Overview (5)

Mini Bio (1)

Spouse (5)

Trade Mark (5)



The role of Mermaid Man in SpongeBob Schwammkopf (1999).

Frequently played villainous roles.



Gruff, but gentle voice.



Machiavellian eyebrows.



Gap between his two front teeth.



Trivia (99)

Spent ten years in the US Navy prior to acting.





There is an instrumental techno track called "Theme from Ernest Borgnine" by the artist Squarepusher on the album "Feed Me Weird Things" (1996, Rephlex Records UK).

Involved in an air crash in 1996.



In 1999 he had both knees replaced.





Was the very first "center square" on The Hollywood Squares (Daytime) (1965) (during its premiere week in October 1966).



Auditioned for the lead role in Marty (1955) while shooting Stadt in Angst (1955) in Lone Pine, CA.

Periodically performed as the "Grand Clown" for The Great Circus Parade in Milwaukee, WI, since the 1970s.



Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1996.



Was an active Freemason and had been the Honorary Chairman of the Scottish Rite RiteCare Program, which sponsors 175 Scottish Rite Childhood Language Disorders Clinics, Centers, and Programs nationwide.



Was a Master Mason and had been elevated to the 33rd Degree in Scottish Rite.



Was made an honorary US Navy Chief Petty Officer by Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) Terry Scott on October 15, 2004. He served in the US Navy for ten years, from 1935-45, and left the service as a Gunner's Mate 1st Class.





While on location in Mexico filming Vera Cruz (1954), he and fellow cast member Charles Bronson found themselves with some extra time on their hands and decided to go to the nearest town to get some cigarettes. Still in full costume--including bandoliers and pistols--they mounted their horses and headed out. Along the way they were spotted by a truckful of Mexican "federales"--federal police--who mistook them for bandits and held them at gunpoint until their identities could be verified.

His car licence plate is BORG9.



Former member of the Citizen's Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC).





Twice-wed Borgnine married thrice-wed Broadway diva Ethel Merman in 1964. Their marriage was dissolved after 32 days. They had announced their impending nuptials at the legendary New York night spot P.J. Clarke's, but Borgnine, who was riding high as the star of McHale's Navy (1962) at the time, said the marriage began unraveling on their honeymoon when he received more fan attention than she did. The competitive Merman was left seething. "By the time we got home, it was hell on earth," he recalled in a 2001 interview. "And after 32 days I said to her, 'Madam, bye'." Borgnine went on to marry twice more - with his fifth marriage lasting over 39 years until his death - but Merman remained single after their divorce. In her 1978 autobiography, she devoted a chapter to the marriage - It consisted of one blank page.



Father of Sharon Borgnine (born August 5th 1965), Cris Borgnine (born August 9th 1969) and Diana Rancourt-Borgnine (born December 29th 1970) with Donna Rancourt. Daughter Nancee Borgnine (aka Gina Kemins-Borgnine) (born August 18th 1952) with Rhoda Kemins.



Made a special Academy Awards appearance in 1998, at the The 70th Annual Academy Awards (1998), and in 2005 at the The 75th Annual Academy Awards (2003) and participated in the Oscar Winners Tribute sequence along with other Academy Award winners.



On Feb. 6, 2007, he received California's highest civilian honor, the California Commendation Medal. It was presented to him on the set of A Grandpa for Christmas (2007) by Maj. Gen. William H. Wade II, Adjutant General and Commander of the California National Guard, for a lifetime of exceptionally meritorious service as well as recognizing his "heartfelt advocacy on behalf of military personnel and veterans on many fronts, including the California National Guard".

In 2007 he became the first male Oscar winner for Best Actor to still be alive on his 90th birthday, and in 2012 became the first male Oscar winner for Best Actor to still be alive (and working) on his 95th birthday.



Was the only actor to star in all four "Dirty Dozen" films.





Best known by the public for his starring role as the title character in McHale's Navy (1962).

Lived in the same Beverly Hills, CA, home that he bought in 1965.



Awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6324 Hollywood Blvd. on February 8, 1960.





His second ex-wife Katy Jurado , died in 2002. He referred to her as "beautiful, but a tiger".



