Here’s an article on Ernest Borgnine’s Life Achievement award, presented last night at the SAG Awards. His remarks show what a class act this man is.
Look up his list of credits, and if you don’t see a few of your favorite films on there, I’d be surprised. For me, it’s the Randolph Scotts, The Last Command (1955, seen above with Sterling Hayden), The Dirty Dozen (1967), The Wild Bunch (1969) and Emperor Of The North (1973).
I’m also proud to say that when my wife mentioned he’d received the award, my nine-year-old daughter knew exactly who he was: McHale.
I think he was a voice on Sponge Bob, too.
Borgnine is on SpongeBob as Mermaid Man and Tim Conway is his sidekick, Barnacle Boy.
They are a retired superhero team.
I think it’s marvellous to see EB still going strong. So many great parts it’s hard to say which one’s are favourites – The Wild Bunch, Bad Day at Black Rock and Jubal come to mind though.
How many people can stand on 60 years of film and TV history, and had the good fortune to be so good in so many movies? Not even Harry Carry Jr has a record this stunning. Borgnine kills me–whatever he’s taking, I wish I had some, or rather, I wish I’d started taking it decades ago. I wonder what went into Peckinpah’s thinking that he cast, of all people, Ernest Borgnine (and Edmond O’Brien) as the moral center of The Wild Bunch?
Has anybody seen I Briganti Italiani (1961)? Takes place in the mid-19th century, with Borgnine, Katy Jurado, Akim Tamiroff, Vittorio Gassman–described by one guy (IMDB) as essentially a Western. This might fit as a key proto-Spaghetti.
I have NOT seen I Briganti Italiani, but would love to. The weird transition from 50s Westerns to the spaghetti Westerns is fascinating.
Borgnine does indeed seem to be a force of nature. I’d dearly love to speak with him for my book.
I asked Alex Cox if he’d seen it, and he said no, but he admired the cast.