Ernest Anderson

Acting

Ernest Anderson

Born 1915-08-25 · Lynn, Massachusetts, USA

Ernest Anderson was born in Lynn MA and earned his high school diploma in Washington D.C. at Dunbar High School, formerly named The Preparatory High School for Colored Youth. Founded in 1891, it was America's first public high school for black students. He earned his bachelor's degree at Northwestern University's School of Drama and Speech. He moved to Hollywood and was working in the service department when Bette Davis arranged for him to interview for the role of Perry Clay in the film "In This Our Life" (1942). Mr. Anderson persuaded the director, John Huston, to change the racist dialog of his character typical of Hollywood in that era, to one of dignified intelligence and emotion. After serving his country in WWII, he returned to Warner Brothers where he continued to humanize the roles of America's black performers. He remained active in film until the late 1960's. He died in DeLand, Florida, on March 5, 2011.

Acting credits

North by Northwest poster
8.0

Advertising man Roger Thornhill is mistaken for a spy, triggering a deadly cross-country chase.

North by Northwest

1959

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? poster
7.9

A former vaudeville child star viciously torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

1962

Backfire poster
5.9

When he's discharged from a military hospital, ex-GI Bob Corey goes on a search for his army buddy Steve Connolly. A reformed crook, Connolly is on the lam from a trumped-up murder rap, and Corey hopes to clear his pal. Tagging along is Army nurse Julie Benson, who has fallen for Corey.

Backfire

1950

The Legend of Lylah Clare poster
6.0

A dictatorial film director hires an unknown actress to play the lead role in a planned movie biography of a late, great Hollywood star.

The Legend of Lylah Clare

1968

The Mississippi Gambler poster
7.2

Mark Fallon, with partner Kansas John Polly, tries to introduce honest gambling on the riverboats. His first success makes enemies of the crooked gamblers and of fair Angelique Dureau, whose necklace he won. Later in New Orleans, Mark befriends Angelique's father, but she still affects to despise him as his gambling career brings him wealth. Duelling, tragedy, and romantic complications follow.

The Mississippi Gambler

1953

Buccaneer's Girl poster
5.8

A New Orleans performer loves a pirate who robs only from the shipowner who ruined his father.

Buccaneer's Girl

1950

Riff-Raff poster
6.2

A private detective foils the plans of villains attempting to take over Panamanian oil fields while he searches for a valuable map hidden in plain sight.

Riff-Raff

1947

… tick… tick… tick… poster
6.7

Racial tensions threaten to explode when a black man is elected sheriff of a small, racially divided town in the Deep South.

… tick… tick… tick…

1970

In This Our Life poster
6.9

An unhappy, self-centered woman runs off with her sister's husband, wreaking havoc and ruining the lives of those around her.

In This Our Life

1942

Without Reservations poster
6.3

Kit Madden is traveling to Hollywood, where her best-selling novel is to be filmed. Aboard the train, she encounters Marines Rusty and Dink, who don't know she is the author of the famous book, and who don't think much of the ideas it proposes. She and Rusty are greatly attracted, but she doesn't know how to deal with his disdain for the book's author.

Without Reservations

1946

East Side, West Side poster
7.1

A vain businessman puts strains on his happy marriage to a rich, beautiful socialite by allowing himself to be seduced by a former girlfriend.

East Side, West Side

1949

No Way Out poster
6.9

Two hoodlum brothers are brought into hospital for gunshot wounds, and when one dies, the other accuses their Black doctor of murder.

No Way Out

1950

The Iron Mistress poster
5.3

In this biopic, Jim Bowie goes to New Orleans, where he falls for Judalon and befriends her brother, Narcisse. Soon, Jim is forced to avenge Narcisse's murder, but Judalon takes up with another man. Jim eventually has another romantic interlude with Judalon and is forced to kill one of her suitors in self-defense. Jim leaves town, and falls for the daughter of a Texas politician, but his entanglement with Judalon continues to bedevil him.

The Iron Mistress

1952

Lady on a Train poster
6.7

While watching from her train window, Nikki Collins witnesses a murder in a nearby building. When she alerts the police, they think she has read one too many mystery novels. She then enlists a popular mystery writer to help her solve the crime on her own, but her sleuthing attracts the attentions of suitors and killers.

Lady on a Train

1945

The Well poster
7.3

In a racially mixed American town, a five-year-old black girl falls unnoticed into a hidden, forgotten well on her way to school. Having nothing better to go on, the police follow up a report that the child was seen with a white stranger, and rumors run wild. Before hapless, innocent Claude Packard is even found, popular hysteria has him tried and convicted. But is he guilty?

The Well

1951

Princess O'Rourke poster
6.5

A down-to-earth pilot charms a European princess on vacation in the United States.

Princess O'Rourke

1943

No artwork available
7.0

A dentist and his wife join Christian missionaries for duty in Africa.

No Greater Love

1960

No artwork available
9.0

Comedy-drama about a bunch of police rookies who conspire to convince their hard-nosed sergeant that a seriously ill fellow officer, two weeks away from retirement, is on the job, and who, when he suddenly dies, try to hide the fact so that his family can collect his full benefits.

Last of the Good Guys

1978

Sport of Kings poster
10.0

Two brothers from the North try to gain favor in the South after they inherit a horse farm in Kentucky.

Sport of Kings

1947

The Peanut Man poster
7.0

At the offices of Consolidated Producers Corporation, producer Tony Paton is determined to make a film about the great African American chemist, George Washington Carver. His backer, Murphy, is skeptical about the marketability of such a project, but Paton convinces him that it is time to depict the truth about races, creeds, and religions.

The Peanut Man

1947

Three for Bedroom C poster
10.0

After beginning their train trip to California, a famous film actress and her daughter discover their compartment has also been assigned to a handsome biology professor. Comedy.

Three for Bedroom C

1952

Lost in the Jungle poster
5.0

Jan Kruga and his daughter Meta live on a farm in the Transvaal. The nearest neighbor, Sir John Morgan, lives 20 miles away, and it is only on rare intervals that she ever goes even that far away from her isolated home. Toddles, a work elephant on her father's farm, is her only pet and in the first part of our story we see her befriend him from a cruel keeper. Hans, a neighboring Boer farmer calls and asks for Meta's hand in marriage. The girl is ordered by her father to accept Hans' attentions. She has been taught to obey and when Hans gives her a love offering, a huge necklace of beads, she meekly offers her cheek for the betrothal kiss. Sir John's nephew, Hirshal, comes for a visit from England and Sir John brings him for a friendly call on the Krugas. Meta's heart awakens at the sight of the handsome, young Englishman, and she returns Hans's necklace. The father, however, orders her to marry Hans, or never darken his door again.

Lost in the Jungle

1911