Ernest Borgnine

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Nightmare Fuel? Who, me?

"Hey! Who stole my collection of used bandages? And they also got away with my nude pictures of Ernest Borgnine!" —George Carlin

Ernest Borgnine (1917-2012) had an acting career lasting over sixty years, starting in 1951. Before that he was in the US Navy for ten years.

His most famous film roles include the title character in Marty (for which he won an Oscar) and Sgt. Fatso Judson in From Here to Eternity.

His best-known role on TV amongst the younger set is Dominic Santini in Airwolf. Older fans know him better as the title character in the sitcom McHale's Navy.

Around here, though, he's perhaps best known for being the Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant in Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders, and in one of the all-time great triumphs of celebrity licensing, his daughter produces a tie-in coffee soda named "Borgnine's". The younger generation knows him best as the voice of Mermaid Man on SpongeBob SquarePants (and appeared as himself in an episode of The Simpsons, if that interests you.)

Ernest Borgnine has performed in the following roles:

• From Here to Eternity
• Demetrius and the Gladiators
• Bad Day at Black Rock
• Marty
• The Flight of the Phoenix
• The Dirty Dozen
• Ice Station Zebra
• The Wild Bunch
• The Poseidon Adventure
• Emperor of the North
• The Black Hole
• Super Fuzz
• Baseketball
• RED
• The Single Guy

Ernest Borgnine provides examples of the following tropes:

• The Cameo: Makes a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance (in a still photo) as one of the dozen or so actors who contribute something to the computer-generated actress Simone in S1m0ne. (The rest are all beautiful women.)
• Cool Old Guy
• Large Ham: Not always, but often enough to qualify.
  • EVIIIIIIL!
• Springtime for Hitler: Borgnine sometimes said he owed his career to one of these. Burt Lancaster and his business partner decided to produce Marty thinking the movie (which was based off of a popular telefilm) would lose money at the box office and they could use the expenses as a tax write-off, and they figured casting a fat, unattractive actor best known for playing heavies would ensure its demise. It ended up winning Borgnine the Best Actor Oscar (not to mention the movie itself winning Best Picture) and becoming one of the most profitable films of all time.