he made his acting debut at age 5 and appeared in some 50 movies and television shows, sometimes billed as "bobby ellis." in 1948, the academy of motion pictures arts and sciences awarded him a special certificate for his acting and dancing role as buster tyme in the movie "april showers", which starred ann sothern and jack carson. he portrayed ralph grainger, a college friend of ronnie burns, on the final two seasons of "the george burns and gracie allen show".