Whether he’s at his home in the Burnsville/Apple Valley area, chilling at his vacation home at Sylvan Lake in Brainerd or working near his Los Angeles house, actor Ernie Hudson says a day rarely goes by without someone coming up to him and asking, “Who you gonna call?”

“Who you gonna call?” is, of course, the refrain of the 1984 “Ghostbusters,” in which Hudson played one of the title roles. This Friday’s all-female remake, which Hudson has seen and likes (with some reservations), has also increased interest in the original’s stars, including Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd.

“There’s a whole level of fans I don’t totally understand, but I’m appreciative of it,” Hudson said. “There’s so much negative stuff that I’m glad when we have anything we can come together as a community and celebrate. People will tell me they had their first date with ‘Ghostbusters’ or that it was the first movie they ever saw.”

Some people go a lot further than that. Fans quote lines while Hudson is waiting in line at airports. A couple in Tennessee dated the conception of their child to the evening they saw “Ghostbusters” and ended up naming their son Winston, after Hudson’s character. Hudson frequently signs his autograph on body parts — and those autographs don’t always wash off.

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Movie theaters in Twin Cities struggle even with permission to reopen “Fans want me to know they’ve gotten tattoos. I’ve seen my face all over on people’s bodies, which is weird,” said Hudson, whose car mechanic once rolled up his pant leg to reveal a calf entirely covered with Hudson’s mug. “At the conventions (‘Ghostbusters’ fan events), people will have me sign a body part and then, a year later, they’ve permanently tattooed it there.”

Michigan native Hudson has lived in Minnesota on a couple of different occasions. He was enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Minnesota in the early ’70s, leaving to star in a production of “The Great White Hope” at Minneapolis’ Theatre in the Round Players. His wife, Linda Kingsberg, is from Minnesota. They bought their most recent home in Dakota County two years ago so Kingsberg could spend more time with her nonagenarian parents (her mother died last year, but Linda checks in on her father, Cyrus Kingsberg, 95, nearly every day).

Hudson thinks fondly of the 1984 comedy, in which a ragtag team of ghost fighters saves New York from evil specters, but he still laments his scenes that were cut, scenes that would have made Winston a much more significant character. And he wonders where the Winston love is in the new “Ghostbusters,” which stars Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig.

“I don’t know why they had to go all-girl with it. Why not girls and a guy?” he said with a chuckle. “It can’t compare to what we did, primarily because I (don’t have a significant role) in it. Really, you can’t re-create that magic. It’s the fans that keep it alive. They connected with it in a very special way. But I think it’s good they’re moving forward now. I always wanted to see another movie with the guys.”

With three TV series in the works, Hudson is probably too busy to bust any ghosts these days. He plays Lily Tomlin’s lover on the sitcom “Grace and Frankie,” which is gearing up for a third season. He’s in a miniseries with Nick Nolte, “Graves,” which will premiere this fall. And he’s in the Fox mid-season show “A.P.B.”

All of that work also means Hudson doesn’t get back to Minnesota as much as he’d like. He said he’s only been able to visit Sylvan Lake for two days so far this year.

“I miss the lakes. I miss just going out for a walk. I miss the bike path that comes down almost all the way to not far from our house. I miss — Michigan was so divided that there were places where you just were not welcome as an African-American and I have never felt that in Minnesota,” Hudson said. “I get that there are issues and people want to find solutions, but I feel like, in Minnesota, people care enough to invest in things that are in common, things that we all share. They want to make it better.”

Hudson also wants to up the ante on the “Ghostbusters” franchise. Perhaps by including one ghostbuster in particular.

“I’d like to think that, if this movie is successful, they’ll be doing more movies as part of the franchise,” Hudson said. “I’m in good health. I’d love to do what Sam Jackson does in the Marvel movies. I hope the studio says, ‘Wait a minute. He should lead the team.’ “