Veteran American film and television actor Ernest Borgnine died on the 8th of July, 2012 after 6 decades in the business. He was 92 years old.

He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, winning an Oscar in 1955 for Marty. On television, he played Quinton McHale in the 1962–1966 series McHale’s Navy and co-starred in the mid-1980s action series Airwolf, in addition to a wide variety of other roles. Borgnine was also known for his role as Mermaid Man in the animated television series Spongebob Squarepants. Borgnine earned an Emmy Award nomination at age 92 for his work on the series ER.

Borgnine was born Ermes Effron Borgnino in 1917 in Hamden, Connecticut, the son of Italian immigrants. Borgnine joined the United States Navy in 1935, after graduation. He was discharged in 1941, re-enlisted after Pearl Harbor, and served until 1945. After joining the stage he gave movies a try. In Hollywood he eventually received his big break in From Here to Eternity (1953), playing the sadistic Sergeant “Fatso” Judson, who beats a stockade prisoner in his charge, Angelo Maggio (played by Frank Sinatra). Borgnine built a reputation as a dependable character actor and appeared in early film roles as villains, including movies like Johnny Guitar, Vera Cruz and Bad Day at Black Rock. But in 1955, the actor starred as a warm-hearted butcher in Marty, the film version of the television play of the same name, which gained him an Academy Award for Best Actor. In 1962  he signed on for lead role as the gruff but lovable skipper Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale in McHale’s Navy.

One of the last movies I remember seeing him was in 1998’s Baseketball. Borgnine was married 5 times and has 1 son & 3 daughters.

Ernest Borgnine ( January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012)