According to his autobiography, "Ernie", he only has three children: Nancee Borgnine , from his first wife, Rhoda Kemins, and Sharon Borgnine and Cris Borgnine from his wife, Donna Rancourt.



His fifth wife, Tova Borgnine , was almost 25 years his junior.

For 30 years, between 1972 and 2002, he marched in Milwaukee's annual Great Circus Parade as the "Grand Clown".



His mother, Anna Borgnine, died in 1949, after a long battle with tuberculosis, just days before his first wedding.



Was an active Republican.



Before he was a successful actor, he worked in a variety of factory and warehousing jobs.





Was presented with the Screen Actors Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award in January 2011 by Morgan Freeman and Tim Conway



Winner of the Best Actor Award for Night Club (2011) at the 6th Annual Staten Island Film Festival on June 12, 2011, the Golden Door International Film Festival on October 16, 2011 and his final acting honor, Best Actor for The Man Who Shook the Hand of Vicente Fernandez (2012) at the Newport Beach Film Festival on May 9, 2012.



Tortilla Flats, a West Village Tex-Mex restaurant on the corner of West 12th and Washington in New York City, had an obsession with Borgnine from the mid-'80s to its closure in October 2018. A booth was completely covered in his photos and the restaurant had a yearly "Ernest Borgnine Night". Staff members were put through rigorous Borgnine trivia training when hired. While he had no involvement in the restaurant, he made occasional visits, and wore one of their shirts when filming Captiva Island - Ein verrückter Sommer (1995). The annual celebration gained national prominence when featured on CBS News Sunday Morning: Episode dated 22 February 2009 (2009) in February 2009, with John Turturro and his son among the party goers in attendance--Ernest himself was there at the end of the night (via loudspeaker phone), wishing everyone well and to "have one [a drink\ for me".



He won the 1955 Academy Award as Best Actor for Marty (1955), his first and only nomination for an Oscar. He was also nominated, and won, the Golden Globe, BAFTA (British Academy), National Board of Review and New York Film Critics Circle Awards for the same role. All were not only his first win, but his first and only nominations as lead actor in a theatrical film.



He was to have played the lead in the first feature film ever directed by Ridley Scott . It was to be a Canadian heist movie titled "Ronnie and Leo", co-starring Michael York and was to have been filmed in August 1974. Both stars were attached to the project along with nearly $1.7 million in financing and the picture actually came close to being made, but in the end it fell through.

Said that at one point he was considering making the Navy a career--he spent ten years there--but his mother talked him into becoming an actor.





In a video interview on the Screen Actors Guild website, in association with his 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award, he was asked by members of Facebook what actor he would have loved to have worked with but hadn't until that time. He mentioned only one: Peter O'Toole , stating he'd been friends with him for years and that O'Toole had a wonderful attitude he'd always admired. On July 10, 2012, two days after Borgnine's death, O'Toole announced his retirement from acting.



Guest-starred in the last two episodes of the medical drama Emergency Room: Die Notaufnahme (1994).



Was the producers' first choice for the lead role in McHale's Navy (1962).



His idols when he was very young were Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey

Graduated from James Hillhouse High School in New Haven, CT, in 1935.





Passed away on July 8, 2012. Just before his death, he appeared in his final film: The Man Who Shook the Hand of Vicente Fernandez (2012).

His family moved to New Haven, CT, in 1923 when he was six.



His parents were Charles B. Borgnino and Anna (Boselli) Borgnine, who was an Italian countess. Both were Italian immigrants..





Attended his best friend Michael Landon 's funeral in 1991.



On McHale's Navy (1962) he played a US Navy officer; in real life, Borgnine had been a Navy NCO.



Acting mentor and friend of Tim Conway

He was one of the few overseas guests to be invited twice to Australia's main television industry awards, the TV Week Logie Awards, in March 1982 and March 1990, both ceremonies held in Melbourne.





