Ernest Borgnine acteerde in films als The Wild Bunch, The Dirty Dozen, All Quiet On The Western Front en Escape from New York. Hij werkte mee aan meer dan tweehonderd producties.
De acteur is ook bekend van de televisieseries McHal's navy uit de jaren 60 en Airwolf in de jaren 80. Hij acteerde als gast in onder andere Magnum, P.I., The Love Boat, Jake and the Fatman, JAG en 7th Heaven.
Drie jaar geleden werd hij nog genomineerd voor een Emmy Award voor zijn bijrol in de tv-serie ER.
Ernest Borgnine overleed zondag 8 juli op 95-jarige leeftijd.
His manager says Borgnine succumbed to renal failure at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Borgnine's career started in 1949 and he was still working last year.
He won his Oscar for playing the shy, title character in the 1955 film "Marty."
Borgnine had more than 200 film and TV credits, including "McHale's Navy" and "Spongebob Squarepants."
He was also one of the original stars on the game show, "The Hollywood Squares." funeral arrangements have not been disclosed.
In recent years, Ernest Borgnine could be seen as J. Edgar Hoover in Hoover (2000); opposite fellow Hollywood veteran Piper Laurie in Another Harvest Moon (2010); in the little-seen sci-fier Enemy Mind (2010); and in a small supporting role in Robert Schwentke’s sleeper hit Red (2010), as Henry, the Records Keeper.
Borgnine didn’t have a role in Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, but had his name associated with the movie after commenting that he hadn’t seen the Western-set gay love story up for the Best Picture Oscar, had no intention of seeing it, and "if John Wayne were alive, he’d be rolling over in his grave."
Ernest Borgnine television work: McHale’s Navy, Airwolf
On television, Borgnine is best known for the comedy series McHale’s Navy (1962-66), featuring Joe Flynn and Tim Conway. Another popular TV series was Airwolf (1984-86), co-starring Jan-Michael Vincent and Alex Cord. Also worth noting is that Borgnine provided the voice for the Mermaid Man in the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants.
Ernest Borgnine: acting for the ‘thumbsuckers’
"I always enjoyed working as an actor," Borgnine told the media backstage at the 2011 SAG Awards, where he was handed SAG’s Life Achievement Award. "… It’s been a thing of joy for me whenever I’m working."
Borgnine, for one, didn’t believe in method acting. "You gotta make people understand," he explained at the SAG Awards. "… There’s a lot of people in the world who are thumbsuckers. It’s wonderful. And you have their attention. The minute they take their thumb out, you’ve lost them. … You have to break it down to the lowest common denominator so the thumbsuckers are happy. Makes sense? I guess it does. It’s always worked for me, anyways. I’ve always been a thumbsucker myself."
Ernest Borgnine was both the oldest and the earliest Best Actor Oscar winner still alive. Now, the earliest Oscar winner in the Best Actor category is Judgment at Nuremberg‘s Maximilian Schell, who won for the year 1961 and who’ll turn 82 next December 8. Next in line are Sidney Poitier (1963), Gene Hackman (1971), Jack Nicholson (1975), Richard Dreyfuss (1977), Jon Voight (1978), and Dustin Hoffman (1979).