19 Facts About Ernie Anderson

Ernest Earle Anderson was an American radio and television personality, horror host, and announcer.

Ernie Anderson is the father of filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, whose production entity is known as the Ghoulardi Film Company.

Ernie Anderson planned to go to law school, but instead joined the US Navy during World War II to avoid being drafted.

Ernie Anderson was in the Navy stationed mainly in Guam.

Ernie Anderson worked as a disc jockey in Albany, New York and Providence, Rhode Island before moving to Cleveland, Ohio in 1958 to join radio station WHK.

Ernie Anderson switched to television, joining the Cleveland NBC affiliate KYW-TV, where he first collaborated with Conway for some on-air work.

From 1963 to 1966, Ernie Anderson hosted Shock Theater under the alter ego of Ghoulardi, a hipster that defied the common perception of a horror host.

Ernie Anderson loved firecrackers and started by blowing up apples and leftovers and graduated to blowing up model cars, statues and other items sent in by viewers.

Ernie Anderson openly expressed a dislike for Anderson, feeling that the youth of Ohio were under attack with his pot jokes and childish antics, which she found distasteful.

Ernie Anderson developed "Parma Place", a weekly series of skits aired during the Ghoulardi show that parodied both the popular prime-time soap opera Peyton Place and the bedroom community of Parma, Ohio.

Ernie Anderson created the "Ghoulardi All-Stars" sports teams, which would often attract thousands of fans to as many as 100 charity contests a year.

Promises of becoming an actor in Los Angeles, as well as fatigue on Ernie Anderson's part, led up to his decision to leave Cleveland permanently in the summer of 1966.

Ernie Anderson moved behind the microphone when Fred Silverman made Anderson the voice of the American Broadcasting Company.

Ernie Anderson narrated the opening intros to Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors and The Adventures of Super Mario Bros.

Ernie Anderson had five children with his first wife, Marguerite Hemmer, whom he divorced around the time he ended his Ghoulardi show and left Cleveland.

Ernie Anderson married actress Edwina Gough soon after she arrived in California, a few weeks after he did so.

Ernie Anderson then married Bonnie Skolnick, who survived him for a very short time.

Ernie Anderson's death was mentioned on an episode of America's Funniest Home Videos that same year.

Paul Thomas Ernie Anderson has confirmed that the fireworks scene in his film Boogie Nights was inspired by his father's use of fireworks on the Ghoulardi program.