It seems I’ve always been aware of Ernest Borgnine. I can remember watching re-runs of “McHale’s Navy” after school as a child. And being half-Italian I discovered his Oscar-winning performance in the title role of 1955’s “Marty”, watching it many times over the years with family and friends. Borgnine beat out James Cagney, James Dean, Frank Sinatra and Spencer Tracy for the Oscar that year. It’s a performance that has stuck with me as I forayed into the acting field myself typically cast in the same kind of roles on local stages as was Borgnine.
Then, one night when I was a teen I remember watching the late-late show and seeing Borgnine play a sadistic depression-era train engineer opposite Lee Marvin in director, Robert Aldrich’s “Emperor of the North Pole (1972)”. It’s a larger-than life performance by Borgnine in a film that has garnered a legion of fans and train aficionados through the years.
As I got more and more into movies throughout my life I started seeing more of Borgnine’s work in such classics as “From Here To Eternity (1953)”, “Bad Day At Black Rock (1955)“, “Dirty Dozen (1967)” and “The Wild Bunch (1969).” All memorable supporting roles for sure, but there were also other lesser known efforts that were just as worthy. In particular the 1956 film “The Catered Affair” also starring Bette Davis. The film recently had a short-lived revival as a musical on Broadway, which tells the story of a Bronx cabbie, originally played by Borgnine who along with his wife, Davis struggle to pay for the wedding of their daughter, played by Debbie Reynolds. Borgnine and Davis make a great pair, and would team up again 15 years later in the laughably bad, “Bunny O’Hare (1971).
“The Poseidon Adventure” wasn’t the only disaster-themed film of Borgnines, he starred opposite Jimmy Stewart in the 1965 airplane crash film, “The Flight of the Phoenix.” Again another film, like “Poseidon”, and “Willard (1971)” which also enjoyed remakes in recent years. In fact another redo of a Borgine favorite of mine, “John Carpenter’s Escape From New York (1981)” will hit movie theaters next year.
Many of Borgnine’s films over the years have achieved cult status. Horror & Sci-Fi films like “The Devil’s Rain (1975)”, “The Black Hole (1979)”, “Deadly Blessing (1981) ” and the aforementioned “Willard.” But there were also dark comedies like “Law and Disorder” from 1974 which costarred Carol O’Connor who along with Borgnine play auxiliary neighborhood cops in New York city with disastrous results.
To try to mention each and every Borgnine film would be futile, he appeared in over 100 films and TV programs. One of my favorite small screen efforts of his was the 1977 mini-series, “Jesus Of Nazareth” in which Borgnine played a centurion. It’s a heartfelt performance and a more subtle one than we are used to from Borgnine in that period. Another fine work of Borgnine's that received very little notice was in director Sean Penn's segment "USA" in the controversial 2002 film "11'09"01." Borgnine plays a widower and shut-in whose life changes from one of darkness to light following the collapse of the twin-towers. It's a medaphoric look at life before and after 9/11 and handled brilliantly by Borgnine.
Ernest Borgnine worked right up until the end, his final appearance was in last year’s “Red” starring Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman. Along the way when he wasn’t making film classics or cult favorite’s he supplied voice-overs for everything from “The Simpsons” to “SpongeBob SquarePants!” And if you can get a hold of a copy of the 1997 documentary, “Ernest Borgnine On The Bus”, a hysterical look at the movie star driving across country in an RV, it’s an absolute treasure.
In the end Ernest Borgnine proved to be one of Hollywood’s most unlikely stars. His average looks and gap-toothed grin were not what we think of when we think “leading-man.” Yet, as “Marty Piletti”, a Brooklyn butcher he won the hearts of Americans and audiences around the world and began a 60 year career as one of Hollywood’s most reliable performers.
Ernest Borgnine Movies