After the success of R.E.D.: Älter. Härter. Besser. (2010), his final Hollywood studio film, he always held out hope he'd be around to reprise his role as Henry the records keeper in the 2013 sequel. When interviewed in April 2012, he mentioned there was talk about it over the years and made one request to the producers: "I told them if they do it, I want to carry a gun this time". He kept in touch with screenwriters Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber and, in the end, would have had a major role in a sequence at the start of the movie. When he passed away three months prior to the start of production, his scenes were reconfigured and would feature an uncredited Titus Welliver



While resting between takes in his dressing room during the filming of Die unsichtbare Front (1956) on the 20th Century-Fox lot, he received a visit from Tom Parker , the manager of Elvis Presley , presenting him with an armful of Elvis records. Elvis had heard of Borgnine defending his singing while making his acting debut in Pulverdampf und heiße Lieder (1956), also filming on another soundstage on the lot--Elvis had sent the records over in appreciation but was too shy to present them himself, never getting past the dressing room door. Borgnine said, "Well, we'll have to do something about that", telling Parker to make sure Elvis stopped by the following day. When Elvis eventually did come by, he could hear his record "Hound Dog" blaring out from the room and painted on the dressing room door were the words "Elvis Borgnine".

His parents separated when he was two years old, and he and his mother lived in Italy for about 4-1/2 years.





According to Ein Single kommt immer allein (1995) series' lead, Jonathan Silverman , Borgnine came to work with more energy and passion than all other stars combined. He was the first person to arrive on the set every day and the last to leave.

He returned to his parents' house in Connecticut after his Navy discharge without a job to go back to and no direction.



Survived by four children, his wife and one sister.



In 2000 he received his 50-year pin as a Freemason in Abingdon Lodge #48, Abingdon, VA.



Resided in Los Angeles, CA, for over 60 years, from 1951-2012.



Until 1962 he was a heavy smoker. He quit that year, and became a militant anti-smoker.



Was physically healthy and active until his death at age 95.



His sister, Evelyn Borgnine Velardi, died in 2013, just 17 days short of what would've been her 88th birthday.



In 1997 he was the commencement speaker at Lakeland College, and received an honorary doctorate in humane letters in recognition of his distinguished acting career.



He took and graduated from acting studies, auditioned and was accepted as an intern to the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, VA. The theater got its name from the director's practice of allowing audiences to barter produce for admission during the cash-lean years of the Great Depression.



His mother, Anna (Boselli) Borgnine, wanted him to be named after Hermes from Greek mythology. His father, Charles Borgnino, wanted his son to be named Effron.



He was named the Veterans Foundation's Veteran of the Year.





On McHale's Navy (1962), his character spoke Italian, as Borgnine did in real-life.

At age 91 he wrote an autobiography, "Ernie", which is a loose, conversational recollection of highlights from his acting career and notable events from his personal life.



His parents legally changed his name from Ermes Effron Borgnino to Ernest Borgnine, to alternate different last letters of his name.



Had attended Yale University, where he majored in math and hated it; he transferred to the Randall School of Dramatic Arts in Hartford, CT, paid for by the GI BIll..





His grandfather had been the financial adviser to King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.

His younger sister, Evelyn Borgnine Velardi, lived in San Bernardino, CA.





Although he played Kirk Douglas ' father in Die Wikinger (1958), he was six weeks his junior in real life. He also played Tony Curtis ' father in the same film in spite of being only eight years his senior.

One of his favorite hobbies was stamp collecting. He started as a boy collecting stamps and never settled on any issue or specialization; he did have an extensive collection of Russian and Cuban stamps collected during the Cold War period. He would go on to become a member of the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC) from September 1975 through January 1984 and in 1978 starred in public service announcements in print and television for the US Postal Service, promoting their "50th Anniversary Year of Talking Pictures" and "Surrender at Saratoga" Commemoratives. He admitted in later years that because of his work and traveling he gradually let his collecting go but would always in the years that followed promote the art of stamp collecting at every opportunity.





Was considered for the role of Don Vito Corleone in Der Pate (1972) before Marlon Brando was cast.

His family had a garden in the back yard and Borgnine recalled the hours he spent working there with great fondness. His mother oversaw the gardening so that it included vegetables to eat and flowers for the kitchen table. He recalled that the garden grew larger and the vegetables it yielded became more central to the family's meals after the stock market crashed in 1929. He so took to working the soil that he signed on at a nearby farm picking peaches and apples.



