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When he was 2, his parents separated. Borgnine moved to Italy with his mother (whom he later suspected had dramatic aspirations she felt she couldn’t pursue because she was raised in an upper- class family). When he was 5, the family reunited in Connecticut, where his life was decidedly more middle-class. Aſter he graduated high school in 1935, and finding that factory work and driving a vegetable truck didn’t suit him, Borgnine enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He was discharged in October 1941, but a few months later, when the United States entered World War II, he re-enlisted and served until 1945, rising to the rank of gunner’s mate first class. Following his final discharge, and his continued inability to find any other line of work that didn’t feel constrictive to him, Borgnine had a heart-to-heart with his mother. He recounted the conversation in his bestselling autobiography, Ernie (and again for his Screen Actor interview). “Son,” she said, “have you ever thought of becoming an actor? You always like to make a damn fool of yourself…Why don’t you give it a try?” With funds from the G.I. Bill, he enrolled in the Randall School of Dramatic Arts in Hartford, but soon became restless to launch a career. He would go on to hone his craſt at the famed Barter Teatre in Abington, Va., which counts such famous alumni as Gregory Peck, Hume Cronyn, Ned Beatty, Kevin Spacey and Frances Fisher. But Borgnine would first have to start there as a scenery painter and stagehand. His initial role at Barter came as a union leader, with no lines, in State of the Union. He was at first disappointed at the relatively inconsequential part, but he made the most of it: “I went to wardrobe and got myself a coat with a vest. I got a cigar, and when they told me to walk, I put the cigar in my mouth and I walked across the stage with my finger in my vest. Let me tell you something: I never felt as alive as I did when I walked from the wings and those bright lights hit me. Despite what they show you in the movies, you can’t see more than a row or two into a theater. But you sure can feel everyone out there. You can feel them watching you, and that magnifies every nerve in your body, every sense you have. You feel alive at a level that renews itself from second to second. It just doesn’t get any better than that.” A local critic who reviewed the production said the only actor in the show who made an impression on her was Borgnine. Te budding talent eventually got a shot at acting in numerous classics for Barter. He even traveled with the company to entertain U.S. servicemen in Germany and Denmark in the role of Guildenstern in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. But his big break came in 1949, when he won the role of the hospital attendant in a Broadway production of Harvey. During the ’50s, he performed frequently on such Golden Age of Television masterworks as G.E. Teatre and Philco Playhouse and parlayed his success into big screen roles. He made his motion picture debut in Te Whistle at Eaton Falls. But the role that got the public’s attention was his portrayal of the vicious Sgt. “Fatso” Judson, who beat Frank Sinatra’s Maggio to a pulpy death in the Oscar-winning 1953 film From Here to Eternity. He was subsequently memorable as one of the thugs who threatened a one- armed Spencer Tracy in Bad Day at Black Rock, then did a 180-degree turn in 1955, starring for director Delbert Mann and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky as the title character in what was to be the year’s best picture Oscar winner, Marty. His touching performance as the lonely butcher won Borgnine an Academy Award, a BAFTA and a Golden Globe. A staggering catalog of other motion feel it, too, you’re doing what an actor is supposed to do. What a person should do.” But despite his significant film work, it was the 1962-66 TV comedy McHale’s Navy that would cement his presence as a household name and earn Borgnine his first Emmy nomination in 1963. Te Television Academy would nominate him again in 1980 for his portrait of World War I soldier Stanislaus Katczinsky in the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of All Quiet on the Western Front and once more just last year for his guest role as a devoted husband coming to terms with his wife’s imminent death in the final episode of ER. Borgnine was also the recipient of a Daytime Emmy nomination in 1999 for his voice work as Carface in the animated All Dogs Go to Heaven: Te Series. Tat same year, he began his continuing run as the voice of semi-retired aquatic superhero Mermaid Man in the Nickelodeon hit SpongeBob SquarePants, bringing him a whole new legion of fans. During a recent press opportunity for the film RED, released in October, “I never felt as alive as I did when…those bright lights hit me.” picture work includes such classics as Johnny Guitar, Vera Cruz, Te Catered Affair, Te Greatest, Te Dirty Dozen, Te Wild Bunch and Te Poseidon Adventure. While filming Flight of the Phoenix (starring another Life Achievement recipient, Jimmy Stewart), Borgnine’s performance brought director Robert Aldrich to tears. “I believe in showing emotions, showing that you have a heart,” Borgnine said. “I cried doing that scene in the movie because that’s how I felt. When your audience —which includes your director— SAG.org Borgnine said he was once asked to give an impromptu hello to a group of young schoolgirls. “I said, ‘How many of you have seen my movies?’ And all these little girls turned around and looked at me…. Zilch…! Nothing...! I said, ‘How many of you know SpongeBob?’” Teir response, of course, was an overwhelming “YES!” “I said, ‘Well, I happen to be Mermaid Man!’” Te little girls were delighted. Borgnine, his eyes dancing, couldn’t help but show his own delight in relating the story. “Now today I’m known from little kids to real old, old people. And it’s a joy, really, to say ‘Hi, I’m Ernest Borgnine. How are you?’” Continues on next page Fall/Winter 2010 - SCREEN ACTOR 51