Age, Biography, and Wiki
Bob Ross was born on October 29, 1942, in Daytona Beach, Florida. He is best known for creating and hosting the popular television show "The Joy of Painting," which aired from 1983 to 1994. Ross passed away on July 4, 1995.
| Occupation | Painters |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 29 October 1942 |
| Age | 82 Years |
| Birth Place | Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Scorpio |
| Country | U.S |
| Date of death | 4 July, 1995 |
| Died Place | Orlando, Florida, U.S. |
Height, Weight & Measurements
There is limited information available on Bob Ross's precise height and weight. However, he was known for his tall stature and gentle demeanor, which complemented his on-screen presence.
| Height | |
| Weight | |
| Body Measurements | |
| Eye Color | |
| Hair Color |
Dating & Relationship Status
Bob Ross was married three times throughout his life. His first marriage was to Vivian Brown, followed by a marriage to Sandra Brown, and finally to Lynda Brown. He had two children, Robert Stephen "Steve" Ross and Morgan Ross.
As an adolescent, Ross cared for injured animals, including armadillos, snakes, alligators and squirrels, one of which was later featured in several episodes of his television show. He had a half-brother Jim, whom he mentioned in passing on his show. Ross dropped out of high school in the 9th grade. While working as a carpenter with his father, he lost part of his left index finger, which did not affect his ability to later hold a palette while painting.
He returned to Florida, studied painting with Alexander, joined his "Alexander Magic Art Supplies Company" and became a traveling salesman and tutor. Annette Kowalski, who had attended one of his sessions in Clearwater, Florida, convinced Ross he could succeed on his own. Ross, his wife, Kowalski and Walt, her husband, pooled their savings to create his company. The business struggled at first; his trademark permed hairstyle came about as a cost-cutting measure when his regular crewcut haircuts were becoming too expensive. Ross later confessed that he disliked the hairstyle, but did not feel he could change it because it was depicted in the company logo.
Ross dedicated the first episode of the second season of The Joy of Painting to Bill Alexander, explaining that "years ago, Bill taught me this fantastic [wet-on-wet] technique, and I feel as though he gave me a precious gift, and I'd like to share that gift with you." As Ross's popularity grew, his relationship with Alexander became increasingly strained. "He betrayed me," Alexander told The New York Times in 1991. "I invented 'wet on wet', I trained him, and... he thinks he can do it better."
Ross was married three times and had two children: a child he fathered from a relationship he had as a teenager, and a son, Robert Stephen "Steve" Ross with his first wife, Vivian Ridge. Steve, also a talented painter, occasionally appeared on The Joy of Painting and became a Ross-certified instructor. Steve appeared on camera in the last episode of Season 1, in which he read a series of general "how-to" questions sent in by viewers during the season. Bob answered them one at a time, technique by technique, until he had completed an entire painting.
Ross and Ridge's marriage ended in divorce in 1977, allegedly due to Ross's infidelity. Ross and his second wife Jane had no children together. In 1992, Jane died of cancer. In 1995, two months before his death, Ross married for a third time, to Lynda Brown.
Under the terms of the incorporation of Bob Ross Inc., the death of any partner in the company would lead to that person's stock being equally divided among the partners. Ross's death, along with that of his second wife, the other partner in the company, left the Kowalskis with sole ownership of the company. The Kowalskis were largely only interested in using Ross's name for painting supplies. They became very aggressive against Ross's family members and associates, allegedly trying to pressure an ailing Ross to sign over rights to his estate before his death.
After the Kowalskis retired and their daughter Joan Kowalski took over the company, she became more open to merchandising the Ross brand outside of its core business of painting products, setting in motion the mass marketing of his name from the 2010s onward. Joan also engineered a settlement with Steve Ross and Jimmie Cox granting Bob Ross Inc. rights to Ross's name and likeness, in exchange for a guarantee that Steve Ross could resume his art career without threat of lawsuit, something that Steve Ross said had largely stopped him from painting in public after his father's death. Joan Kowalski also commissioned a revival series of The Joy of Painting featuring the paintings Ross had planned to use for season 32, with Nicholas Hankins, a Bob Ross Inc. certified instructor, as host.
The Twitch streams created a new interest in Ross and caused his popularity to grow. His videos subsequently became popular with devotees of autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR). ASMR refers to a pleasant form of paresthesia, or tingling, often brought about by specific visual or auditory stimuli. Many viewers found that listening to Ross triggered an ASMR response. In the 2021 Netflix documentary, Ross's son Steve said that his father was inspired to speak in that manner because his mentor, Bill Alexander, spoke in a harsh tone on television, and he wanted to do the opposite of that. Since most of the audience of The Joy of Painting was female, he thought, "maybe I'll try to whisper," and that became one of his trademarks.
| Parents | |
| Husband | Vivian Ridge (m. 1965-1977) Jane Ross (m. 1977-1992) Lynda Brown (m. 1995) |
| Sibling | |
| Children |
Net Worth and Salary
At the time of his death in 1995, Bob Ross's net worth was estimated to be around $10 million. However, his estate has been a subject of legal battles, particularly over the rights to his name and likeness. The Bob Ross brand continues to generate significant revenue, but these earnings do not directly reflect his personal net worth at the time of his passing.
In 2025, while Bob Ross himself is no longer alive to earn income directly, his brand continues to generate earnings through various channels like YouTube and merchandise. Estimated monthly earnings from his YouTube presence range from $2,000 to $6,000, depending on engagement and viewership.
