On Sunday, Hollywood lost Ernest Borgnine, the 95-year-old Oscar winner whose prolific career spanned more than six decades and more than 200 roles in television shows and feature films, including From Here to Eternity, McHale’s Navy, The Wild Bunch, The Dirty Dozen, and, more recently, even SpongeBob Squarepants. Despite being cast early in his career as a villain or “a heavy,” Borgnine ultimately defeated James Cagney, James Dean, Frank Sinatra, and Spencer Tracy for a best-actor Academy Award, in recognition of his performance as a socially awkward butcher in the 1955 romance Marty.
It was Borgnine’s mother who persuaded the former navy mate to pursue acting: “You always like getting in front of people and making a fool of yourself, why don’t you give it a try?” Borgnine recalled his mother saying. “I was sitting at the kitchen table and I saw this light. No kidding. It sounds crazy. And 10 years later, I had Grace Kelly handing me an Academy Award.” Below, an excerpt of Borgnine’s Oscar-winning performance in Marty, in which he gets dating advice from his onscreen mother, played by Esther Minciotti.
In addition to his memorable roles (the most memorable being the titular commanding officer in McHale’s Navy) and résumé, Borgnine also amassed one of the most brilliant trivia banks available on IMDb today. His varied accomplishments include:
Being the very first center square on The Hollywood Squares, in 1966.
Owning the vanity license plate BORG9.
Marching in Milwaukee’s annual Great Circus Parade as the “Grand Clown” for 30 years.
Inspiring a one-page chapter (the page was blank) in the biography of his former wife of 32 days, Ethel Merman.
Baking “special sticky buns” that he claimed could cure Hollywood actresses of their eating disorders: “One lick of my sticky buns and your appetite will come right back.”
Passing Jerry Lewis a sock full of loose change on his way to the podium to accept his 1955 Oscar. “Jerry Lewis had bet me a buck ninety-eight that I’d win. I’d gone home and taken 198 pennies and put them in a red sock, and as I went up there, they all wondered what I passed to Jerry Lewis.”
Acting as the unlikely muse for the New York City restaurant Tortilla Flats, which created a booth shrine in the actor’s honor. The restaurant also reportedly has a yearly Ernest Borgnine night and has put its staff members through intense Borgnine-factoid training.
Receiving California’s highest civilian honor, the California Commendation Medal in 2007, and the Screen Actors Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. In 2008, Borgnine became the oldest actor ever nominated for a Golden Globe. He was also the first best-actor Oscar winner to be alive and working on his 95th birthday.
Completing a Proust Questionnaire for Vanity Fair that was insightful, and like his great performances, thoroughly entertaining.
