Winston Zeddemore

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Winston Zeddemore is a fictional character appearing in the Ghostbusters films and TV series. He was played by Ernie Hudson in both movies and was voiced by Arsenio Hall in the first season of The Real Ghostbusters. Buster Jones provided Winston's voice in the remaining seasons, and he reprised the role in a cameo on Extreme Ghostbusters.

Winston Zeddemore is a Ghostbuster, but unlike the other members of the team, he is not a scientist with a background in the paranormal and was hired later in the company's life. However, despite lacking the education background his coworkers share, Winston often serves as a voice of reason and displays far more common sense than the other Ghostbusters.

Described as the "everyman" of the Ghostbusters, Winston was hired as a member on the spot, seemingly because he was the only applicant at the time. Winston does not seem to question the paranormal, despite being a "normal" person. When applying for a job as a Ghostbuster he was asked whether he believed in a large number of supernatural occurrences and beings. He simply replied, "If there's a steady paycheck involved, I'll believe anything you say." However, it is not known whether Winston actually takes the activities which occur as fact at this point or simply needed a job. Needless to say, he accepts the existence of the paranormal once he witnesses it.

In the episode "The Brooklyn Triangle", the construction site belonging to Winston's father was the setting for a paranormal version of the Bermuda Triangle called the Brooklyn Triangle, where various people's belongings was mysteriously disappearing.

1 Trivia
2 Quotes

[edit] Trivia

The name "Zeddemore" is misspelled as "Zeddmore" in the closing credits of Ghostbusters. As a result it was also sometimes misspelled in scripts and other sources related to The Real Ghostbusters. The name is spelled correctly on the nametag on Winston's jumpsuit, in the shooting script of Ghostbusters (as published in the book Making Ghostbusters), and in the closing credits of Ghostbusters II. The name is also pronounced correctly (with three syllables) by both Annie Potts and Ernie Hudson in Ghostbusters.

Winston has been noted as being the character most often not featured in video games based upon Ghostbusters media, even when Peter, Ray and Egon are selectable. Most believe this is because Winston was hired later and most of the games have the player begin before the Ghostbusters company was started. However, others believe he is left out for other reasons.^{[citation needed]} So far, Winston has only been featured as a playable character in Ghostbusters II for the NES.

In the original script Winston was intended as the smartest and most capable of the Ghostbusters. He held multiple degrees and was an ex-marine, making him more suited for the job than the original three. This was discussed in detail in the commentary on the DVD of the original movie, but no explanation was given for the change in his character.

[edit] Quotes

[edit] The Real Ghostbusters (cartoon)

(about Spengler) "Brilliant man, but the attention span of a tumbleweed." ("No-one Comes To Lupusville")

[edit] Ghostbusters (film)

"Ray, has it ever occurred to you that maybe the reason we've been so busy lately is because the dead have been rising from the grave?"
"I'm Winston Zeddemore, Your Honor. I've only been with the company for a couple of weeks. But I gotta tell you, these things are real. Since I joined these men, I have seen shit that'll turn you white."
"Ray, when someone asks you if you're a god, you say, YES!"
"I love this town!"

[edit] Ghostbusters II (film)

(After discovering Egon has been "sleeping with" the mood slime) "It's always the quiet ones."
"I hate Jell-O."

Ghostbusters
Movies:	Ghostbusters \| Ghostbusters II
Television:	The Real Ghostbusters \| Extreme Ghostbusters
Video Games:	Ghostbusters (Activision) \| Ghostbusters (Sega) \| Ghostbusters II
Technology:	Proton pack \| Ectomobile \| Ghostbusters equipment
Characters:	Peter Venkman \| Egon Spengler \| Ray Stantz \| Winston Zeddemore \| Janine Melnitz \| Ivo Shandor
Ghosts:	Slimer \| Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man \| Vigo the Carpathian
Misc:	Ghostbusters: Legion \| Ghostbusters: The Return \| Ghostbusters (role-playing game) \| Filmation's Ghostbusters