Ross ...Bob Ross Trivia Quiz

Answer: Florida

Robert Norman Ross was born on October 29, 1942, in Daytona Beach, FL. He died at the young age of 52 on July 04, 1995, in Orlando, FL. He is buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Gotha, FL. The official nickname of Florida is the Sunshine State. Even as a child, Bob showed his sunshine personality with his hobby of caring for injured animals including squirrels, an armadillo, and a snake.

Answer: He lost part of a finger on his left hand.

Bob dropped out of high school after ninth grade to work with his father. The accident caused the loss of part of his left index finger. The injury, however, would not affect him holding an artist's palette in his later career. Incidentally, his mom, Ollie Ross, worked as a waitress.

Answer: US Air Force

Bob enlisted in the Air Force at the age of 18 in 1961 and served for 20 years. He served as an enlisted man and eventually rose to the rank of Master Sergeant while working as a medical records technician. He also served time as a drill sergeant. He later described his time in the Air Force as requiring him to be "tough" and "mean" and yell frequently.

He decided after his time in the Air Force he would move to a position where he would not need to shout.

Answer: Alaska

Much of his career was spent at Eileson Air Force Base, southeast of Fairbanks, AK. (The official nickname of the state of Alaska is the Last Frontier.) Bob's time served in Alaska would play a large role in the subject matter of his later paintings with frequent images of mountains, evergreen forests, and lakes. I would imagine that having grown up in Florida, Bob particularly noticed the very different climate and geography of Alaska.

Answer: Bill Alexander

William "Bill" Alexander (1915-1997) was the host of "The Magic of Oil Painting" (1974-1982), where he frequently demonstrated the "wet on wet" or "alla prima", in which the artist would put a new layer of oil paint overlapping a previous layer before it had fully dried. Bob both viewed episodes of "The Magic of Oil Painting" and trained with Bill Alexander. Though Bob credited Bill Alexander by name in his first episode, as time went on the relationship of the two men became strained.

Jon Gnagy (1907-1981) was the host of early television art program "You Are an Artist" (1946-1950). Albert Dorne (1906-1965) co-founded the Famous Artists' School.

Answer: The Joy of Painting

"The Joy of Painting" (1983-1994) aired over 31 seasons and 403 episodes. The first season was recorded in the studios of WNVC (Falls Church, VA). These episodes are generally thought to have lower quality audio and video and saw limited rebroadcast. All other season were recorded at WIPB (Muncie, IN). Bob's paintings were almost always landscapes with trees, mountains, and clouds as common features. Bob did not take any payment for the episodes, viewing them as a way to promote his art supplies and how-to books. During the height of his popularity, Bob's show played on over 300 different PBS stations.

"Art in Action" aired on CBC television from 1959 to 1961. "Paint This with Jerry Yarnell" began airing on PBS stations in 1999. "100 Great Paintings" aired on BBC 2 television in 1980.

Answer: Bob had one son

Bob and his first wife Vivian Ridge (married to him, 1965-1977) had one son, Steven. Steven appeared on several episodes of "The Joy of Painting" and later worked as a Bob Ross certified instructor. There were no children from Bob's second marriage to Jane Ross (1977-1992) or third marriage to Lynda Brown (1995).

Answer: Three copies

Bob would create the first copy of a particular painting and--keeping it off-screen--would use it as a guide for his on-air painting. The majority of an episode of "The Joy of Painting" would feature a medium shot of Bob standing near the canvas on which he was working and a close-up shot of the canvas itself. The second copy of the painting was produced in real time while the episode was being recorded. After the episode was recorded, Bob would create a third copy, pausing frequently to allow an assistant to photograph the developing picture for use in one of his how-to books.

Season 13 was an exception to this as an unknown person or persons stole his prepared paintings before the season began. Bob used this as an opportunity to spontaneously create paintings.

Answer: Lymphoma

Lymphoma is a blood-related cancer with which Bob was diagnosed in the spring of 1994. Bob retired from "The Joy of Painting" in part to focus on his health. Bob was survived by his third wife, his son, a brother, and a half-brother.

Answer: Andy Warhol

The other artists featured in the advertisement were Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Vincent Van Gogh. Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was known for silkscreen paintings of Marilyn Monroe and Campbell's Soup Cans. The actor portraying Bob can be seen with his signature permed Afro, goatee beard, casual shirt, and blue jeans.

Bob's influence on popular art was significant. He was worth an estimated $6 million dollars at the time of his death along with about 2.5 million copies of his how-to books and over 1,000 certified instructors trained by Bob Ross, Inc.