Ernie:. Ernest Borgnine
ERNIE
the autobiography
Ernest Borgnine
CITADEL PRESS
Kensington Publishing Corp.
www.kensingtonbooks.com
To my beloved mother and father, Anna and Charles Borgnine.
To Mom, who encouraged me when she said, “Have you thought of becoming an actor? You always like to make a fool of yourself in front of people. Why don’t you give acting a try?”
To Dad: You never stopped believing, even during the tough times at the beginning. God bless you both.
Contents
Foreword by George Lindsey
Preface
1. In the Beginning…
2.Welcome to America
3. Back Home
4. Connecticut Memories
5. A Little Family History
6. Borgnine’s Navy
7. Adventures at Sea
8. Home Again…but Not for Long
9. Postwar Blues
10. All the World Really Is a Stage
11. Escape to New York
12. Escape to L.A.
13. From Here to Eternity…and Beyond
14. Go West, Young Family
15. Good Day at Black Rock
16. Several Close Calls
17. Oscar and Me
18. A Piece of No Action
19. Talkin’ Pictures, Part One
20. Talkin’ Pictures, Part Two
21. Talkin’ Pictures, Part Three: Abroad
22. McHale’s Navy Is Launched
23. Everything’s Coming Up Roses—Not
24. The Fourth Estate
25. Back to the Big Screen
26. Back in the Saddle, Big-Time
27. Things Go Downhill for a While
28. Clowning Around
29. The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
30. Havin’ More Fun
31. Tova
32. This ’n’ That
33. Back in the Sandals Again
34. Sam Peckinpah Again…and Beyond
35. A Couple of Good Friends
36. Back to Work
37. Going Home to TV
38. And Now for Some Things Completely Different
39. More Special Folk
40. Dedicated to the Ones I Love
41. Odds and the End
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Ernest Borgnine is one of the Great Treasures of the entertainment world. He has done it all: Broadway, movies, television, stock. The whole works. And you can throw in an Academy Award! But I know him on a different level. A pal you can hang out with, play golf, go eat with, whatever. A best friend! A man who is passionate about life and is interested in just about everything you can think of and more than likely knows a lot about it. And when it comes to acting, well, you can forget that, he is the best.
He has done me a lot of favors and the most precious one is his friendship. He has sent me strange gifts and I in return to him. I have been trying to outgift him forever, but it is great to have a buddy that kinda thinks like you do.
But enough of this palaver. I could go on forever with all the things he has done for me, you, and just about everybody, but if I can steal a line from the movie, “What are you going to do tonight, Marty?” I’m going to read a great book. It’s called Ernie.
—George Lindsey
Preface
It’s Sunday night, January 13, 2008. Much to my delight, I’ve been nominated for a Golden Globe Award for my work in the Hallmark TV movie A Grandpa for Christmas.
I always get a little dreamy and reflective during awards ceremonies. Nominees always say, “Winning is nice, but it’s a thrill just to be nominated.” And outsiders think, Yeah, yeah, sure. But you really want to win.
Of course we do. However, it really is a thrill just to be nominated. Especially when you’re my age (ninety-one). And to be acting, still, after nearly sixty years—that’s a rare privilege.
So I’m sitting in my Beverly Hills home, the one I bought in 1965, watching the Golden Globes, looking at all the fresh young faces (to my eyes, sixty is fresh and young!), and thinking, If I were starting out today, what kind of parts would I be playing?
Given my size—five-foot-nine and hefty—chances are good I’d be offered roles like that big guy, the Thing, Michael Chiklis played in Fantastic Four. Or maybe that part John Travolta had in Hairspray. It’s been a long time since I played a role in a dress or a toga. Not that anyone has a webpage calling for more of Ernie Borgnine’s legs.
That’s what’s going through my mind as I’m tuned in to the Golden Globes. At the time—January 2008—the writer’s strike was on and, as a result, the Golden Globe Awards ceremony has been stripped down to an hour-long special where the winners are simply announced and clips are shown from all the nominated movies and shows. However, I look at the bright side—it saved me the trouble of having to dry-clean my tux.
The presenters applaud as winners are announced, and my mind continues to drift. Please don’t think I’m rude; I have to admit I don’t know a lot of the winners or the shows and movies for which they’re nominated. It’s tough to keep up with all the channels, movies, and DVDs that are out there. When I started out there were three TV networks, no such thing as home video, and just a few studios making far fewer movies.
A reporter asked me earlier in the day, “Mr. Borgnine, do you have any plans to retire?”
I answered, “Retire to what? To work in the garden? Drive my beloved wife Tova crazy? (Or should that be ‘crazier’?) Heck, no!”
A lot of what keeps me going is that old-fashioned work ethic I had pounded into me by my first-generation immigrant parents, bless them, when I was growing up in Connecticut.
Besides, I am an actor by profession and I love what I do.
Which brings me to this memoir. For years people have been telling me I should write my life story. I always respond, “I’m just a working stiff—who’d want to read about me?” That was my attitude for years.
When I became the oldest living actor to be nominated for a Golden Globe (not to mention being the oldest living actor to have won an Oscar), I had a change of heart. All modesty aside, why shouldn’t I write my life story?
I’ve had quite a run. And since I can still remember most of it, I want to share some of my favorite stories and memories, and maybe give some tips to actors who are just starting out. See, I’ve made some great pictures, some good pictures, some not-so-good pictures, and a few out-and-out stinkers. (I have the distinction of appearing in more