Ernie Hudson Says His Role in 'Ghostbusters' Was Substantially Reduced, Which Bummed Him Out

After nearly 40 years of acting on screen, Ernie Hudson is still best known for his role as Winston Zeddmore in Ghostbusters, which leaves the 68-year-old with very mixed emotions.

In the new “Reunions” issue of Entertainment Weekly, which brought together the surviving Ghostbusters stars, Hudson writes that the Zeddmore part was initially much bigger than playing fourth fiddle to stars Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Dan Aykroyd. In early versions of the script, Zeddmore was a former Air Force major, and part of the ghostbusting team from the beginning.

Then, things changed.

“The night before filming begins, however, I get this new script and it was shocking,” Hudson writes. "The character was gone. Instead of coming in at the very beginning of the movie, like page 8, the character came in on page 68 after the Ghostbusters were established.”

Needless to say, this left him very alarmed, and unable to sleep. It was “my worst nightmare,” he writes, and he went to set the next day to beg director Ivan Reitman to reconsider.

“Ivan basically says, ‘The studio felt that they had Bill Murray, so they wanted to give him more stuff to do,’” Hudson remembers. “I go, ‘Okay, I understand that, but can I even be there when they’re established?’ And of course, he said no, there’s nothing to do about it. It was kind of awkward, and it became sort of the elephant in the room.”

The big change left Hudson torn about his part, even today.

“I love the character and he’s got some great lines, but I felt the guy was just kind of there,” he admits. “I love the movie, I love the guys. I’m very thankful to Ivan for casting me. I’m very thankful that fans appreciate the Winston character. But it’s always been very frustrating—kind of a love/hate thing, I guess.”

The role didn’t provide the sort of career boost that he expected, though he has been able to work steadily in the last 30 years, including a major role on HBO’s Oz. He’s also appeared in episodes of Law & Order, Desperate Housewives, and Grey’s Anatomy, among many other TV shows and movies. But, as he tells EW, he never has gotten the role that he thought Ghostbusters would be, leaving him with bittersweet memories about the entire experience.