Paul Thomas Anderson, aka PTA, won two awards at this year’s Golden Globes for his black comedy action thriller film, One Battle After Another. These include Best Director and Best Screenplay.During his acceptance speech for the former category, Anderson, 55, stated:“You guys are being so generous with this affection for me and this film, and I’ll take it — I’ll take it with the love that it’s given and the appreciation. I love doing what I do. So, this is just fun.”Paul Thomas Anderson’s parents were the late voiceover actor Ernie Anderson and actress Edwina Gough. One Battle After Another was nominated in nine categories, the most for any film, and won four, including Paul’s two, Best Motion Picture/ Musical/ Comedy, and Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture for Teyana Taylor, who played Perfidia Beverly Hills.All about Paul Thomas Anderson’s parentsPaul Thomas Anderson was born in June 1970 in the San Fernando Valley, California. His mother, Edwina Gough, was a popular actress in the 1970s. Her debut show was The Tim Conway Show.Later, the now-86-year-old Gough appeared in films including Slither, Tunnel Vision, Roll, Freddy, Roll, and Room 222.She was Ernie Anderson’s second wife. They were married between 1968 and 1995 and shared four children, three daughters and one son, Paul Thomas Anderson.Ernie Anderson was an actor, voice artist, writer, radio announcer, DJ, B-grade movies/ horror flicks host, and television personality. He is best remembered for his portrayal of Ghoulardi, the horror host/ alter ego of Shock Theater at WJW-TV, Channel 8, the CBS affiliate network in Cleveland, Ohio, from January 1963 to December 1966.In fact, Paul Thomas Anderson later named his production house, Ghoulardi Film Company, after his father’s fan-favorite role.For nearly two decades, Ernie Anderson was the announcer for ABC. He was also the face behind the daytime show, Ernie’s Place, followed by two episodes of the sitcom, Rango. His voiceover projects include Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Powerpuff Girls, and The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3.He was also a father to nine children, five of whom he welcomed with his first wife, Marguerite Hemmer. Their marriage lasted from 1947 to 1966.A year after the Massachusetts-born Ernie tied the knot with his third wife, Bonnie Skolnick, he succumbed to lung cancer in Los Angeles in February 1997. He was 73.Paul Thomas Anderson dedicated his 1997 film, Boogie Nights, to his dad’s memory. He also spoke about Ernie serving his country during the Second World War.“He was in the Navy, stationed mainly in Guam. I don’t think he did any fighting. I think he was trying – he was fixing airplanes and knew just where the beer was stashed and played the saxophone in bands and stuff like that… he was pretty good about probably finding ways to get out of fighting. But again, you know, we never really talked that much about it,” PTA said during an interview.Speaking with Cleveland.com in December 2021, Paul Thomas Anderson shared his connection with the city as well as his parents.“I have this deep, deep, deep connection to a place I’ve only been to once in my life. It’s so odd because it’s not just that my father was Ghoulardi, but my mother is from Cleveland, my uncle -- who I’m very close to -- and my grandmother and grandfather were there. And yet the only time I’ve ever been there was as a child,” PTA stated.He continued:“I stepped off the flight from Los Angeles, and I watched what happened when my dad, who was not famous to me at all, walked through the airport. Before we got to the exit, it was as if The Beatles had arrived. And it’s amazing how long this has lasted.”Paul Thomas Anderson also mentioned that he still heard about Ghoulardi from fans, especially those who grew up in Northeast Ohio. He recalled that singer-songwriter Chrissie Hynde and filmmaker-musician Jim Jarmusch came up to him to speak about Ghoulardi.“It was great… The reach of the impact of this thing is so far and long-lasting. It’s wild, isn’t it?” PTA added.The Gotham Awards At Cipriani Wall Street On December 1st, 2025 In New York City - Source: GettyPaul Thomas Anderson also talked about his father’s influence on his film, Licorice Pizza. He shared that he filmed a significant portion of the movie at Tale O’ the Cock, a restaurant his dad frequented in the San Fernando Valley after he moved from Cleveland.“This is somewhere I went all the time as a kid with my dad. When my dad moved out of Cleveland, the valley was where he landed. I think everybody’s idea of Hollywood is like mansions in the hills, this kind of overblown thing,” PTA explained.He continued:“That is certainly true for some people, but Los Angeles is very large, and the majority is occupied with suburbia. So that’s where we lived and what I grew up around. This is a pretty accurate portrayal of what it looked like and smelled like at the time I was growing up.”In June 2013, PTA also spoke about his birth during an interview with the Port Magazine. He mentioned that his dad bought a 1964 white Avanti sports car from Oscar-winning actress Greer Garson and drove his mother to the hospital in it.“When you are nine months pregnant, it’s not the kind of car you want to be driven to the hospital in. The Avanti does not have a smooth ride. I still own the Avanti. That car and I have shared some important memories,” Paul quipped.Paul Anderson Thomas is himself a father to four children, whom he shares with his longtime partner and actress-comedian, Maya Rudolph.