who played the mean old lion in the wiz
Ted Ross Theodore Ross Roberts (June 30, 1934 â€“ September 3, 2002), known as Ted Ross, was an American actor who was probably best known for his role as the Lion in The Wiz, an all-African American reinterpretation of The Wizard of Oz. He won a Tony Award for the original 1975 Broadway production, and went on to recreate the role in the 1978 film version which also starred Diana Ross (no relation), Michael Jackson and Nipsey Russell. Ross went on to appear in films including the role of Bitterman in the classic Arthur, and on the television sitcoms The Jeffersons, Benson, The Cosby Show, and its spin-off A Different World. His final role was in the 1991 movie The Fisher King.
List of Oz characters The Cowardly Lion is a talking lion who lives in the Land of Oz. He appears in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and becomes one of Dorothy Gale's first companions in Oz, joining her and the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman as he is in search of courage. At the end of the book, he becomes King of the Beasts in the dark forest in Oz's southern quadrant called Quadling Country, though this is rarely brought up in later Oz books. In the sequels he appears in minor roles as Ozma's bodyguard and beast of burden, along with the Hungry Tiger. In The Cowardly Lion of Oz, a lion collector seeks to capture him, while he seeks to restore his courage.