Academy Award-winner Ernest Borgnine dies at 95

Published: 17:52 EDT, 8 July 2012 | Updated: 09:15 EDT, 9 July 2012

Oscar-winning actor Ernest Borgnine has died of renal failure, aged 95.

The beefy screen star, known for playing the villain, passed away at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with his wife and children at his side.

The actor, who endeared himself to a generation of Baby Boomers with the 1960s TV comedy 'McHale's Navy', first attracted notice in the early 1950s in villain roles, notably as the vicious Fatso Judson, who beat Frank Sinatra to death in 'From Here to Eternity.'

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The Oscar-winner died of renal failure on July 8

But he won the best-actor Oscar in 1955 for playing against type as a lovesick butcher in 'Marty'.

In the low-budget film based on a Paddy Chayefsky television play that starred Rod Steiger, Mr Borgnine played a 34-year-old who fears he is so unattractive he will never find romance. Then, at a dance, he meets a girl with the same fear.

'Sooner or later, there comes a point in a man's life when he's gotta face some facts,' Marty movingly tells his mother at one point in the film.

Villain: Mr Borgnine, pictured right with Grace Kelly in 1956, was known for playing villainous characters

'And one fact I gotta face is that, whatever it is that women like, I ain't got it. I chased after enough girls in my life. I-I went to enough dances. I got hurt enough. I don't wanna get hurt no more.'

The realism of Chayefsky's prose and Delbert Mann's sensitive direction astonished audiences accustomed to happy Hollywood formulas.

Actor Ernest Borgnine, who has died aged 95, proved that you did not have to have orthodox looks to get the girl

Mr Borgnine won the Oscar and awards from the Cannes Film Festival, New York Critics and National Board of Review.

Mann and Chayefsky also won Oscars, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hailed the $360,000 'Marty' as best picture over big-budget contenders 'The Rose Tattoo,' 'Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing,' 'Picnic' and 'Mister Roberts'.

'The Oscar made me a star, and I'm grateful,' Mr Borgnine told an interviewer in 1966.

'But I feel had I not won the Oscar I wouldn't have gotten into the messes I did in my personal life.'

Those messes included four failed marriages, including one in 1964 to singer Ethel Merman that lasted less than six weeks.

But Mr Borgnine's fifth marriage, in 1973 to Norwegian-born Tova Traesnaes, endured and brought with it an interesting business partnership.

She manufactured and sold her own beauty products under the name of Tova and used her husband's rejuvenated face in her ads.

During a 2007 interview with The Associated Press, Mr Borgnine expressed delight that their union had reached 34 years.

'That's longer than the total of my four other marriages,' he commented, laughing heartily.

Beefy: The actor, pictured in 1963 in a scene for ABC-TV's 'McHale's Navy' was married five times

Although still not a marquee star until after 'Marty,' the roles of heavies started coming regularly after 'From Here to Eternity.'

Among the films were 'Bad Day at Black Rock,' 'Johnny Guitar,' 'Demetrius and the Gladiators,' and 'Vera Cruz.'

Director Nick Ray told the actor to 'get out of Hollywood in two years or you'll be typed forever.' Then came the Oscar, and Mr Borgnine's career was assured.

Ernest Borgnine, pictured in 1969 in front of his Hollywood home, won an Academy Award for Marty in 1955

He played a sensitive role opposite Bette Davis in another film based on a Chayefsky TV drama, 'The Catered Affair,' a film that was a personal favourite.

It concerned a New York taxi driver and his wife who argued over the expense of their daughter's wedding.

But producers also continued casting Mr Borgnine in action films such as 'Three Bad Men,' 'The Vikings,' 'Torpedo Run,' 'Barabbas,' 'The Dirty Dozen' and 'The Wild Bunch.'

Then he successfully made the transition to TV comedy.

Lifetime achievement: Mr Borgnine, pictured in 2011, was given a Lifetime Achievement award at the 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards

From 1962 to 1966, Mr Borgnine - a Navy vet himself - starred in 'McHale's Navy' as the commander of a World War II PT boat with a crew of misfits and malcontents.

Obviously patterned after Phil Silvers' popular Sgt. Bilko, McHale was a con artist forever tricking his superior, Capt. Binghamton, played by the late Joe Flynn.

