Ernie Hudson from Ghostbusters

Today on The Neil Haley show, Neil Haley interviews Ernie Hudson.


As a child growing up in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Ernie Hudson
wrote short stories, poems and songs, always thinking that his
words might one day come to life on stage. After a short stint in
the Marine Corps, he moved to Detroit where he became the
resident playwright at Concept East, the oldest black theatre in
the country. In addition, he enrolled at Wayne State University
to further develop his writing and acting skills and found time
to establish the Actors' Emsemble Theatre, where he and other
talented young black writers directed and appeared in their own
works. After graduating with a B.A. from Wayne State, he was
rewarded a full scholarship to the M.F.A. program at the
prestigious Yale School of Drama. While performing with the
school's repertory company, he was asked to appear in the Los
Angeles production of Lonne Elder III's musical "Daddy
Goodness," which led to his meeting Gordon Parks, who gave
Hudson the costarring role in his first feature
film, Leadbelly (1976). Unfortunately, all that followed
"Leadbelly" was a year of "bit parts and some harsh lessons about
Hollywood," which led Hudson to enroll in another academic
doctorate program at the University of Minnesota. He did not
complete the program. Through his experience, he learned another
vital lesson: "There are those who spend their lives studying it
and those who spend their lives doing it." Hudson definitely
wanted to be in the second group. Keeping in mind this
self-revelation, Hudson accepted the starring role of Jack
Jefferson in the Minneapolis Theatre In The Round's production of
"The Great White Hope," a role that he put "everything he had
into," including shaving his head. A series of starring and guest
roles followed on such television shows as Fantasy Island
(1977), The Incredible Hulk (1977), Little House on the
Prairie (1974), Diff'rent Strokes (1978), Taxi
(1978), One Day at a Time (1975), Gimme a Break!
(1981), The A-Team (1983) and Webster (1983), as
well as costarring roles in the TV movies White Mama
(1980) with Bette Davis, Roots: The Next
Generations (1979), Women of San Quentin
(1983), California Girls (1985), Mad Bull
(1977) and Love on the Run (1985). Other feature film
credits include The Jazz Singer (1980), The Main Event
(1979), Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone
(1983), Penitentiary II (1982), Going Berserk
(1983), Joy of Sex (1984) and, of course, the
mega-hit Ghostbusters (1984).