley MacLaine, Leslie Browne, Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, Quinn Cummings, Maggie Smith and Julia Roberts. Burns, Dreyfuss and Smith won Oscars for their performances in one of Ross' movies. He hit his peak in 1977, directing seven of the twenty nominated performances, including Dreyfuss and three of the five Best Actress nominees.

Brother-in-law of Jacqueline Kennedy from 1988 until her death in 1994.

He died of the same ailment that killed his father.

As of 2011, he is the only director to have directed both the Golden Globe winner for Best Drama and Best Musical/Comedy of the same year (The Turning Point (1977) and The Goodbye Girl (1977); he also won the Golden Globe for Best Director that year for the former.).

Former uncle of Caroline Kennedy and John Kennedy Jr.

Former stepfather of Anthony Radziwill and Tina Radziwill.

Was a former ballet dancer and choreographer with the American Ballet Theater.

Was nominated for Broadway's 1964 Tony Award as Best Choreographer for "Anyone Can Whistle".

He made his stage debut as the third witch in "MacBeth".

Following his death, he was interred with his wife Nora Kaye at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Along with Ernst Lubitsch, Jack Conway, Michael Curtiz, Victor Fleming, John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Sam Wood, Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Soderbergh, he is one of ten directors to have more than one film nominated for Best Picture in the same year. The Goodbye Girl (1977) and The Turning Point (1977) were both so nominated at the 50th Academy Awards in 1978.

Grew up in Miami, Florida.

Studied drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village, New York City.

Like many dancers, he dropping out of high school, Ross went from Brooklyn to Miami, Florida to New York City to pursue a career in acting. But then he tried dance and fell in love with it. He danced in the choruses of several shows, but inevitably Ross stumbled into his career as a choreographer after he injured his ankle.

Directed the concert version of the Sondheim/Goldman musical "Follies" which was filmed and released as "Follies in Concert" in 1985.

His mother died when he was nine years old, after which his father moved the family from Brooklyn to Miami.