Ernest Borgnine: The Stuff Legends Are Made Of

After 56 years in the movie and TV business, you’d think that Ernest Borgnine, 90, would be happy to hang out at the country club and tell stories about his long and successful career. Not so, and maybe that’s why the Academy Award-winning actor is still going strong.

On Nov. 24, he’ll star in A Grandpa for Christmas, a Hallmark Channel movie co-starring Jamie Farr and Katherine Helmond, two actors who’ve also earned a place in TV history. Borgnine plays Bert O’Riley, a song-and-dance man who must care for a 9-year-old granddaughter he never knew he had after his estranged daughter is injured in a car accident. Yep, it’s the heartwarming stuff Hallmark Movies are made of.

The troubled young starlets littering Rodeo Drive should look to Borgnine, who’s been steadily working in the industry for the past five decades. Notable movies include From Here to Eternity (1953), McHale’s Navy (1964), The Wild Bunch (1969), and The Poseidon Adventure (1972).

On TV, he’s acted in more than 70 shows, from McHale’s Navy (1960’s) to Airwolf (1980’s) to voicing the part of Mermaid Man in Spongebob Squarepants for the past five years.

On his IMDB page, Borgnine is quoted as saying, “Where can we find the great actors we had yesteryear, guys like Spencer Tracy and Gary Cooper and Edward G. Robinson? You know, I was talking to Lee Marvin the other day and we agreed that we were the last of a breed. We're the last who had the opportunity of working with these fine actors. I feel very humble. It makes me feel that I've got to try that bit harder.”

Borgnine has two movies scheduled for release in 2008: Another Harvest Moon and Chinaman’s Chance.