Ernest Anderson

Acting

Ernest Anderson

Born — Died

1915-08-25 — 2011-03-05

Place of birth

Lynn, Massachusetts, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

25 titles

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…

Known for

Four Star Playhouse poster
6.8

Four Star Playhouse is an American television anthology series that ran from 1952 to 1956, sponsored in its first bi-weekly season by The Singer Company; Bristol-Myers became an alternate sponsor when it became a weekly series in the fall of 1953. The original premise was that Charles Boyer, Ida Lupino, David Niven, and Dick Powell would take turns starring in episodes. However, several other performers took the lead from time to time, including Ronald Colman and Joan Fontaine. Blake Edwards was among the writers and directors who contributed to the series. Edwards created the recurring character of illegal gambling house operator Willie Dante for Dick Powell to play on this series. The character was later revamped and spun off in his own series starring Howard Duff, then-husband of Lupino. The pilot for Meet McGraw, starring Frank Lovejoy, aired here, as did another episode in which Lovejoy recreated his role of Chicago newspaper reporter Randy Stone, from the radio drama Nightbeat.

Four Star Playhouse

1952

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre poster
6.2

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

1956

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

Run for Your Life poster
7.1

Run for Your Life is an American television drama series starring Ben Gazzara as a man with only a short time to live. It ran on NBC from 1965 to 1968. The series was created by Roy Huggins, who had previously explored the "man on the move" concept with The Fugitive.

Run for Your Life

1965

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

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

Film credits

1950s · 8 titles

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

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

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 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

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 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

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

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

1940s · 8 titles

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

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

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

Lady on a Train poster
6.6

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

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

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

1910s · 1 titles

Series credits

Four Star Playhouse poster
6.8

Four Star Playhouse is an American television anthology series that ran from 1952 to 1956, sponsored in its first bi-weekly season by The Singer Company; Bristol-Myers became an alternate sponsor when it became a weekly series in the fall of 1953. The original premise was that Charles Boyer, Ida Lupino, David Niven, and Dick Powell would take turns starring in episodes. However, several other performers took the lead from time to time, including Ronald Colman and Joan Fontaine. Blake Edwards was among the writers and directors who contributed to the series. Edwards created the recurring character of illegal gambling house operator Willie Dante for Dick Powell to play on this series. The character was later revamped and spun off in his own series starring Howard Duff, then-husband of Lupino. The pilot for Meet McGraw, starring Frank Lovejoy, aired here, as did another episode in which Lovejoy recreated his role of Chicago newspaper reporter Randy Stone, from the radio drama Nightbeat.

Four Star Playhouse

1952

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre poster
6.2

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

1956

Run for Your Life poster
7.1

Run for Your Life is an American television drama series starring Ben Gazzara as a man with only a short time to live. It ran on NBC from 1965 to 1968. The series was created by Roy Huggins, who had previously explored the "man on the move" concept with The Fugitive.

Run for Your Life

1965