Ernest Edward Kovacs (1919 - 1962)

Born 23 Jan 1919 in Trenton, New Jersey

Husband of Bette (Wilcox) Kovacs — married 13 Aug 1945 (to 1952) in Ohio

Husband of Edith Elizabeth (Enke) Adams — married 12 Sep 1954 (to 1962) in Mexico City, Mexico

Descendants

Died 13 Jan 1962 at age 42 in car crash at the corner of Beverly Glen and Santa Monica Boulevards, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California

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Biography

Ernest Kovacs is Notable.

Ernest Edward "Ernie" Kovacs (January 23, 1919 – January 13, 1962) was an American comedian, actor, and writer.

Kovacs' uninhibited, often ad-libbed, and visually experimental comedic style came to influence numerous television comedy programs for years after his death in an automobile accident. Many shows, such as Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Saturday Night Live, The Uncle Floyd Show, Captain Kangaroo, Sesame Street and The Electric Company are credited with having been influenced by Kovacs.

Kovacs' father Andrew emigrated from Hungary at age 13. He worked as a policeman, restaurateur, and bootlegger; the last so successfully that he moved his wife Mary, and sons Tom and Ernie, into a 20-room mansion in the better part of Trenton.

Though a poor student, Kovacs was influenced by his Trenton Central High School drama teacher, Harold Van Kirk, and received an acting scholarship at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1937 with Mr. Van Kirk's help. The end of Prohibition and the Depression brought hard financial times to the family. When Kovacs began drama school, all he could afford was a fifth floor walk-up apartment on West 74th Street in New York City.

While working in Vermont in 1939, Ernie became so seriously ill with pneumonia and pleurisy that his doctors didn't expect him to survive. Over the next year and a half, his comedic talents emerged as he entertained both doctors and patients with his antics during stays at several hospitals.

By the time he was released, his parents had separated, and Ernie went back to Trenton, living with his mother in a two-room apartment over a store. He took work as a cigar salesman, which was the beginning of a lifelong habit.

Kovacs' first paid entertainment work came in 1941, as a disc jockey on Trenton's WTTM radio. He spent the next nine years with WTTM.

The Trentonian, a local weekly newspaper, offered Kovacs a column in June 1945; he called it "Kovacs Unlimited".

Showing up at NBC's Philadelphia affiliate, WPTZ (now KYW-TV), for an audition wearing a barrel and shorts got Kovacs his first television job in January 1950.

Kovacs and his first wife, Bette Wilcox, were married on August 13, 1945. When the marriage ended, he fought for custody of their children,

1. Elizabeth ("Bette") and
2. Kip Raleigh ("Kippie").

In 1952 the court awarded Kovacs full custody upon determining that his former wife was mentally unstable.

Comedic actress Edie Adams first met Ernie Kovacs in 1951 when she was hired to work on his WPTZ show, Three To Get Ready. Her appearance on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts caught the eye of Kovacs' producer, and he asked her to audition for the program.

Adams and Ernie Kovacs soon eloped; they were married on September 12, 1954, in Mexico City. The ceremony was presided over by former New York City mayor William O'Dwyer and was performed in Spanish, which neither Kovacs nor Adams understood; O'Dwyer had to prompt each of them to say "Sí" at the "I do" portion of the vows.

Adams and Kovacs received Emmy nominations for best performances in a comedy series in 1957.

Kovacs and his family shared a 16-room apartment in Manhattan on Central Park West that seemed perfect until Ernie went to California for his first movie role in Operation Mad Ball. Kovacs moved his family there in 1957, after Edie finished Li'l Abner on Broadway.

Kovacs' second marriage to Edie lasted until his death in a car accident on January 13, 1962.

The couple had one daughter,

1. Mia Susan Kovacs, born June 20, 1959.

Kovacs was killed in an automobile accident in Los Angeles in the early morning hours of January 13, 1962. Kovacs, who had worked for much of the evening, met Adams at a baby shower given by Billy Wilder for Milton Berle and his wife, who had recently adopted a three-year-old boy. The couple left the party in separate cars.

Kovacs lost control of his Chevrolet Corvair station wagon while turning fast, and crashed into a power pole at the corner of Beverly Glen and Santa Monica Boulevards. He was thrown halfway out the passenger side, and died almost instantly from chest and head injuries.

A photographer managed to arrive moments later, and graphic images of Kovacs in death appeared in newspapers across the United States. An unlit cigar lay on the pavement, inches from his outstretched arm. [Some documentaries have shown a photo of Kovacs slumped out of the car door with cigar still clenched in his teeth which doesn't look mocked up.] Jack Lemmon, who also attended the Berle party, identified Kovacs' body at the morgue because Adams was too distraught to do so.

In keeping with Ernie's simple request, Adams made arrangements for Presbyterian services held at the Beverly Hills Community Presbyterian Church. The active pallbearers were Jack Lemmon, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Billy Wilder, Mervyn Leroy, and Joe Mikolas. Kovacs' father and brother, Andrew and Tom Kovacs, respectively, served as honorary pallbearers.

The attendees included George Burns, Groucho Marx, Edward G. Robinson, Kirk Douglas, Jack Benny, James Stewart, Charlton Heston, Buster Keaton and Milton Berle.

Kovacs is buried in Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles. His epitaph reads, "Nothing in moderation—We all loved him."

Shortly after her husband's death, Edie Adams won a "nasty custody battle" with Kovacs' ex-wife over Edie's stepdaughters,

1. Kip Raleigh "Kippie" Kovacs (1949–2001) (married Bill Lancaster, (1947–1997) son of Burt Lancaster) and
2. Elizabeth ("Bette").

Both daughters, Bette and Kippie, testified that they wanted to stay with their stepmother, Edie.

After 1952, Kovacs' ex-wife had previously kidnapped the girls during a visit; Adams and Kovacs had worked tirelessly to locate his daughters and return them to their father's custody. These events were portrayed in the television film, Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter (1984), which gained an Emmy Award nomination for its writer, April Smith. Kovacs was portrayed by Jeff Goldblum.

Another court battle began for Adams in the same year; this time with her mother-in-law, who refused to believe there were more debts than assets in her son's estate. Mary Kovacs accused her daughter-in-law Edie of mismanaging the estate and petitioned for custody of her granddaughters.

The dispute lasted for years with Edie remaining the administrator of her husband's estate and guardianship of the three girls.

After Kovacs' death, Edie Adams was married two more times.

Only one of Kovacs' three children survives: his eldest,

1. Elizabeth, from his first marriage.
2. Kippie, his second daughter, died on July 28, 2001 at the age of 52, after a long illness and a lifetime of poor health. Kippie and her husband, Bill Lancaster (1947–1997), a screenwriter and the son of actor Burt Lancaster, are the parents of Kovacs' only grandchild,
   1. Keigh Lancaster.
3. His only child with Edie Adams, Mia (1959–1982), was killed on May 8, 1982, also in an automobile accident. Mia and Kippie are buried close to their father; when Edie died in 2008, she was buried between Mia and Kippie.

Sources

• Wikipedia article: Ernie Kovacs

• Wikipedia article: Edie Adams