Unless you were born yesterday or just moved here from Brooklyn to open an art studio, all Detroiters should know who Mort Crim is. Even if you weren't around during his heyday, you should probably pick up the White Stripes' "Elephant" album and listen to "Little Acorns."
Crim anchored the nightly news on WDIV alongside Carmen Harlan from 1978 to 1997, where he retired. But before landing in Detroit, Crim anchored Philadelphia news broadcasts with Jessica Savitch, the tragic reporter whose career was cut short after a fatal car crash in 1983.
Will Ferrell happened upon a documentary about Savitch and was taken by Crim's demeanor, which he later worked into his Ron Burgundy act. Per The New York Times:
He was struck by a former co-anchor of hers in Philadelphia, who delivered his reminiscences in a silky baritone. "He literally said the line: 'You have to remember, back then I was a real male chauvinist pig. I was not nice to her.' "
Philly Magazine contacted Crim, who had this to say:
I don't think you ever really see yourself in a parody, but it was fun. Like any good satire, he took a basic idea and took it all to the extreme to get comedic value from it. I didn't take any offense to it. I have been parodied before in other situations in my public life. In fact, they wrote a rock-and-roll song which played on the air in Detroit when I was on the air there. It was called "Mort Crim's Hairspray." People thought I'd take offense. But it was fun. I've got a great sense of humor.
Sadly, "Mort Crim's Hairspray" is nowhere to be found on the internet, but you can tell from the video above that there's a lot of Crim in Burgundy.
Will Ferrell's Ron Burgundy Inspiration Is A Legendary Detroit Anchor