Ernest Borgnine, who delivered an Academy Award-winning performance as the lonely Bronx butcher looking for love in the 1955 drama “Marty” and displayed his comic side in the 1960s as the star of the popular TV sitcom “McHale’s Navy,” has died. He was 95.
Borgnine died Sunday of apparent kidney failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his longtime publicist, Harry Flynn, told The Times. Borgnine went into the hospital “a couple of days ago” for a checkup, Flynn said.
In a film career that began in 1951, Borgnine appeared in more than 115 movies, including “Johnny Guitar,” “Demetrius and the Gladiators,” “The Flight of the Phoenix,” “The Oscar,” “The Dirty Dozen,”"The Wild Bunch,”"Willard,” “The Poseidon Adventure” and “Emperor of the North.”
From 1962 to 1966, he played the title role in the ABCsitcom “McHale’s Navy.” As the regulation-breaking commander of a PT boat in the South Pacific during World War II, Borgnine was pitted against the constantly frustrated Capt. Binghamton (played by Joe Flynn). Tim Conway played McHale’s bumbling sidekick, Ensign Charles Parker.
We want to say thank you to Ernest for all the years of great entertainment. We offer our deepest condolences to his family and friends.