Returned to Hamden, CT, in 1971 for a reunion and spent hours visiting familiar sites and reminiscing with town residents.





His 1964 marriage to Tony-winning Broadway legend Ethel Merman , which lasted less than five months, served as fodder for many a stand-up comic's routines.



After he tried to break his contract with Burt Lancaster 's production company, Lancaster tried to force him to appear in Dein Schicksal in meiner Hand (1957) as Frank D'Angelo, but Borgnine refused to do so.

He didn't show any interest in acting until he was twenty-eight years old.



He went from acting for the first time to winning an Academy Award for Best Actor in just ten years.



He never retired from acting and worked right up until his death at the age of ninety-five.



Personal Quotes (30)



Spencer Tracy was the first actor I've seen who could just look down into the dirt and command a scene. He played a set-up with Robert Ryan that way [in Stadt in Angst (1955)]. He's looking down at the road and then he looks at Ryan at just the precise, right minute. I tell you, Rob could've stood on his head and zipped open his fly and the scene would've still been Mr. Tracy's.

The trick is not to become somebody else. You become somebody else when you're in front of a camera or when you're on stage. There are some people who carry it all the time. That, to me, is not acting. What you've gotta do is find out what the writer wrote about and put it into your mind. This is acting. Not going out and researching what the writer has already written. This is crazy!





Everything I do has a moral to it. Yes, I've been in films that have had shootings. I made The Wild Bunch - Sie kannten kein Gesetz (1969), which was the beginning of the splattering of blood and everything else. But there was a moral behind it. The moral was that, by golly, bad guys got it. That was it. Yeah.



Ever since they opened the floodgates with Clark Gable saying, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn", somebody's ears pricked up and said, "Oh boy, here we go!". Writers used to make such wonderful pictures without all that swearing, all that cursing. And now it seems that you can't say three words without cursing. And I don't think that's right.



[on Brokeback Mountain (2005)] I didn't see it and I don't care to see it . . . If John Wayne were alive, he'd be rolling over in his grave.



[on his $5,000 salary for playing the eponymous lead in Marty (1955), which won him a Best Actor Oscar] . . . I would have done it for nothing.



Robert Ryan was a craftsman from start to finish. He was an actor first, a star second.



Where can we find the great actors we had yesteryear, guys like Spencer Tracy and Gary Cooper and Edward G. Robinson ? You know, I was talking to Lee Marvin the other day and we agreed that we were the last of a breed. We're the last who had the opportunity of working with these fine actors. I feel very humble. It makes me feel that I've got to try that bit harder.

I like my women a little big. Natural. Now, they shave this and wax that. It's not right. I love natural women. Big women. This trend in women has to go. Bulemia, anorexia. That's just wrong. You know what will cure that? My special sticky buns. One lick of my sticky buns and your appetite will come right back.



[on the womens rights movement] They tried it the wrong way. You can't expect anyone to take you seriously if you burn your undies and tell me I'm a pig. That's why it failed. Too many ugly broads telling me that they don't want to sleep with me. Who wanted you anyway?



I hate hippies and dopeheads. Just hate them. I'm glad we sent the men off to war. They came back with a sense of responsibility and respect. We should have grabbed the women, given them a bath, put a chastity belt on them, and put them in secretary school.





[on his marriage to Ethel Merman ] Biggest mistake of my life. I thought I was marrying Rosemary Clooney

[on drugs] No, I've never done anything. At least, not to my knowledge. I once took a bunch of goofballs by accident. They looked like candy. They were in a little bowl at a party. I grabbed a hand full and went to town. That was some New Year's Eve. I didn't have a coherent thought 'til February.





[reflecting on Paul Newman 's passing] What can you possibly say about such a wonderful, dedicated man? He was a great guy. I feel he is much better off, God bless him, I feel so sorry for his wife, Joanne Woodward , who is just the most lovely person, too. But, hey, he left his mark, God bless him, and you can't say no more than that, by golly. He left not only that, but he left a wonderful thing that he'd been doing for everyone--I mean, donating all his money from different things that he's done to help children.

