Anecdotes

During a video interview segment that ran on the local ABC affiliate in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, he displayed a photo of his wife and kids that sat on his desk. Everyone in the photo was wearing fake glasses and fake noses as a gag.

Fired from his first radio job at WSKI-AM in Burlington, Vermont. He was fired for making fun of one of the stations sponsors who was in a barbershop quartet.

Was the number one disc jockey at a Providence, Rhode Island station, Ernie was fired from his second job for riding his motorcycle through the halls.

Drew Carey has worn Ghoulardi T-shirts on the set of The Drew Carey Show (1995) and dedicated an episode in his memory.

As Ghoulardi, his catch phrases were "Stay Sick" and "Turn Blue".

Liked to needle Cleveland TV personalities like Dorothy Fuldheim and Mike Douglas. On Shock Theater (1963), Ernie made a running gag out of the Cleveland suburb of Parma.

Ron Sweed was later hired by Ernie as an assistant. Sweed "crashed" a Ghoulardi appearance at Euclid Beach Park dressed in a gorilla suit.

Liked to play the 1962 novelty song "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" by The Rivingtons.

Became the on-air announcer for ABC in the mid-1970s. He was known for the way he phrased The Love Boat (1977) as "The Looovvveee Boat".

Ernie Anderson was posthumously inducted into the Horror Host Hall of Fame for his horror host character Ghoulardi in the television series "Shock Theater" on WJW Channel 8 in Cleveland, Ohio (2011).

Was a big-band lover who sometimes said he wanted the Count Basie Orchestra to perform at his funeral.

Perhaps will be best remembered as Ghoulardi, one of the first television horror movie hosts. He was also a successful disc jockey and television announcer.

His son, Paul, noted his father's infidelity in interviews, stating that he often found him with other women.

Following his death, he was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive in Los Angeles, California.

Anderson was a lifelong smoker who died of lung cancer in 1997. He frequently smoked on the air as his "Ghoulardi" character, a choice that proved ironic given his cause of death.

Anderson was known to be a heavy drinker, an issue that contributed to his tumultuous family life. His son, Paul, recounted that in "every single picture" from his father's time in the Navy during World War II, his father "has a beer in his hand".

Biographers indicate that he was a neglectful parent & an unfaithful husband.

His ex-wife Edwina has described him as being very lazy.