Ernest Borgnine dies aged 95

[malaise]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jul/09/ernest-borgnine-obituary?intcmp=239
<snip>
With his coarsely podgy features, bug eyes, gap teeth and stocky build, Ernest Borgnine, who has died aged 95 of renal failure, seemed destined to remain one of nature's supporting actors in a string of sadistic and menacing parts. Instead he won an Academy award for a role which was the antithesis of all his past characters.

In 1955, producer Harold Hecht wanted to transfer Paddy Chayefsky's teleplay Marty to the big screen, with Rod Steiger in the title role, which he had created. But Steiger was busy filming Oklahoma!. Borgnine was offered the role when, at a Hollywood reception, a woman guest quite disinterestedly remarked to Hecht that, ugly as he was, Borgnine possessed an oddly tender quality which made her yearn to mother him. "That," Hecht said later, "is when I decided to give him the part."

Marty, a 34-year-old butcher from the Bronx, meets a plain schoolteacher at a Saturday night dance. They are drawn together by their fears of rejection and loneliness. One of the first films to bring new naturalism, new talent and new life to Hollywood from TV, Marty was known in the trade as a "sleeper", a film that, without any obvious box-office appeal, becomes a hit. It won four Oscars – best director (Delbert Mann), best film, best screenplay and best actor.

Borgnine also won best actor at Cannes, the New York Film Critics' award, and Nation Board of Review award, as well as being voted man of the year by the butchers of America. The decidedly unalluring actor had had the good fortune to encounter a role made to measure for his particular talents and physique. Though no finer part ever came his way, he was at least grateful to no longer to be automatically cast as a heavy. In fact, it was as a comic character, in the popular TV series McHale's Navy (1962-65), that he was to make his most enduring impression on the American public.
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R.I.P. Ernest Borgnine and thanks for the memories

[thelordofhell]

1. R.I.P. Mermaid Man

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[napkinz]

2. Kick

nt

[dogknob]

3. Damn. Looks like I will have to honor that suicide pact I made with him now.

Goodbye everyone.

[malaise]

4. No

He won't know