Ernie Carroll, the man behind beloved TV character Ossie Ostrich, has died at the age of 92.

His friend and Hey Hey It’s Saturday co-star Daryl Somers announced on Wednesday night that the television pioneer had died.

“It is with overwhelming sadness I announce the passing of my beloved friend and mentor Ernie Carroll,” Somers said in a social media post.

“Ernie was a pioneer of television starting back in the ’50s, coming from a radio background to GTV9 when television was in its infancy.”

Somers said Carroll died of natural causes in a Melbourne retirement village.

“He was a cartoonist, camera operator, sponsor liaison, officer, producer, writer, on camera character playing Professor Ratbaggy and, as himself, illustrating and narrating the adventure of Joybelle in the kids shows he also produced out of GTV9 in the ’60s. He wrote comedy for the King of variety television, Graham Kennedy on In Melbourne Tonight.”

“Of course he was best known for his creation of Oswald Q Ostrich (Ossie), my lovable and nonsensically funny ‘sidekick’ on Hey Hey It’s Saturday for 25 of its 30-year run.”

Born in a Geelong fruit farming family, Caroll made his radio debut on radio station 3TR before moving to 3GL in the 1950s. He joined Channel Nine in its infancy as a producer, working on projects such as the children’s variety program The Tarax Show, where he played Professor Ratbaggy and was the voice behind the squeaky-voiced moppet, Joybelle.