# 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:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/41 "2011-09-20T00:06:18Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > (Mary Louise Parker is so incredibly hot!) I know! I couldn’t believe how old she was when I compulsively did “research” on the cast. She was almost 50 when she made [iRed\*! Careful, people, she could collapse at any moment. Yes, she was smoking hot then, and that was the first thing I ever saw her on. I still have a raging semi just thinking about her. Meow, woman! ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/42 "2011-09-20T00:31:47Z")
Allow me to mention his role as the sadistic stockade Sergeant Fatso Judson in “From Here to Eternity”. Besides Borgnine, aren’t there a good number of “McHale’s Navy” actors still alive? Tim Conway, Bob Hastings, Gavin MacLeod. Carl Ballantine lived to 92. ---
**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 20, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/43 "2011-09-20T00:35:12Z")
> [@Jaledin](#): > > I know! I couldn’t believe how old she was when I compulsively did “research” on the cast. She was almost 50 when she made [iRed\*! Careful, people, she could collapse at any moment. Yes, she was smoking hot then, and that was the first thing I ever saw her on. I still have a raging semi just thinking about her. Meow, woman! She seems to get more and more beautiful the older she gets. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/44 "2011-09-20T00:35:43Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Allow me to mention his role as the sadistic stockade Sergeant Fatso Judson in “From Here to Eternity”. Or “Shack” in _Emperor Of The North_. Sometimes I think he might have overplayed the part a little, but scary as hell all the same. . ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/45 "2011-09-20T00:45:14Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > I jump up and down on the dead bodies of this thread! Calm yourself, NoClue. You’re gonna bust something. 🙂 ---
**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, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/46 "2011-09-20T00:51:59Z")
I loved him the Wild Bunch! And McHale’s Navy and Poseidon Adventure and Ice Station Zebra ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/47 "2011-09-20T00:55:16Z")
> [@Jaledin](#): > > I know! I couldn’t believe how old she was when I compulsively did “research” on the cast. She was almost 50 when she made [iRed\*! Careful, people, she could collapse at any moment. Yes, she was smoking hot then, and that was the first thing I ever saw her on. I still have a raging semi just thinking about her. Meow, woman! I am the first to agree that Mary Louise Parker is STUNNING, truly one of the most attractive celebrities I have ever seen, but apparently she just turned 46, not 50. Doesn’t really matter, I suppose; She will still be stopping traffic when she’s in her 70’s. (I saw her recently on Craig Ferguson’s show, and she seemed a bit aloof, but I don’t know if it was just her natural demeanor or something else…) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/48 "2011-09-20T06:19:15Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > [Click, if you really want to know](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I_PeLNzxNQ) Oh man, I’m gonna live to 1000. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/49 "2011-09-20T13:31:27Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > ". > > Besides Borgnine, aren’t there a good number of “McHale’s Navy” actors still alive? Tim Conway, Bob Hastings, Gavin MacLeod. Carl Ballantine lived to 92. Tim Conway, of course, is the voice of Mermaid Man’s sidekick, Barnacle Boy, on “SpongeBb Squarepants” cartoons. ---
**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:** [September 20, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/50 "2011-09-20T17:28:37Z")
[My autographed pic of him](https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/lehsai7iH01bWJcFmb3Csw?feat=directlink), from back in the day when I sent letters to every TV star I could think of. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/51 "2011-09-21T04:58:16Z")
I just remembered that I met Borgnine once, in a very unlikely context. It was in NYC, in the mid-60s, and there was a lecture about Objectivism in the Empire State Building. Borgnine was at the door, greeting people as they came in. I chatted with him for a few minutes. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/52 "2011-09-21T14:34:29Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. _Snap_ I know what it was… Bill Geist had a piece on it for CBS Sunday Morning awhile back. [The Taco Joint that loves Ernest Borgnine](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/14/nyregion/14metjournal.html) ---
**Author:** ![akrako1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@akrako1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akrako1)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/53 "2011-09-21T22:20:08Z")
Ernest holds a special place in my heart for his role as the cruel boss in Willard (1971). The scene were he gets his comeuppance is seared into my memory. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/54 "2011-09-21T22:33:12Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I mentioned in a recent thread that I saw him at Dragon\*Con (a huge sci-f/fantasy expo in Atlanta) over Labor Day weekend and he looks great. He’s 94 but was signing autographs, laughing with kids, and though he certainly looked old he looks like he has a few more miles on him, which was somehow reassuring. My girlfriend and I saw him there, too. He was a delight; it may have been the best panel we saw this year. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/55 "2011-09-22T00:51:44Z")
I remember seeing Ernie on a game show in the early 1980’s playing for charity. He kicked some major butt and was on for several days before someone finally beat him. Really smart guy and he won some good money for his charity. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2011, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/56 "2011-09-22T01:02:55Z")
The last movie I saw him in was _Red_, and it was one of those “He’s still alive?” moments. But he doesn’t look his age in it, and it is a great popcorn movie, very enjoyable. An excellent actor. ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/57 "2011-09-22T02:38:14Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > “Ma, sooner or later, there comes a point in a man’s life when he’s gotta face some facts. And one fact I gotta face is that… whatever it is women like, I ain’t got it.” > > He was absolutely, heartbreakingly perfect as Marty… a well-deserved Oscar. > > The fact that he was equally convincing as a shy, sad sack middle-aged butcher AND as a cutthroat in “The Wild Bunch” suggests he was a much more versatile actor than he gets credit for. I cry every time I watch Marty. His earnestness just cuts right to the bone. I would have fallen in love with him in a heartbeat. UT ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759/58 "2011-09-22T03:27:45Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > 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. Ernest Borgnine’s career is one of the ones I’d like to have if I were in show business. He’s just an all-around good guy. As for his motor home, I’ve read that he got a kick out of people’s reactions when they discovered who this guy really was they were chatting with on the CB radio. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-appreciation-of-ernest-borgnine/596759.md?page=2)