Oscar Winning Actor Ernest Borgnine Dead at 95

Ernest Borgnine (born Ermes Effron Borgnino; January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012) was an American film and television actor whose career spanned more than six decades. 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.

Ermes Efron Borgnino was born in Hamden, Connecticut, on 24 January 1917, the son of Italian immigrant parents. For five years from the age of two, he and his family lived in Milan before returning to the US. He joined the US Navy in 1935 and served on a destroyer during the war. He weighed 135 pounds (61 kilograms) when he enlisted. He left the Navy 10 years later, weighing exactly 100 pounds (45 kilograms) more.
For a time he contemplated taking a job with an air conditioning company but his mother persuaded him to enroll at the Randall School of Dramatic Arts in Hartford, Connecticut. Over the course of four months he received his only formal training.

Borgnine died of renal failure on July 8, 2012, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. His wife and children were at his side. He was 95 years old.

I remember him best for his role Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale in McHale’s Navy.  As a kid I loved that show and even now I still laugh at antics of the insubordinate crew of PT-73.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Ernest‘s family and friends during this difficult time.