Gone With or Without fanfare

[Western Guy]

A true gentleman and a heckuva nice guy. I'm in shock, though a nice run at 95. Still, it seemed as if Ernie would be around forever.

Sent him a copy of one of my Western books some time back because I had based one of the characters on him and he replied with a wonderful note stating how flattered he was to be immortalized in literature as the villainous landowner Brock Donovan, along with forwarding an autographed photo and a signed copy of his autobiography. A nice, unexpected surprise.

RIP and God bless, Mr. Borgnine. You were a treasure and will be missed.

[Western Guy]

. . . Just wanted to add (because of all the Ben Johnson fans here on this site, including myself) that in one of the last interviews Ben gave, he perhaps offered the best summation of his "The Wild Bunch" co-star Ernest Borgnine. Simply and succinctly: "He was good people."

How very true.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

A good guy who was given plenty of time to enjoy the fruits of his labors. Rest in Peace, sweet Ernie.

[MikeBSG]

Ernest Borgnine wouldn't be the first person to come to mind when I would start to talk about movies or pop culture, but looking back, I am surprised at how much stuff he was in that I liked.

There is "The Wild Bunch" of course, and then all those movies he made with Robert Aldrich: "Vera Cruz," "Flight of the Phoenix," "The Dirty Dozen," "Emperor of the North."

There are the Fifties classics, most notably "Marty" and "From Here to Eternity."

There is "McHale's Navy," which was a staple of late afternoon reruns when I was a kid.

And then there is "SpongeBob SquarePants." Borgnine was the voice of Mermaid Man, a senior citizen Batman/Aquaman hybrid who has seen better days. (Frankly, he is quite the senile superhero.) He is just hysterical.

The odd thing about Borgnine's career to me is that in movies he was usually a bad guy while on TV he was comic. An interesting shift.

[JackFavell]

I broke the news to my daughter today that Mermaid Man was no more. She knew he was Ernest Borgnine, thanks to TCM. We watched Nick, and sure enough they showed some of the Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy (Tim Conway) episodes, which are really hilarious, especially Mermaid Man's continual loss of the invisible boatmobile, and Barnacle Boy's insistence that now he is elderly he be called Barnacle Man.

[charliechaplinfan]

Hes in so many great movies, I have a real hankering to watch Marty again soon. RIP Ernest Borgnine, by all accounts you were one of life's gents.

[Lzcutter]

TCM is honoring Ernie Borgnine with a 24 hour tribute on July 26th.

From TCM's home page:

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will remember the life and career of actor Ernest Borgnine on Thursday, July 26. Borgnine passed away Sunday, July 8th at the age of 95. TCM's 24-hour memorial tribute is set to begin at 6 a.m. (ET) with Borgnine's performance in The Catered Affair (1956). The tribute will include such essential Ernest Borgnine films as The Dirty Dozen (1967), From Here to Eternity (1953), and Bad Day at Black Rock (1955). Borgnine's Academy Award-winning role as Marty (1955) will air at 9 p.m. (ET) and there will be two showings of Private Screenings: Ernest Borgnine (2009) as the actor sits down for a lively one-on-one talk with TCM host Robert Osborne. The following is a complete schedule (all times Eastern):




6:00 a.m. - The Catered Affair
8:00 a.m. - The Legend of Lylah Clare
10:30 a.m. - Pay or Die
12:30 p.m. - Torpedo Run
2:30 p.m. - Ice Station Zebra
5:15 p.m. - The Dirty Dozen
8:00 p.m. - Private Screenings: Ernest Borgnine
9:00 p.m. - Marty
10:45 p.m. - From Here to Eternity
1:00 a.m. - The Wild Bunch
3:30 a.m. - Bad Day at Black Rock
5:00 a.m. - Private Screenings: Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine, 1918-2012

One of the most prolific and talented character actors in American film, Academy Award winner Ernest Borgnine appeared in every genre of motion picture for over 50 years, remaining active onscreen even as he entered his ninth decade. Cineastes may have dismissed Borgnine for his occasionally broad performances and roles in campy B-movies, but the actor was a favorite of film directors Delbert Mann, Robert Aldrich and Sam Peckinpah. He was a solid television presence in the 1960s on "McHale's Navy" (ABC, 1962-66), during the 1980s in "Airwolf" (CBS, 1984-86), and in the new millennium as a superhero voice on "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Nickelodeon, 1999- ). To fans of classic Hollywood, Borgnine was recognized as a versatile performer who was equally adept at playing all-too-human heroes as he was hissable villains.

