RIP Ernest Borgnine

Hollywood lost a good one a few days ago and he was one of the best character actors around.  After serving in the U.S. Navy in the Second World War, Ernest Borgnine made the move into television and then film, forging out a six decade long career as a widely liked and respected character actor.

 In 1955 he starred in "Marty" in which he played a lovelorn butcher, a performance that won him the Best Actor Oscar over the likes of James Cagney, James Dean, Frank Sinatra and Spencer Tracy.
He worked with filmmaker Sam Peckinpah on both the infamous western "The Wild Bunch" and the trucker fugitive movie "Convoy". Other memorable turns include a bullying train conductor in "Emperor of the North Pole", Russian defector Boris Vaslov in the Alistair MacLean adaptation "Ice Station Zebra", and a loveable cab driver in a city of criminals and one of my favorites in John Carpenter's "Escape from New York".

He was also a passenger on "The Poseidon Adventure", an Army Major General in "The Dirty Dozen", and the feared Viking warrior Ragnar in "The Vikings".
Borgnine also forged out a highly successful small screen career, most notably playing Quinton McHale in legendary 60's sitcom "McHale's Navy" for four seasons. He also played helicopter pilot Dominic Santini in the mid-80's series "Airwolf", and as the Doorman in NBC's mishandled "The Single Guy".

Thanks for your service and your fine work sir.