The cast took the show to the big screen in 1964 with a 'McHale's Navy' movie.

Mr Borgnine's later films included 'Ice Station Zebra,' 'The Adventurers,' 'Willard,' 'The Poseidon Adventure,' 'The Greatest' where he played Muhammad Ali's manager, 'Convoy,' 'Ravagers,' 'Escape from New York,' 'Moving Target' and 'Mistress.'

Revered: The star, pictured in 2008, first attracted notice in villain roles, notably as the vicious Fatso Judson, who beat Frank Sinatra to death in 'From Here to Eternity'

More recently, Mr Borgnine had a recurring role as the apartment house doorman-cum-chef in the NBC sitcom 'The Single Guy.'

He had a small role in the unsuccessful 1997 movie version of 'McHale's Navy.' And he was the voice of Mermaid Man on 'SpongeBob SquarePants' and Carface on 'All Dogs Go to Heaven 2.'

'I don't care whether a role is 10 minutes long or two hours,' he remarked in 1973. 'And I don't care whether my name is up there on top, either.

'Matter of fact, I'd rather have someone else get top billing; then if the picture bombs, he gets the blame, not me.'

Multiple wives: Ernest Borgnine, pictured in 1980 with fifth wife, Tova, had four failed marriages

Hard worker: Mr Borgnine, pictured in 1973, wanted to keep acting well into old age

Ermes Efron Borgnino was born in Hamden, Connecticut, on January 24, 1917, the son of Italian immigrant parents. The family lived in Milan when the boy was two to seven, then returned to Connecticut, where he attended school in New Haven.

Mr Borgnine joined the Navy in 1935 and served on a destroyer during World War II. He weighed 135 pounds when he enlisted. He left the Navy 10 years later, weighing exactly 100 pounds more.

'I wouldn't trade those 10 years for anything,' he said in 1956. 'The Navy taught me a lot of things. It molded me as a man, and I made a lot of wonderful friends.'

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. He stayed four months, the only formal training he received.

The star married Tova, 24 years his junior, in 1973. The couple (seen here in 1983) were to enjoy 38 years of happiness together

He appeared in repertory at the Barter Theater in Virginia, toured as a hospital attendant in 'Harvey' and played a villain on TV's 'Captain Video.'

After earning $2,300 in 1951, Mr Borgnine almost accepted a position with an electrical company. But the job fell through, and he returned to acting, moving into a modest house in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley.

His first marriage was to Rhoda Kenins, whom he met when she was a Navy pharmacist's mate and he was a patient. They had a daughter, but the marriage ended in divorce after his 'Marty' stardom.

Mr Borgnine married Mexican actress Katy Jurado in 1959, and their marriage resulted in headlined squabbles from Hollywood to Rome before it ended in 1964.

Borgnine with his fifth wife, Norwegian-born Las Vegas beauty salon owner Tova Traesnaes, in 2010

In 1963, he and Ms Merman startled the show business world by announcing, after a month's acquaintance, that they would marry when his divorce from Jurado became final.

The Broadway singing star and the movie tough guy seemed to have nothing in common, and their marriage ended in 38 days after a fierce battle.

'If you blinked, you missed it,' Ms Merman once cracked.

Next came one-time child actress Donna Rancourt, with whom Mr Borgnine had a daughter, and finally his happy union with Tova.

On January 24, 2007, Mr Borgnine celebrated his 90th birthday with a party for friends and family at a West Hollywood bistro. He seemed little changed from his years as a lusty villain or sympathetic hero on the screen.

Full life: Mr Borgnine, pictured in 2010 at his Beverly Hills home, spent 10 years in the navy before embarking on acting

His only concession to age had come at 88 when he gave up driving the bus he would take around the country, stopping to talk with local folks along the way.

During an interview at the time, Mr Borgnine complained that he wanted to continue acting but most studio executives kept asking, 'Is he still alive?'

'I just want to do more work,' he said. 'Every time I step in front of a camera I feel young again. I really do. It keeps your mind active and it keeps you going.'

VIDEO: See Ernest get his Lifetime Achievement award and highlights of his work...