Born Ermes Effron Borgnine on Jan. 24, 1918 in Hamden, CT, he was the only child of immigrant parents from Northern Italy. After his parents separated when he was two, he lived in Italy with her mother before returning to the United States at the age of five. After graduating high school in 1935, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was discharged in 1941. When the United States entered World War II, he re-enlisted and served until 1945. After returning to civilian life, Borgnine labored at various factory jobs, but he found little enjoyment in a blue-collar career. Sensing his disillusionment, Borgnine's mother suggested that his larger-than-life personality and imposing presence might be positive qualities for an actor. In agreement, he enrolled at the Randall School of Drama in Hartford, CT. After graduation, he joined the well-regarded Barter Theater in Abington, VA, and honed his craft while working odd jobs at the theater. Finally, a break came in 1949 when he landed a supporting role in a Broadway production of "Harvey" with Joe E. Ross.

Flush with success, he relocated to Los Angeles in 1951 and began landing supporting roles in films and on live television shows. His large frame, boxer's face (which frequently flashed his trademark gap-toothed smile) and husky tone made him a natural for heavies - so not surprisingly, he made his first impression on movie audiences as "Fatso" Judson, the vicious enlisted man who kills Frank Sinatra's Maggio in "From Here To Eternity" (1953). Borgnine's forceful turn in the Oscar-winning Best Picture led to other bad-guy roles in major films, including the Western "Johnny Guitar" (1954) and "Bad Day at Black Rock" (1955) - in which he portrayed one of the local heels who threaten Spencer Tracy.

In 1955, director Delbert Mann approached Borgnine to play the lead in a feature film version of Paddy Chayefsky's TV drama, "Marty." The original star, Rod Steiger, was unavailable, so Borgnine was tapped to play the title character - a lonely Bronx butcher who finds love with a shy schoolteacher (Betsy Blair). Borgnine's heart-rending performance earned him Academy Awards for Best Actor in the United States and Britain, as well as a Golden Globe. No longer relegated to villain status, the newly minted star enjoyed a wide variety of roles throughout the 1950s and 1960, including a cuckolded rancher in the Western "Jubal" (1956), the cabdriver husband of Bette Davis in "The Catered Affair" (1956), a Norse chieftain in "The Vikings" (1958) and a Mob-busting New York cop in "Pay Or Die" (1960).

In 1962, Borgnine starred in an episode of the anthology series, "Alcoa Premiere" (ABC, 1961-63) as the commander of a WWII Navy PT boat crew that had gone native while avoiding Japanese patrols in the South Seas. The episode later served as the launching pad for "McHale's Navy" (ABC, 1962-66), a broad service comedy that enjoyed healthy ratings during its network run. The hit show even spawned two theatrical features, "McHale's Navy" (1964) and "McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force" (1965) - though Borgnine did not participate in the latter, due to scheduling conflicts with his role in Robert Aldrich's superior adventure film, "The Flight of the Phoenix" (1965). Years later, Borgnine would re-team with his "McHale" co-star Tim Conway to provide the voices of aging superheroes Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy for the popular animated series, "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Nickelodeon, 1999- ).

After "McHale's" concluded its network run, Borgnine returned to a busy schedule of film appearances in Hollywood and abroad. Among his better projects were the WWII action flick "The Dirty Dozen" (1967), again for Robert Aldrich; 1968's "Ice Station Zebra," in which he played a duplicitous Russian for his "Bad Day at Black Rock" director John Sturges; and as the sympathetic Dutch Engstrom, second in command of "The Wild Bunch" (1969) for Sam Peckinpah. Borgnine also appeared in several Italian westerns and action films during this period and was the first "Center Square" on "The Hollywood Squares" (NBC, 1965-1982) when it premiered in 1965.

Borgnine became even busier in the Seventies, though the quality of his films seemed to vary from project to project. No matter, though - his performances were consistently believable. Borgnine was the morally questionable New York cop who survived "The Poseidon Adventure" (1973) and a brutal conductor locked in combat with a willful train-hopping hobo (Lee Marvin) in Robert Aldrich's violent "Emperor of the North Pole" (1973). He even played real-life boxing coach Angelo Dundee opposite Muhammad Ali (as himself) in "The Greatest" (1977). Borgnine also stole scenes as the sadistic boss who was devoured ("Tear him up!") by Bruce Davison's trained rats in "Willard" (1971) and re-teamed with Peckinpah for the truck-driving action pic, "Convoy" (1978).

