Mort Crim, from a small coal-mining town in Illinois, made his name as a newscaster. He became a household name when it was revealed that he served as the inspiration for the Will Ferrell comedy Anchorman. Despite the humorous portrayal of his characterizations, Crim says that he isn’t offended at all and doesn’t regret serving as the inspiration for Ron Burgundy. He initially found out that he was the inspiration for the character in 2003, while Will Ferrell was doing interviews before the first movie came out.
Crim admits that, like Ron Burgundy, he does groom himself quite a bit, but he says that the accusation of him being a “chauvinist pig” is a bit far off the mark. Unlike the character based off him, Crim has no catchy sign-off phrase. The main reason Ferrell created Ron Burgundy as a fictional representation of Crim? His scuffles with his female co-anchor. Jessica Savitch was his co-anchor on WDIV-TV in Detroit, and one of the first female anchors on television. Multiple sources said that Mort Crim did not treat her well, and when Ferrell found this out, he began creating the character of Ron Burgundy.