Ross Hunter (born Martin Terry Fuss; May 6, 1920 – March 10, 1996) was an American film and television producer and actor. He is best known for producing light comedies such as Pillow Talk (1959), and the glamorous melodramas Magnificent Obsession (1954), Imitation of Life (1959), and Back Street (1961).

Over the course of his career, Hunter produced films of various genres but found his greatest success with light-hearted comedies, musicals and melodramatic "tear jerkers" that were high on romance and glamour.

Hunter was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Sources suggest various birth years for him — 1916, 1926, or even 1929, according to Hunter himself - but his Social Security record lists May 6, 1920, a date confirmed by his 1942 army enlistment record and also by the 1940 census. He was of Austrian Jewish and German Jewish descent. He attended Glenville High School, where he later taught English and drama; he also taught these subjects at Rawlings High School).

During World War II, he worked in United States Army Intelligence. After his Army service, he returned to his job as a drama teacher. He eventually moved to Los Angeles after his students sent his photo to Paramount Pictures. Paramount Pictures passed on signing him to a contract and he subsequently signed with Columbia Pictures. It was at Columbia that a casting agent changed his name from "Martin Fuss" to "Ross Hunter".

During the 1940s, Hunter acted in a number of B-movie musicals. He was a leading man in his first movie, Louisiana Hayride (1944), starring Judy Canova. Hunter had support parts in Ever Since Venus (1944) and She's a Sweetheart (1944) and was promoted to star for A Guy, a Gal and a Pal (1945), directed by Budd Boetticher. He was reunited with Canova for Hit the Hay (1945). He was the second lead in a war film, Out of the Depths (1945) and had a support role in Sweetheart of Sigma Chi (1946). His career stalled in part because he was stricken with penicillin poisoning.

He returned to teaching drama at the Ben Bard Dramatic School and also taught speech therapy. Hunter missed working in films and decided to return to the business and focus on film production. During the late 1940s, Hunter enrolled at the Motion Picture Center Studio where he was trained – for free – in film production. "I never wanted to be on the receiving end again", he said. "I wanted to be the man who handed out the jobs."

Hunter was dialogue director in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), for Eagle-Lion Films. He performed similar duties on Woman on the Run (1950) at Universal with Ann Sheridan who Hunter says promoted and mentored him. "It was my real big break", he later said.

He was dialogue director on The Sword of Monte Cristo (1951) at Fox, and When I Grow Up (1951) for Sam Spiegel at United Artists.