In many cases, Borgnine was the best part of his films - he was the sole high point of the wretched Satanic thriller "The Devil's Rain" (1975), for which he endured a ridiculous make-up job which turned him into a ram-headed devil, and survived the box office debacle that was Walt Disney Pictures' live action sci-fi adventure, "The Black Hole" (1979). During this period, Borgnine even found time to pop up on television, most notably as a celebrity guest on "The Dean Martin Show" (NBC, 1965-1974), but also as a series regular on the short-lived sci-fi program, "Future Cop" (ABC, 1976-77) and as a worldly-wise soldier in Delbert Mann's moving adaptation of "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1979). Borgnine received an Emmy nomination for his performance in this production.

The Eighties provided less substantial roles for Borgnine, but the actor, who was entering his sixth decade, showed no signs of slowing down or losing interest in his craft. Episodic television provided a steady flow of work for him, and he enjoyed a renewed burst of popularity as the jocular co-pilot and sidekick to taciturn hero Jan-Michael Vincent in the action series, "Airwolf" (CBS, 1984-86). But there were interesting supporting roles for Borgnine throughout the decade, including the enthusiastic Cabbie in John Carpenter's "Escape from New York" (1981), the menacing leader of a rural religious community in Wes Craven's little-seen "Deadly Blessing" (1981), and as J. Edgar Hoover in the Jimmy Hoffa/Robert Kennedy drama, "Blood Feud" (1983). But for the most part, Borgnine passed the decade in obscure low-budget productions on both sides of the Atlantic. When pressed, he simply stated that he liked to work.

And he continued to work throughout the 1990s, albeit in largely unseen independent films or foreign productions. He did enjoy the occasional guest shot on an episodic television series, and had a few fun turns - most notably in a reunion with many of his surviving "Dirty Dozen" co-stars, who voiced a squadron of animated toy commandos in Joe Dante's "Small Soldiers." His expressive voice made him a natural go-to for cartoon voiceover work, and he could be heard in the "All Dogs Go to Heaven" sequels and series (ABC/Fox Family, 1996-99), among many others. Borgnine also made a brief return to sitcoms with the tepid comedy "The Single Guy" (NBC, 1995-97), for which he earned a smattering of press that trumpeted his "comeback;" however, even a passing glance at his endless list of credits made it clear that Borgnine had never entirely gone away.

The relative slowdown of his career allowed Borgnine to indulge in a passion for driving around the country in a customized motor home, from which he would meet and talk with people in small towns. His wanderlust was the subject of a short documentary, "Ernest Borgnine On the Bus" (1997). Borgnine also frequently appeared in print and television ads for a cosmetics company owned by his fifth wife, Tova. Borgnine had been married a total of five times - prior to Tova included Mexican actress Katy Jurado and Broadway star Ethel Merman, whom he famously divorced in 1964 after just 32 days. His first marriage produced one child, while a fourth marriage to Donna Rancourt from 1965 to 1972 gave him two more children.

As the 1990s flowed into the 21st century, Borgnine was introduced to a new audience when he was cast in a recurring voice role as Mermaid Man, a television superhero admired by absorbent man-boy "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Nickelodeon, 1999- ) on the top-rated cable cartoon. He was back in front of the camera playing a chauffeur wooing a small-town grandmother (Eileen Brennan) in the direct-to-video release "The Last Great Ride" (1999), and his booming baritone was tapped again to narrate the documentary "An American Hobo" in 2002. Borgnine earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie for his starring turn as a retired song-and-dance man in the TV movie, "A Grandpa for Christmas" (Hallmark, 2007), while reflecting on his own history in showbiz with the release of the 2008 memoir Ernie. He further added to his historic resume with a guest appearance in the series finale of NBC's Thursday night staple "ER" (NBC, 1994-2009), offering a performance as a grieving widower that was recognized with an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor. Following a small role as Henry the Records Keeper in the action comedy "Red" (2010), starring Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren, Borgnine was honored with the 47th Annual Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild.

