Ernie Hudson interview: From losing Ghostbusters to getting Toy Story 5

Fortunately, this universal imbalance has corrected itself to everyone’s benefit, and now we can enjoy as much Ernie Hudson as we can get our hands on. The seemingly ageless 80-year-old is currently starring in two ongoing drama series: CBS’ police procedural Boston Blue, where he plays a preacher and patriarch; and BET’s The Family Business, which conversely features him as a crime boss. His voice can also be heard on a wide array of cartoons including his recently Emmy-nominated work on Angry Birds Mystery Island and the upcoming Toy Story 5 as Combat Carl, taking over for the late Carl Weathers.

Hudson’s voiceover career, in particular, was something I wanted to discuss with him when we recently spoke via Zoom because, in addition to those mentioned above, he appeared in a 1985 episode of Super Friends, making him the first person to play the DC character Cyborg. He also had a recurring role in Transformers: Prime and appeared in a recent episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch. And these examples just barely scratch the surface of the man’s voiceover career, making the earlier rejection to join The Real Ghostbusters, which we talk about below, particularly ironic.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Polygon: With Boston Blue and The Family Business and so many other shows, you’ve been a part of a lot of ongoing series. Does any feel particularly special to you?

Ernie Hudson: I did a lot of pilots that didn't last, but Oz, we did for six seasons, even though we only did eight shows a season. Oz was special in so many ways. The writing was amazing. Tom Fontana, who I had worked with on St. Elsewhere, just a great writer. We all felt it was groundbreaking. It was kind of new for television and the cast was really committed.

But it wasn't fun. When I do Boston Blue, I enjoy it, but in Oz, it was always somebody in my face, and I had to get them to back the hell up. You knew you had to show up on point. We all grew a little bit from working on that show.

Out of Oz, television was in the process of changing. After Oz, there's The Wire and so many shows. It changed the tone of television as we know it. It's the same way I felt with The Crow. They both had an impact on how those stories are told. So I feel very blessed to have been a part of both of those.

A big part of what I wanted to talk to you about was your voiceover work, which began with an early setback when you were passed over for the role of Winston Zeddemore in the Ghostbusters cartoon. Can you talk about that?

It is what it is. Ghostbusters was a hard film to get. I'm not sure I was the one they had in mind. In fact, I'm sure I wasn't. But I convinced them and I got the part, and the guys were wonderful — Danny, Harold, Bill — they're friends that I love. I think the studio at that time wanted to make sure that it was about the three guys. I get it, those guys had already broken through, but we were in this together.

Oddly enough, it's the fans who really connected with the character, I think because he wasn't this zany scientist. He was just this guy looking for a job, and that resonated with a lot of people. With the Winston toys, I remember one of these studio execs once said, “Oh, we're really surprised that Winston is one of the bestselling toys. They think of him as just one of the Ghostbusters.” And I go, "But I thought he was one of the Ghostbusters?"

It was always that feeling of wanting to be pushed away. I really give credit to Bill and Harold and Dan, because they would go, “Let's let Ernie say this.” So a lot of those lines that people still quote are from those guys.

Then the movie came out and they were doing this animated series. I just assumed I would be asked and I made it known that I wanted to do the part, because Ghostbusters didn't pay a lot of money. I was a single dad and I really needed the job. They said, “The director wants you to come and read for the part. It's your part, but he just wants to hear your voice.” So I went in and I was doing this reading, and he — I don't know his name, but he knows who he is — he wasn't very happy to see me. Right in the middle of it, he says, “Stop! When Ernie Hudson did this role—.” He was trying to tell me what Ernie Hudson did! And I thought, Does he know that I'm Ernie Hudson?

So I thought I was going to do this. Then I got some TV show, and I was tied up for a few days, not long, and then they told me they had already cast the part, and they did it because they thought I didn't want the part, which was nonsense. I think what happened was that Arsenio Hall, who ended up getting the part, was probably either a friend or someone that the director knew. They probably just couldn't come out and say it, so he had to do that little dance around.I don't want to say it broke my heart, but it was disappointing.

The odd thing with Ghostbusters was, after the movie came out, which was so huge, I couldn't even get interviews at the studio. It was about a three-and-a-half year period where I didn't work. But I did a lot of television and even some commercials and animated stuff. Then I got a movie called Weeds. After that, I got seven or eight films back to back. Then Ghostbusters II happened and everything dried up again. It was this Ghostbusters curse or something.

IMDb has your first voiceover role as Cyborg in Super Friends. I don't know if that's correct or not, but I'm curious if you remember anything about that.

Yeah, I didn't really know the characters, the Super League or whatever, but I remember loving to work on it. I don't remember the scripts or anything and I didn't understand how the character fit in that whole canon.

We did Transformers: Prime, and I loved working on that because we'd do it together, the whole cast would assemble. It was a great show. I think we did it for two or three years. Then afterward, they said they were doing another Transformers and I think it was the same character, but they wanted me to audition. And I'm like, “I'm not auditioning for something I just did already,” so I didn't get it.

But I loved working on Transformers. It's always a lot of fun. The Angry Birds, the one that's up for the Emmy, that was fun too. I did a Santa Claus once. I don't remember for who, but I played Santa, which is something I've always wanted to do. I always wanted to be one of those Santas in a department store.

Really?

Yeah, I think it would be just a lot of fun.

I mean, I think if you went into a Macy’s right now and asked, they’d let you.

Yeah, it would be fun!

We were in Florida once, it was right at Christmas and our kids were small, and we went in. Santa was there and we stood in line. We got to the front of the line and the Santa saw me, and he says, “Oh my God! You're Ernie Hudson! Can I get a picture with you?” He jumps up and he wants to take a picture, then he takes off his beard to get a photo together and there's a line of kids there. Then he's like “My kids love you, my grandkids love you!” and my kids are like, “Santa has grandkids, dad?”

The last role I wanted to talk about with you was Toy Story 5. I know it's early, but can you talk about how you became Combat Carl? And did you know Carl Weathers?

Yeah, I knew Carl. Sweet guy. I've known him for a long time. I don't remember when we first met, but out here probably going up for a lot of the same roles. He got the Rocky role, which would've been amazing. He was amazing at it, but I certainly would've loved to have done that.

You went up for Apollo Creed?

I'm sure I was probably up for it — maybe not seriously up for it. Your agents always say, “We got you in for this.” But Carl, he was just a great guy. As for Combat Carl, I was excited about it and when word got out that I was doing it, it was the fans who told me that Carl Weathers had originated this character, I didn't even know what the character looked like!

When you found out, did it change the way you approached the character?

No, I didn't. I figured if they didn't tell me, they probably wanted me to bring my own thing to it.