I think you have to keep going. Otherwise, you know these fellas that say, "Boy I can't wait to retire. Boy, I'm going to be 65 years old, and I'm retiring and I'm quitting and that's it." Well, two weeks later they're saying to themselves, "What the hell am I gonna do?" And first thing you know they find themselves in a wheelchair or in a rocking chair going back and forth, back and forth, and that's the end of it. And suddenly you're dead.





[on his popularity while playing the 40-something Lt. Cmdr. Quinton McHale on McHale's Navy (1962)] It's not exactly the Navy I remember. I don't think we could have won the war if we'd had one like this. But it's a lot more laughs.

[In 1962] In 1941 I quit the Navy to go to work in a factory in New Haven, Connecticut . . . 1941, what a year to quit the Navy. I was back in a few months. In the beginning, we had only three boats patrolling the entire Atlantic Coast and I was on one of them. Then they sent me to Hollywood, Florida. I was assigned to a PY, patrol yacht. The PY was a converted yacht, the S.S. Intrepid. It used to be owned by the Murphy who invented Murphy beds. He took it to Europe and all over before the war. You should have seen what the Navy did to it!





[In 1963] Somebody said there was no such as small roles; only small actors. I think it was Mickey Rooney . Anyway, it ain't true.

I've got to treat my throat like a broken leg and let it get strong again. My shouting and "har de har har" days are over.





[on why he wanted to star in McHale's Navy (1962)] Theater business was disappearing and so were night clubs, which I don't like to play anyway because they keep me up too late. There were TV guest shots, but how many times can you play Ed Sullivan ? My biggest pay was from industrial shows, but they don't come along too often.



[In 1971, promoting Who Killed the Mysterious Mr. Foster? (1971)] Research is a crock. All the necessary research is done by the author. Why should I do the research on his research? The only thing I did was bring my characterization to Cook [director Fielder Cook ] and then we worked on it. Sam Hill is a good, likable guy, but you can also get mad at him. The character should have a controversial quality.



McHale [his character on McHale's Navy (1962)] was always trying to put one over on the captain. Sam Hill [his character in Who Killed the Mysterious Mr. Foster? (1971)] isn't trying to put one over on anybody. He's a man who takes no guff from anyone. He can get disorderly when faced with trials and tribulations. When he does wrong, he admits it. People can see themselves in this character.



Everybody says all you have to do is get a television show that will last three years and you can retire. Lemme tell you something, I was in McHale's Navy (1962) for four years and I owned a third of the show.

I don't care whether a part is 10 minutes long, or two hours, and I don't care whether my name is up there on top, either. Matter of fact, I'd rather have somebody else get top billing; then if the picture bombs, he gets the blame, not me.



[In 1973, about being under contract to a studio] No, thanks. I was under contract once, to Hecht-Hill-Lancaster. It cost me $500,000 to get out of it.





[in 1965 of his off-camera feud with McHale's Navy (1962) producer Edward Montagne ] When Universal told me that [he] was not going to produce but direct the movie, I told them that my price would be triple. So, they made a story about "McHale's Navy" without "McHale".

[in 1966 about his reputation for being temperamental] Yes, I'm a hot-tempered Italian, but I don't think I am ever unfair or unjust.



[In 1972] I think we all have the urge to be a clown, whether we know it or not. The clown we see is a fascinating person, expressing pathos, poignancy, joie de vivre. It's an opportunity to express one's innermost feelings while hiding behind a mask.



Please, for heaven's sake, if anybody lives next to a hospital, a veteran's hospital or something, take a half-hour, take an hour, take two hours, and go down there and visit our veterans. They would love to see you. Bring 'em flowers or something. Just to say hello. Believe me, they're hungry for people to come and see them . . . we owe freedom and opportunity to them. It's the least we can do.



No Stanislavsky. I don't chart out the life histories of the people I play. If I did, I'd be in trouble. I work with my heart and my head, and naturally emotions follow ... If none of that works, I think to myself of the money I'm making.



Salary (2)