* Biographical data provided by TCMdb

[Robert Regan]

ISUZU YAMADA (1917-2012)

She appeared in at least 122 movies between 1930 and 1987, including works by Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, Mikio Naruse, and Teinosuke Kinogasa.

[charliechaplinfan]

I hadn't even realised she was still alive, she made some great movies, may she rest in peace.

[Robert Regan]

Alison, on July 8th, I posted a list, already out-of-date, of the oldest living movie people.

[Western Guy]

TCM made a mistake with Ernie's birth year. He was born in 1917, not 1918. Wish that it were, though. Maybe we would have had Ernie for another year.

[charliechaplinfan]

I saw that list Bob, it's amazing to have lived so long but disquieting to because how much longer can we still have them.

I like what Western Guy said about Ernest Borgnine, what a guy.

[feaito]

Robert, Thanks for posting that list. There are so few still alive....Brian should add French actress Micheline Presle (born 1922) who worked in France and the United States, as well as Gisèle Casadesus (born in 1914), primarily a French Stage actress but who also appeared in films during the 1930s, 1940s, etc.

Best,

Fernando

[moira finnie]

"You always like to make a fool of yourself in front of people. Why don't you give acting a try?" - Anna, the mother of Ernest Borgnine, whose seemingly off-hand, out of the blue remark put her son on the path to his seven decade career.

While living for almost a century is a milestone in itself, I admit that it was so sad hearing of the passing of this robust spirit and fine actor. Ernest Borgnine's ability to be menacing, gentle, rambunctious, humorous and sensitive--sometimes all at the same time--elevated his many appearances in films both good and not-so-good. None of these quite matched his exuberant personality when this articulate man was being interviewed. Consequently, I am so glad that TCM is running his Private Screenings with Robert Osborne as well as two of my favorite Ernie portrayals, other than the justly remembered Marty, which is in a class by itself, like the actor.

If you are interested, watch him in The Catered Affair (1956) as his character, an exhausted cabbie, listens to a downtrodden Bette Davis in all their scenes together. He rarely speaks in this movie, but Borgnine is so eloquent, utterly natural, and expressive throughout all his scenes with the actress, a viewer would have to be made of stone not to feel empathy for him.

One film not to be missed in TCM's lineup is the little known but powerful movie Pay or Die (1960), one of the few films depicting The Black Hand (which evolved into the Mafia) realistically. Ernie is excellent--hitting all the right notes, from worried to rage to determined in his fine portrayal of a real life hero, the Italian-American policeman, Det. Joe Petrosino, who worked against the protection rackets in NYC that exploited his own people in the early 20th century. This film, directed by Richard Wilson from a script credited to Richard Collins and Bertram Millhauser, should be better known than it is, not least of all for Ernie's acting, but also for the touching work of a fine actress, Zohra Lampert, as Joe's beloved Adelina. If you are intrigued by this film, you can see an interview with Borgnine about the movie beginning here from the 2010 Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival.

News of his death sent me back to the bookcase to re-read his highly informative (yet discreet) and entertaining memoir, entitled Ernie: The Autobiography. In it he wrote:

"They can't all be gems.

I've died onscreen almost thirty times. I've been shot, stabbed, kicked, pushed through barroom doors by Spencer Tracy and Gary Cooper; pushed in front of moving subway trains, devoured by rats and a giant mutated fish; blown up in spaceships, melted down into a Technicolor puddle, jumped into a snake pit, and I perished from thirst in the Sahara Desert. I bounced around a capsized ocean liner, beat Frank Sinatra to death, impaled Lee Marvin with a pitchfork, and had my way with Raquel Welch.

Any one of those would've been worth the journey."

In this book, the earthy but truthful Ernie also told a story about a cold day when he was pounding the pavement looking for work as an actor. The air on the street was redolent with the scent of hot chestnuts, which evoked a memory of his mother's kitchen and loving presence in his life. Spying a sign above a hot chestnut vendor's cart he realized that it might be kismet. I hope I don't offend anyone since I know it is not as reverent as it might be, but the attitude reflected in these words seem to echo the man's unpretentious and genuine warmth. The sign read as follows:

"I don't want to set the world on fire, I just want to keep my nuts warm."

Here is the TCM Remembers tribute to Ernest Borgnine
[youtube][/youtube]

[Robert Regan]

Thanks, Fernando. I'll pass those names on. Bob