# Ernest Borgnine dead at 95 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 8, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632 "2012-07-08T21:24:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/21 "2012-07-09T01:33:12Z")
Late this afternoon I decided that it’s high time that I watch and delete the bunch of movies I saved from TMC during Oscar month. Out of the dozen or so, for no particular reason I picked Marty. It wasn’t until after I’d watched it that I learned that he’d passed on. It really is a beautiful performance. 95 years is a good run. I hope he rests in peace. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/22 "2012-07-09T02:51:42Z")
Bornine said that he was confident there was no way in hell he was going to win for “Best Actor.” He said he had made a bet (something like two bucks in pennies) with Jerry Lewis that he would pay him if he won. When he did win, you can seem him handing something to Lewis before he accepts the Oscar, presumably the money he had bet. Borgnire related this anecdote in an obscure little video called [Ernest Borgnine on the Bus](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413990/). Actually, it’s not a bus, but his motorhome. No plot to the video, more of a documentary-style video showing that Borgnine earned enough money that he doesn’t have to work, and when he’s not working he just hits the road in his motorhome and travels around meeting people and just enjoying the hell out of himself in what for a lot of people would be quiet retirement. Well, also the fact that his wife has done quite well with her cosmetics line ensures that he doesn’t _have_ to work. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/23 "2012-07-09T03:09:48Z")
I still have the autographed McHale photo he sent me back in the 60s. It’s funny and kind of cool that the Oscar winner from \*Marty \*went on to become a beloved Sponge Bob character. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/24 "2012-07-09T04:46:27Z")
It’s sad to hear that he’s gone but no one’s immortal. ☹ It seems he discovered the secret to a long healthy life - keep active. He played the “bad guy” early in his career (“From Here To Eternity”, “Bad Day At Black Rock”, etc) but I always thought he was best as a likable, friendly character. Wow Ernest Borgnine made it to 95 years old. That’s 3 billion seconds. RIP Ernie ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/25 "2012-07-09T05:02:10Z")
Nobody rides Shack’s train. Now, alas, not even Shack. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/26 "2012-07-09T14:09:01Z")
He’s in heaven now fighting…EEEEVVVVVVIIIIILLLLLLL! ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/27 "2012-07-09T15:58:02Z")
I have a good friend who worked on the set of the fairly recent film RED, and Ernest Borgnine was in the cast. After the shoot, he told me that Borgnine was a genuinely nice, and really funny, guy that everyone on the film liked to hang around with and listen to his great stories. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/28 "2012-07-09T16:01:33Z")
First Andy Griffith, now Ernest Borgnine. There aren’t many left who could be the third in that group. Hang in there, Kirk Douglas and Doris Day! ETA: And Ann B. Davis! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/29 "2012-07-09T16:22:34Z")
[QUOTE=Tom Tildrum;] ETA: And Ann B. Davis! [/QUOTE] Did she die also? Or is she in the “hang in there” category? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/30 "2012-07-09T17:52:55Z")
There was one character he played that I puzzled over: Vaslov in “Ice Station Zebra.” His Russian spy character looked and sounded closer to French (to me, anyway), and I just didn’t think he pulled it off. But one nitpick in a career like his–I’d say that’s a pretty good run. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/31 "2012-07-09T18:08:18Z")
The man was super, duper lucid until the end. I mean, he looked vibrant, sharp, with it, young, hearty, alert. At 95, to be that with it is what’s up. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/32 "2012-07-09T18:18:50Z")
I wonder if the Spongebob show will address this in any way, or if they will just replace Borgnine’s voice with someone similar so the Mermaid Man character can carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/33 "2012-07-09T19:27:36Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > The man was super, duper lucid until the end. I mean, he looked vibrant, sharp, with it, young, hearty, alert. At 95, to be that with it is what’s up. Exactly. Borgnine looked like a man who has smiled and laughed a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/34 "2012-07-09T20:25:05Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Did she die also? Or is she in the “hang in there” category? Still with us! ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/35 "2012-07-09T22:22:57Z")
I, too, am sorry to see him go . No love for Dutch Engstrom in “The Wild Bunch??” ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/36 "2012-07-09T23:57:03Z")
I always like to say he only got better looking as he aged! Damned homely when younger, but turned into a cute old man! As a character actor, he brought a lot to the movies, I wonder if we’ll ever see his like again. (and he marched in an annual Milwaukee clown parade for 20 years!) RIP, Ernie. ---
**Author:** ![oreally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ab992/32.png) [@oreally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oreally)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/37 "2012-07-10T00:27:01Z")
I liked him in Poseidon Adventure too. A rather hokey movie made good by a surprising wealth of talent (him, Roddie McDowell, the list goes on), best of all IMO Borgnine. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/38 "2012-07-10T01:40:49Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I wonder if the Spongebob show will address this in any way, or if they will just replace Borgnine’s voice with someone similar so the Mermaid Man character can carry on. I hope the latter. It’s a kid’s show, after all, and most kids probably don’t know what he looked like off camera. For somebody I never talked to and didn’t know personally (seeing him sign autographs is as close as I came and that’s not very), I’m going to miss him. I’m 45 and he’s always been in TV and movies and always sounded exactly the same and aged way better than most other actors (much better than his Val Halla roadtrip buddy Andy Griffith, for instance, who has looked ancient for years). It’s not anything like losing a friend or a close family member or a dog or the like, but there is a sense of loss. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/39 "2012-07-10T04:53:09Z")
Since someone mentioned Ernest Borgnine’s character, Dutch Engstrom from the “Wild Bunch”, I think Ernie delivered the most memorable line from that movie when he is speaking to William Holden (Pike Bishop): Pike Bishop: What would you do in his place? He gave his word. Dutch Engstrom: He gave his word to a railroad. Pike Bishop: It’s his word. Dutch Engstrom: That ain’t what counts! It’s who you give it _to_! ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632/40 "2012-07-10T05:13:10Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I hope the latter. It’s a kid’s show, after all, and most kids probably don’t know what he looked like off camera. They’ll probably do something. I know they did an “In Memory of Pat Morita” when he died, at the end of the episode he was featured in (“Karate Island”), and he only did the one episode. The episode first aired 6 months after he died. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ernest-borgnine-dead-at-95/627632.md?page=3)