I doubt that too many on the forum will remember much about him, because he hasn't been on the screen much for years. I generally don't pay too much attention to Hollywood deaths, but this man was one of my favorite character actors. Even when playing a supporting role, he tended to stand out, and so remains in my memory.
Gifted actor Ernest Borgnine died Sunday at age 95 (playBill blog by William Kerns) | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Maybe the yournger crowd on this forum might know him better as the voice of Mermaid Man on Spongebob Squarepants.
To me, he will always be remembered as Cmdr McHale from the McHale's Navy TV show from the 60's.
The man had an acting career that spanned 61 years, from 1951 thru 2012.
Yes, McHales Navy wasn't one of my favorite shows, but I do have the complete series in my collection. As far as Spongebob goes...I never watched it.
Slowly but surely the actors and actresses I grew up watching in the movies and on television are passing away. Ernest Borgnine was always one of my favorites.
He was in some of the old westerns when he first started out back in the 50s. About a week ago I saw an appearance by Kirk Douglas also 95yrs. old on a cable series that airs weekly.
Besides SpongeBob Ernest Borgnine had also costarred in the 80s series Airwolf as one of the later acting roles he had since McHales Navy sitcom airing back in the 60s. Some additional information on him naming his various roles can be looked over in the MSN Movie News page. Oscar-winning film star Ernest Borgnine dies
Ernest made a mediocre show, Airwolf, worth watching.
This was one of his best.> From Here to Eternity (1953) - IMDb
Movie is good but his performance was amazing. Especially for 1953.
He was always the "likeable" type in whatever role he played. He wasn't simply a talking robot onscreen but gave off a personality. That's what gave him the flexibility to act in many role types.
The MSN page also shows another favorite from the 50s-60s time frame who just passed away lately as well. Ron Howard leads tributes to late co-star Andy Griffith
Ron Howard was only a little guy when the Andy Griffith show aired way back when! You're literally talking a half century ago plus a few!
RIP Ernest.
I was a big fan of Airwolf (and also Knight Rider with the talking Pontiac Trans Am, KITT) and he's a major contributer to why I kept on coming back to the show again and again, even as the plotlines started becoming more ridiculous in the later seasons...
He wasn't one of the actors in the Knight Rider series. He was the copilot with Jan Michael Vincent in Airwolf who played String.
The one thing for sure about E.B. however is you never saw him placed in any lame role! Too often you might see a big name stuffed into some lame script at times while that was never his misfortune.
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