Bill Ingram

He spent ten years in the Navy, then his mother told him to try acting. He beat Frank Sinatra and James Dean for the Oscar. His name was Ernest Borgnine. Born Ermes Effron Borgnino on January 24, 1917, in Hamden, Connecticut. His parents were Italian immigrants. They separated when he was two. He spent several years of his childhood in Italy with his mother. After high school, he joined the Navy in October 1935. He was an apprentice seaman. He served aboard the destroyer USS Lamberton. He was discharged in October 1941. Then the United States entered World War II. He re-enlisted in January 1942. He served until September 1945. He rose to g*nner's mate first class. Ten years of service. He came home with no plan. He worked a few factory jobs. Then his mother said something he never forgot. His personality, she told him, would suit the stage. His father was far from thrilled. Ernest enrolled at the Randall School of Drama in Hartford anyway. He worked his way through theater and television. In 1953, he appeared in "From Here to Eternity." Then came "Marty." In 1955, he played a lonely, tender-hearted butcher. It won him the Academy Award for Best Actor. He beat Frank Sinatra. He beat James Dean. He beat Spencer Tracy and James Cagney. In 1962, he took on a role that drew on his own past. Quinton McHale, the skipper of "McHale's Navy." He credited the Navy with making a man out of him. His personal life was less steady. He married five times. One marriage, in 1964, was to Ethel Merman. It lasted 32 days. His fifth marriage, to Tova Traesnaes, lasted from 1973 until his death. In 1999, he took one more role. Mermaid Man on "SpongeBob SquarePants." He voiced him until 2012. Ernest Borgnine died on July 8, 2012, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 95. At his funeral were members of the Navy SEALs and old friends from Hollywood. A sailor who didn't know what came next. A mother's one sentence that gave him an Oscar and a second life.