Ross was working as a part-time bartender when he discovered a TV show called The Magic of Oil Painting, hosted by German painter Bill Alexander. Alexander used a 16th-century painting style called alla prima (Italian for 'first attempt'), widely known as "wet-on-wet", that allowed him to create a painting within thirty minutes. Ross studied and mastered the technique, began painting and then successfully selling Alaskan landscapes that he painted on novelty gold-mining pans. Eventually, Ross's income from sales surpassed his military salary. He retired from the Air Force in 1981 as a master sergeant.
In 1982, a station in Falls Church, Virginia, aired a taping of his art class as a pilot, and 60 PBS stations signed up for the show in the first year. In 1983, PBS station WIPB lured him to Muncie, Indiana, with the promise of creative freedom, and he found a kinship with the staff. He moved home to Florida in 1989 but continued to travel to Muncie every three months to tape the show. Ross said he did the show for free and made his income from how-to books, videotapes and art supplies.
A newfound interest in Ross occurred in 2015 as part of the launch of Twitch Creative. Twitch hosted a nine-day marathon of The Joy of Painting beginning on October 29 to commemorate what would have been Ross's 73rd birthday. Twitch reported that 5.6million viewers watched the marathon and, due to its popularity, created a weekly rebroadcast of one season of The Joy of Painting each Monday. A portion of the advertising revenue was promised to charities, including St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Career, Business, and Investments
Bob Ross achieved fame through his television show "The Joy of Painting," which became a staple of PBS programming. He developed a unique style known as "wet-on-wet," which allowed for quick creation of beautiful landscapes. His business, Bob Ross Inc., was managed by his partners Walt and Annette Kowalski during his lifetime. After his death, the Kowalskis continued to manage and profit from his intellectual property, including licensing his image and likeness for various products and services.
During his 20-year Air Force career, Ross developed an interest in painting after attending an art class at the Anchorage U.S.O. club. He found himself frequently at odds with many of his painting instructors, who were more interested in abstract painting. Ross said, "They'd tell you what makes a tree, but they wouldn't tell you how to paint a tree."
With help from the Kowalskis, Ross used his television show to promote a line of art supplies and class recordings, building what would become a $15-million business – Bob Ross Inc. – which would ultimately expand to include classes taught by other artists trained in his methods. Following Ross's death, ownership of the company was passed to the Kowalskis.
Ross used a wet-on-wet oil painting technique of painting over a thin base layer of wet paint. The painting could progress without first drying. The technique used a limited selection of tools and colors that did not require a large investment in expensive equipment. Ross frequently recommended odorless paint thinner (odorless mineral spirits) for brush cleaning.
The landscapes he painted, typically mountains, lakes, snow and log cabin scenes, were inspired by his years in Alaska, where he was stationed for the majority of his Air Force career. He repeatedly said everyone has inherent artistic talent and could become an accomplished artist given time, practice and encouragement. Ross would say, "we don't make mistakes; we just have happy accidents."
In the early 1990s, Ross did several MTV promotional spots that, according to the American City Business Journals, "dovetailed perfectly with Generation X's burgeoning obsession with all things ironic and retro".
In August 2021, Netflix released a documentary called Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed, exploring Ross's life, career, legacy, and the controversy surrounding the Kowalskis versus Bob Ross's family.
Social Network
Bob Ross does not have an active social media presence, as he passed away in 1995. However, his brand and legacy continue to be celebrated on platforms like YouTube, where his videos remain popular, and on Facebook and Instagram, where his official pages are managed by Bob Ross Inc.
Ross's likeness has become part of popular culture, with his image spoofed in television programs, films and video games like Family Guy, The Boondocks, Deadpool 2, and Smite.
In June 2016, Ross's series Beauty Is Everywhere was added to the Netflix lineup. The 30-minute episodes are taken from seasons 20, 21, and 22 of the original The Joy of Painting series. The newfound interest surprised the Kowalskis since they were managing Ross's image and The Joy of Painting episodes. They created a YouTube channel for Ross, which gained more than a million subscribers within a year. A 24-hour FAST channel called The Bob Ross Channel, featuring reruns of The Joy of Painting and other Ross-related programming, is available on multiple streaming platforms, including The Roku Channel, DirecTV Stream, and Peacock.
In 2021, Bob Ross Inc. in conjunction with Running Press Kids, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, released the official Bob Ross children's book biography titled: This is Your World: The Story of Bob Ross. Written by Sophia Gholz and illustrated by Robin Boyden, the book shares the story of Ross's life and how he eventually became one of the most well-known American painters of his time.
Education
There is limited information available about Bob Ross's formal education. However, he developed his painting skills through self-study and practice, eventually becoming a master of his craft. He served in the United States Air Force, where he retired as a master sergeant, and it was during this time that he began painting.
In 1961, 18-year-old Ross enlisted in the United States Air Force and was put into service as a medical records technician. He rose to the rank of master sergeant and served as the first sergeant of the clinic at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, where he first saw the snow and mountains that later appear as recurring themes in his paintings. He developed his quick painting technique during brief daily work breaks. Having held military positions that required him to act tough and mean, "the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy who screams at you for being late to work," Ross decided he would not raise his voice when he left the military.
A cigarette smoker for most of his adult life, Ross had several health problems over the course of his life, and expected to die prematurely. He died at the age of 52 on July 4, 1995, in Orlando, Florida, due to complications from lymphoma. At the time of his death he had prepared seven paintings for a potential 32nd season of The Joy of Painting.
Conclusion
Bob Ross's legacy extends far beyond his net worth, as his soothing voice and artistic techniques continue to inspire generations of artists and fans. His brand remains a testament to the enduring power of creativity and the impact of his work on popular culture.
