Ernie Wallengren

Ernie Wallengren

Birth : 1952-12-15, Heber City, Utah, USA

Death : 2003-05-27

History

Ernie Wallengren was a writer-producer for many television shows, including The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, Baywatch, Falcon Crest, Knight Rider, Flipper, Promised Land, and Life Goes On. Wallengren was a Utah native who served a two-year Mormon mission in Central America and later graduated Magna Cum Laude from Loyola Marymount University with a degree in communication. Wallengren was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in 2001 at the age of 48. Ernie was the third person to volunteer to take a video camera. He started filming after he had been in a wheelchair for one year. He lived in Calabasas, California with his wife, Cheryl Wallengren, and their five children, three boys and two girls, now aged 16 to 24. Wallengren wrote about ALS, which attacks nerve cells in the brain, for one episode of Doc, about a country doctor in New York, and for an episode of the last series he wrote for, Touched by an Angel. Wallengren had many passions, particularly coaching basketball for several youth teams, including The Force and The Blue Eagles. Two tournaments are held annually in his honor, the Ernie Tourney and the E.F. Wallengren Hoopfest, which is sponsored by family and friends. All proceeds from the latter go to the E. F. Wallengren Fund for ALS Research, a fund set up by the ALS Association prior to his death. In 2002, Wallengren was honored with the National Courage Award from the Muscular Dystrophy Association, which is awarded annually at the Jerry Lewis Telethon Extravaganza. He died in May of 2003 at age 50.

Profile

Ernie Wallengren

Movies

Rolling
Himself
When Dr. Gretchen Berland gave video cameras to three Los Angeles residents in wheelchairs and asked them to film their daily lives, she wasn’t sure what they would capture. In the end — after nearly two years and 212 hours of tape — Galen Buckwalter, Ernie Wallengren and Vicki Elman did far more than accomplish Berland’s goal of providing care givers, policy makers and health care professionals insight into life on wheels for 1.6 million Americans.
Rolling
Assistant Director
When Dr. Gretchen Berland gave video cameras to three Los Angeles residents in wheelchairs and asked them to film their daily lives, she wasn’t sure what they would capture. In the end — after nearly two years and 212 hours of tape — Galen Buckwalter, Ernie Wallengren and Vicki Elman did far more than accomplish Berland’s goal of providing care givers, policy makers and health care professionals insight into life on wheels for 1.6 million Americans.
MacShayne: Final Roll of the Dice
Writer
Reformed con man Jack MacShayne is back, this time as the head of security at the Las Vegas hotel he stayed at in MacShayne: Winner Takes All. As part of his new job, he's charged with protecting a variety of distinguished guests, from the kleptomaniac grandson of the hotel's CEO to the lounge singer whose ex-husband shows up dead. Meanwhile, a senatorial candidate is relying on MacShayne to keep him safe from a deadly hit man.
Side by Side: The True Story of the Osmond Family
Screenplay
This is the story of the Osmond Family and is based on the book written by Olive (Mother) Osmond. This film tells of the beginnings of this family and how they got to where they were by the late '70s.