Ernest Borgnine died Sunday at the age of 95. He became famous playing the film version of “Marty”, an unpretty man finding love with an unpretty woman (Betsy Blair), with a decency and tenderness that still disarms a modern viewer. He won the best actor Oscar for it, beating Frank Sinatra, James Dean, Spencer Tracey and Jimmy Cagney.
He went on to play heavies, leads, breakthrough character parts and more on film and on television. Many of us remember him as PT boat skipper Quinton McHale in “McHale’s Navy” (1962 to 1966), benignly leading a crew of misfits and malcontents in one long wartime luau. He was in films like The Poseidon Adventure, The Vikings, The Devil’s Rain and many more.
Never one to retire, Borgnine worked right up to this year.
