November 1, 1995) was a Canadian actor, playwright and bestselling writer of more than 300 novels in a variety of genres. He was known for the speed of his writing and was by some estimates the most prolific Canadian author ever, though he did not take up fiction until middle age. <p/> He wrote popular romances and gothic fiction as W. E. D. Ross and Dan Ross and under a variety of mostly female pseudonyms. As Marilyn Ross, he wrote popular gothic fiction including a series of novels about the tormented vampire, Barnabas Collins, based on the American TV series Dark Shadows (1966-71). His second wife, Marilyn, served as first reader of his works, and "Marilyn Ross" was one of his favorite pseudonyms.
