Ernie Borgnine, 93. Hollywood Legend Adds Red to His Resume

Born January 24th, 1917, (Ermes Effron Borgnino) "Ernie" Ernest Borgnine has had a long and very productive life. After serving several years in the Navy, Borgnine's mother encouraged her son to get into acting. Ernie followed his mothers advice and decades later is a Hollywood Legend. At age 93, Ernie Borgnine has taken a role in the movie Red. To see a trailer of this movie and see what Ernie looks like go here.

The big break for Borgnine came in the movie "From Here to Eternity" with Frank Sinatra. He acted with Spencer Tracy in Bad Day at Black Rock. And then "Marty" came along. Ernie Borgnine took that role and made himself known to all. He garnered an Academy Award for his brilliant performance.

Television fans will remember Borgnine in McHale's Navy and Airwolf. Playing McHale was well suited for him as his well known laugh was heard every week. Tim Conway was his sidekick in McHale's Navy and he starred with Jan Michael Vincent in Airwolf.

Notable movies through the decades were: Ice Station Zebra, The Dirty Dozen, All's Quiet on the Western Front, Jesus of Nazareth and Ghost on Flight 401. It's hard to pick a favorite movie. Ernie Borgnine could play military roles as well as western roles. He could be a great bad guy and a tender hearted, every day man.

A book called "Ernie" was written by Borgnine. The book was originally titled " I don't want to set the world on fire, I just want to keep my nuts warm". The publishers were squeamish about using that title, thus "Ernie" became the name of his biographical book. I loved the original title. He said when he was looking for work and not having much luck, he walked by a nut vendor on the street. There on the side of the vendor's cart was " I don't want to set the world on fire, I just want to keep my nuts warm." From then on, Ernie said that was his philosophy on life.

Tova Borgnine has been married to Ernie for 37 years. There were 4 marriages before that all ending in divorce. Ethel Merman was married to Borgnine for almost 1 month. Ernie said that when they were on their honeymoon, everyone wanted his autograph and called him McHale. He said that jealousy got the best of Ethel and it led to divorce court.

Ernie Borgnine is definitely a Hollywood Legend. Compare his career to most actors and you wonder how he managed to stay productive in the business for all these decades. Talent is the answer. Borgnine was never a flash in the pan and gave a solid performance no matter who was starring with him or what kind of movie he was doing.

Sources:
Everything PR