- Born
- Died
- Birth nameErnest Edward Kovacs
- Height6′ 2″ (1.88 m)
- Author, actor, comedian, composer and producer. He was educated at the New York School of Theatre, and received the Sylvania Television Award. Joining the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1957, he composed a number of songs and themes, a number of which were used in his famed television comedy sketches including "Mr. Question Man". His other popular-songs included "Ugly Duckling", "So Good to Me", "The Patty Cake", "The Irving Wong Song", and many more.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Hup234!
- Hailed as a genius for his offbeat comedy style and changing much of the way comedy was played, Ernie Kovacs' life was cut short much too early. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, during his schooldays he hunted rabbits and pheasants by day and concocted mad potions with his chemistry set at night. Later in life he squared himself with the rabbits while working at a Trenton radio station in which he celebrated the opening of the New Jersey hunting season by giving a rabbit's eye view of what it's like to have 50,00 people, each 50 times your size, combing the landscape looking for you. In high school he sang in operettas, first as a tenor, and later as his voiced change to a baritone. This was in complete contrast to his early years in school where he played hooky often. As a result of a singing role in the "Pirates of Penzance", he was offered seven different scholarships to acting and singing institutions. After forming his own stock company, he hit the jackpot and received offers from directors, agents, and playwrights. In the middle of this, he did the smart thing, he went to work in a drug store. His mother did not want him to work there, but it was the only place he could get his cigars for free. Soon he and the store manager had words and very quickly Ernie was doing summer stock in Vermont. There he had a grueling pace of rehearsing afternoons, acting in the evening, and making futile attempts to fill inside straights till the early hours of the morning. He entered a hospital suffering from pneumonia and pleurisy. One doctor candidly told him, "Kovacs, stop whining and die like a man." He countered the doctor's advice by continuing to live. After recovering, Ernie worked for several years in radios stations of Trenton, New York, and Philadelphia which paid off in 1947 when he won the highly coveted H.P. Davis award while serving with station WTTM. Later he wrote a daily newspaper column in a Trenton newspaper and wrote mystery shows for radio. He turned out gags for nightclub comics, collaborated on some songs and trapped muskrats along the banks of the Delaware. He was arrested by a game warden but was acquitted when the muskrat refused to testify. He also did off-beat broadcasts from dirigibles, boats, trains, planes, and automobiles. Ernie went on to TV in Philadelphia where he established grand old institutions such as EEFMS, (The Early Eiball Fraternal Marching society), and the Kovacs gallery of sparkling personalities, (Pierre Ragout, the French storyteller, Skodny Silsky, the ace Hollywood reporter and others. In 1951, Ernie traveled to New York to NBC to do "The Ernie Kovacs Show".- IMDb Mini Biography By: Bill Hafker thehuntzie@yahoo.com
- SpousesEdie Adams(September 12, 1954 - January 13, 1962) (his death, 1 child)Bette Lee Wilcox(August 13, 1945 - 1952) (divorced, 2 children)
- His quirky humor
- He wanted to use a kaleidoscope for visual scenes.
- Cigars
- Kovacs got custody of his oldest two daughters after his divorce, but in 1953 their mother kidnapped them and they were not returned to him until 1955. After Kovacs died, his widow Edie Adams successfully fought their birth mother for custody.
- It is suspected that his death in a car crash was caused by losing control of the steering as he was trying to light a cigar by striking a match against his shoe sole. He hated to use lighters, believing they ruined the taste of a cigar.
- When he died, he owed the IRS several hundred thousand dollars in back taxes (he felt the tax system was unfair, and simply refused to pay it). His widow, Edie Adams, made television commercials and did other work to finally pay the back taxes, refusing help from her celebrity friends. She owned all the rights to all of Ernie Kovacs' surviving television work.
- The car in which he was killed was a new 1962 Chevrolet Corvair.
- Daughter actress Mia Kovacs died in an auto accident on 8 May 1982. Daughter Kippie Kovacs died after a long bout of ill health on 28 July 2001.
- It's appropriate that television is considered a medium, since it's rare if it's ever well done.
- Some years ago I had a complete nervous breakdown, was dead broke and had to be put in a charity ward with 30 others. I was there 18 months and doctors didn't give me long to live. So now each day to me is a special dividend, so I live it to the hilt. - response to gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, who asked him why he was "trying to kill himself."
- Nothing In Moderation" - The epitaph on his tombstone
- There is currently a formula for success in the entertainment medium, that is -- beat it to death if it succeeds.
- I don't have an audience for my shows. I don't believe in that. An audience with free tickets will laugh at the pause because they've been told, nudgingly,'You are now to laugh'. And they're trying to be nice - they're fond of the people in the show and they want to show their appreciation and show they're glad to be there, so they'll laugh.
- Operation Mad Ball (1957) - $100,000
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