This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2011)

Pat Renella

Pat Renella (born 1933) is an American actor. Of Italian descent, his motion picture debut was as an engineer in the space drama X-15 (1961) starring David McLean and Charles Bronson.

Renella acted in the stage play Bullfight, which opened at the Coronet Repertory Theatre on North La Cienega in West Hollywood on November 17, 1961.

Although there is not much written about him in the Los Angeles Times of the day, he was a working actor, mostly playing small parts as gangster types and hoods.

After playing an uncredited part as a man in the movie The Silencers (1966) starring Dean Martin and Stella Stevens, with Victor Buono, Renella had an uncredited small part in Riot on Sunset Strip (1967) starring Aldo Ray. He then played the role as Claude Sadi in Dayton's Devils (1968) starring Rory Calhoun, Leslie Nielsen, and Lainie Kazan. That same year, Renella played Johnny Ross, a Mafia informant scheduled to testify in San Francisco, in Bullitt starring Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, and Jacqueline Bisset.

Renella's guest appearances on television include the hit shows Route 66, Combat!, Planet of the Apes, Mannix, The High Chaparral, McCloud, The Rockford Files, The Streets of San Francisco, Hunter, The Dukes of Hazzard, and the soap opera General Hospital.

One year when he attended the Academy Awards, he went over to Ginger Rogers at a party afterward and asked her to dance. She said yes, but told him to come back when they played something slower, which he did.

Renella played the manager of the inn in the sci fi horror drama Moonchild (1974) starring Victor Buono and John Carradine, and he played Duke in Run for the Roses (1977) starring Panchito Gomez and Vera Miles.

He played a policeman in the comedy Beverly Hills Brats (1989) starring Burt Young, Martin Sheen, and Terry Moore, and was shown flubbing a line in the bloopers shown over the end credits.

Pat Renella lives in Los Angeles.

External links[link]

• Pat Renella episode of The High Chaparral
• Pat Renella at the Internet Movie Database
• Pat Renella's page chronicling his career

Johnny Ross was a multi instrumentalist, singer songwriter and founding member of Baby Huey & the Babysitters who died in 2006 as a result of appendicitis.^[1] He also hosted his own cable television show.

Biography[link]

Along with Melvyn "Deacon" Jones and James Ramey aka Baby Huey, Ross was a founding member of Baby Huey & the Babysitters.^[2] He stayed with the Babysitters for nearly a decade and during that time he wrote two of their songs, "Monkey Man" and "Just Being Careful".^[3] "Monkey Man" appears on numerous 60's various artists compilations including Pittsburghs Greatest Hits,^[4] Teenage Shutdown: Jump, Jive and Harmonize,^[5] Mad Mike's Monstors Vol 3 ^[6]

After he left the Babysitters he went solo and recorded some soul singles, "I Can't Help Myself" which appears on a Northern Soul dance compilation.^[7]

In later years[link]

From the early 1990s until the time of his death Ross and his wife managed Ross Music and Video Productions.^[8] He was also scoring music for television shows, commercials etc. Sears, Mattel Toys were among the brands that he did music for.^[9]

He also had a cable television show Creating Music that ran for ten years.^[10] Among the guests that he had on his show were, Mo' Beat Blues,^[11] members of Michael Jackson's extended family to Gary Mayor Scott King who played bass to members of The Spaniels.^[12]

From the early 2000s he branched out to doing the soundtracks for movies. Two were for Fred "The Hammer" Williamson.^[13] They were Down 'n Dirty and On The Edge.

In addition to music, Ross also ran security and he had served as head of security for many municipal events and he also personally handled security for Coretta Scott King, the widow of Dr Martin Luther King.^[14]

Television[link]

• The Johnny Ross Show, Creating Music - (c) 1994 - 2006 (Cable) ^[15]

Soundtrack[link]

• Down 'n Dirty - 2000 ^[16]
• On The Edge - 2002

Discography[link]

• Johnny Ross & The Soul Explosions - "I Can't Help Myself / Sore Loser - Chirrup 1523
• Electric City Featuring Johnny Ross - "Gemini" / "We're Gonna Make It" - 20th Century Fox TC-2360 - 1977^[17]

Compilation[link]

• Northern Soul Story 4 - Soul Supply Records LPSD 121 - 1987 - Johnny Ross & The Soul Explosions - I Can't Help Myself (2 LP) ^[18]
• Northern Soul Dance Party Goldmine GSCD46 - Johnny Ross & the Soul Explosion - "I Can't Help Myself" ^[19]
• Down 'n Dirty (Soundtrack) - Select-O-Hits - 2000

References[link]