Bob Ross's Real Name: Robert Norman Ross

Quick answer: Bob Ross's documented full name is Robert Norman Ross. Encyclopaedia Britannica records that form and gives his birth date as October 29, 1942, in Daytona Beach, Florida. NPR's reporting on his career and later life identifies him as the host of the PBS series The Joy of Painting (Encyclopaedia Britannica; NPR).

Real name and early life

Britannica lists the full name Robert Norman Ross and says he was raised in Orlando, Florida. After one year of high school and work as a carpenter with his father, he enlisted in the United States Air Force at age 18. While stationed in Alaska he took his first painting class at a United Service Organizations club in the early 1960s and later sold paintings of the Alaskan landscape to tourists. He learned the wet-on-wet, or alla prima, oil technique from television instructor Bill Alexander, whose PBS show The Magic of Oil Painting aired from 1974 to 1982. After retiring from the military in 1981, he studied privately with Alexander and later took his teacher's place on public television, Britannica says, proving even more popular.

Career highlights

Britannica says The Joy of Painting premiered in 1983 and ran for 11 years; NPR dates the series from 1982 through 1994 and says he filmed more than 400 episodes. On the half-hour program he painted complete landscapes with a housepainting brush and a palette knife, speaking in a calm voice and referring to "happy little" trees and clouds. NPR, quoting longtime business partner Annette Kowalski, says he had gotten a perm to save money on haircuts after leaving the Air Force and then kept the hairstyle because it had become part of his public image. He built Bob Ross Inc., which sold instructional books, videos, art supplies, and workshops. In 2020 the Smithsonian acquired paintings and studio objects for the National Museum of American History, and the Bob Ross Experience opened in Muncie, Indiana, where the show had been filmed. In 2025 his estate announced plans to auction 30 original paintings to benefit public television stations, Britannica records.

Death

He died of lymphoma on July 4, 1995, in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, Britannica says, at age 52, a date and age NPR also records.

Name notes for searchers

Robert Norman Ross is the documented full name; he was known professionally as Bob Ross. Searchers looking for the host of The Joy of Painting or the painter associated with "happy little trees" are usually aiming at the same person.