Ernest Borgnine Biography

Actor

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Name at birth: Ermes Effron Borgnino

Once one of Hollywood's busiest character actors and a frequent villain, Ernest Borgnine is now best known for his good-guy roles in two television favorites, the wartime comedy McHale's Navy (1962-66) and the adventure drama Airwolf (1984-86). Borgnine spent ten years in the U.S. Navy (1935-45) before studying acting. In 1951, after four years at Virginia's Barter Theater and a role on Broadway, he went to Hollywood. His wide, gap-toothed face lent itself to portrayals of bad guys, and he received rave reviews for his performances as a sadistic sergeant in From Here to Eternity (1953, with Frank Sinatra) and a ruffian in Bad Day at Black Rock (1955). He was cast against type for the lead in the drama Marty (1955) and won an Oscar. He has appeared in hundreds of television and feature film productions, including with Lee Marvin in The Dirty Dozen (1967) and Emperor of the North Pole (1973) and with William Holden in Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969). He also guest stars as the voice of Mermaid Man in the animated series Spongebob Squarepants.

Extra credit: Borgnine's wife, Tova, pitches her own brand of skin cream on cable television... For 32 days in 1964 he was married to Broadway star Ethel Merman.

Borgnine joins Mark Hamill and Tim Curry in our loop These Actors Do Cartoon Voices.

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