# In appreciation of Ernest Borgnine **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 18, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759 "2011-09-18T23:44:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/21 "2011-09-19T08:09:51Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Billions now living shall never die. Or, at least we’ll live into our 90’s. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/22 "2011-09-19T13:17:15Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > [Click, if you really want to know](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I_PeLNzxNQ) For some reason, I thought that happened on The View. ---
**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:** [September 19, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/23 "2011-09-19T13:17:17Z")
There’s 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:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/24 "2011-09-19T14:12:36Z")
I met him at the Great Circus Parade in Milwaukee in 1993 - I was in Navy boot camp at the time and my unit was there to march in the parade carrying state flags. Borgnine was the Grand Clown of the parade, and made a beeline for us. He made sure he shook every sailor’s hand, and explained how he had been in the Navy for ten years right through WWII. We didn’t realize until afterward it was him - this was before the parade started and he had full clown makeup on. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/25 "2011-09-19T16:03:23Z")
He said in his book that he’s marched in this clown parade every year. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/26 "2011-09-19T16:26:21Z")
I wonder if the reason his character on _Spongebob_ is called Mermaid Man is because he wouldn’t do the voice of Mer-Man due to his 12 minute marriage to Ethel. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/27 "2011-09-19T17:00:21Z")
Bruce Campbell glows about Borgnine in his book If Chins Could Kill. Campbell got to know him on the set of the horrible McHale’s Navy movie with Tom Arnold. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/28 "2011-09-19T17:15:22Z")
He often played the character who would turn against the good guys and do something selfish that would result in his death. He was not a bad guy, but a selfish good guy who turned against his friends when he went yellow. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/29 "2011-09-19T18:11:02Z")
Also, his daughter with Ethel Merman, Varla Jean Merman, is one of my favorite drag queens! ---
**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:** [September 19, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/30 "2011-09-19T18:35:12Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > [Click, if you really want to know](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I_PeLNzxNQ) Possibly NSFW. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/31 "2011-09-19T18:54:13Z")
Was there some show that hyped up the fact he was a regular there and always had a seat reserved for him or something like that? It’s in my mind… but only vaguely. He was a real asshole in **Bad Day at Black Rock** with Spencer Tracy or, in other words, yet again he played the part to perfection. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/32 "2011-09-19T18:59:13Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Also, his daughter with Ethel Merman, Varla Jean Merman, is one of my favorite drag queens! LOVE Varla Jean! In or out of makeup. (Actually, Jeffery Roberson is HAWT!) ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/33 "2011-09-19T21:28:05Z")
TCM is advertising that he is going to be on their Classic Movie Cruise. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/34 "2011-09-19T21:46:27Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Also, his daughter with Ethel Merman, Varla Jean Merman, is one of my favorite drag queens! “My mother always said ‘Our feelings are like our treasures, so bury them!’” ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/35 "2011-09-19T21:59:33Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Also, his daughter with Ethel Merman, Varla Jean Merman, is one of my favorite drag queens! :eek: OMG, I thought, WHAT daughter with Ethen Merman??? I thought you were serious!!! Beautiful drag queen, though, looks a lot like Evan Rachel Wood. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/36 "2011-09-19T22:04:14Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > :eek: OMG, I thought, WHAT daughter with Ethen Merman??? I thought you were serious!!! Beautiful drag queen, though, looks a lot like Evan Rachel Wood. If you have a taste for campy, filthy humor, rent “Girls Will Be Girls” from Netflix or somewhere and enjoy. Varla Jean is in it, along with Coco Peru and Evie Harris. It is fabulous! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/37 "2011-09-19T22:21:13Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > If you have a taste for campy, filthy humor, rent “Girls Will Be Girls” from Netflix or somewhere and enjoy. Varla Jean is in it, along with Coco Peru and Evie Harris. It is fabulous! If you’re like me [your days are too jam packed](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aVgk-ZNBoo)to watch it. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/38 "2011-09-19T23:49:27Z")
I just watched Red. Good flick (Mary Louise Parker is so incredibly hot!) I can’t believe Ernest Borgnine is his age; he looks like he’s in his 70s, tops, and still has that sparkle to his eyes. And I see he has 2 movies coming up on IMDb. I still think permanent retirement just kills you. Stay working and your body keeps living. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/39 "2011-09-20T00:02:40Z")
And keep spanking it, Ernie. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/40 "2011-09-20T00:04:52Z")
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