ERNIE KOVACS

January 23, 1919

Ernest Edward Kovacs was an American comedian, actor, and writer who was born in Trenton, New Jersey to Hungarian immigrants. Coincidentally, Lucille Ball also briefly lived in Trenton, several years before Kovacs was born. 

Though a poor student, Kovacs received an acting scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1937.     

Kovacs’s first paid entertainment work was during 1941 as an announcer for Trenton’s radio station WTTM. His first TV show was “Pick Your Ideal”, a fashion and promotional program for the Ideal Manufacturing Company.

Before long, Kovacs was also the host of “Deadline For Dinner,” “Now You’re Cooking”, and “Three to Get Ready”.   Also during the early 1950′s his name was in the titled with “It’s Time For Ernie,” “Ernie in Kovacsland,” “Kovacs on the Corner,” and “The Ernie Kovacs Show.”  

In 1945 he married Betty Lee Wilcox and they had two children. They divorced in 1952.

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.

In 1954 he married actress Edie Adams. They also had a child together. 

On April 1, 1960 (April Fools Day) Kovacs and his wife Edie Adams played themselves on the final episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” titled “Lucy Meets the Mustache.”  

His iconic mustache and his love for cigars were incorporated into the script.

At a dinner party at the Ricardo home, Kovacs performs some of his famous prop comedy. 

And Broadway star Edie Adams sings a song titled “That’s All.” 

The song is especially appropriate as this will be the last time viewers will see the Ricardos and the Mertzes. 

Kovacs was killed in a car accident in Los Angeles during the early morning hours of January 13, 1962, 10 days shy of his 43rd birthday. 

A 1958 Emmy winner for comedy writing, he was posthumously awarded a second Emmy in 1962.