Really sorry to hear the news, but he was 95 yrs. old. I sure hope I get to live that long and with quality of life. My Dad passed at the age of 79 and after his stroke, a year before his death, his life sucked! Two of my favorite Ernest Borgnine movies are the "Devil's Rain" and "Emperor of the North". He scared the Hell out of me in the first one, and being a railroader, I always enjoyed his part, especially fighting Lee Marvin. SHACK was one badass conductor and he had his hands full with A #1!
I went to high school with his nephew, Paul. One day I went to Paul's and he was asleep on the living room floor snoring. Later that day we watched the Super Bowl, it was 1973. He was a very nice man and Tova was a charm. Just wonderful people.
My mother was some sort of distant relative of Ernest Borgnine (she did not know the connection) and as celebrities often do Ernest and Tova sent out form Christmas cards with their picture each year to relatives no matter how remote thr connection. I recall mom received perhaps 1 or 2 Christmas cards with their picture and a handwritten signature over a 30 year period, I guess our name moved to the top of the list for particular years and voila...we were in with the in crowd. It was pretty cool nontheless.
A great actor who many of us grew up watching in our youth. I'd much rather watch reruns of McHales Navy than what most tv has come to today.
X2, I've watched 'em all from beginning to end. http://www.hulu.com/search?query=McHale%27s+Navy&st=0&fs=null
Landseaandair, THANK YOU for posting that link to the Ernest Borgnine Bus Tour, everyone should take the time to watch it, I never knew he had that TV series. That man had a wonderful outlook on life. Bob
Your'e welcome. I haven't seen all of them but I think it was either a series for the Discovery Channel or a documentary about him traveling in his private bus from 1997. Lots of info and funny stories.
Just searched for it (Earnest Borgnine on the Bus). A bit more than I can afford.http://www.amazon.com/Ernest-Borgnine-Bus-Jeff-Krulik/dp/076620068X
I ran into him (literally!) rounding a corner around an aisle in a local variety store when he was here in Oregon filming "Emperor of the North Pole" movie with Lee Marvin. Both of us werent watching what we were doing and we bumped into each other spilling the contents we were caring in our arms. We both apologized to each other and when I looked up at him I said " hey, arent you...." and without letting me finish, he was chuckling and said "Yep, I'm him"...we chatted briefly about how much he enjoyed it here and how much he appreciated being treated like a regular guy here in our town. Never forgot that encounter...never will. Go rest high on that mountain, Borgie..
Back in the 80's when Ernest was filming the "Airwolf" tv series in Bend, Oregon he fell in love with the Beaver Motorhomes built there. He had them build this coach in 1990, it is #10 of 25 they built on a Prevost Bus body and chassis. My Brother has owned it for about 10 years, it has been to Bonneville Speedweek more than once. It will be at the "Bend in the road" towing a Lakester next month.
I just heard this today ... so sad... he had a great long life..... My favorite Ernie movie is "Marty" ... he won an Academy Award for that role in 1955.... R.I.P. Ernest .... Roy
Damn. Two greats in one week. We lost a piece of ourselves. RIP Mr. Borgnine. Thanks for the joy you brought to us for so many years.
Wow, is that the Sun Bum? Speaking of Airwolf, last time I stopped in Desert Center on the way to L.A., I noticed a picture on the wall in the old diner of the helicopter hovering there while filming one of the episodes. The second I looked at it, the theme song started playing in my head.
The Sun Bum in the video you posted was a "Country Coach" it must have followed the "Beaver Prevost". It would be interesting to know the date the video you posted was filmed. BTW, parts of the "Emperor Of The North" were shot, just west of where I live in the Oregon coast range. Ernest was one of my favorites! RIP
I think you will find that Ernie as McHale was a bit of a hot rodder. http://www.hulu.com/watch/53804
God speed Mr. B. Now you will be a star on the big screen in the sky... We are losing a great generation of entertainers seems like every month this year.. thanks, Douglas Johnson "Skrach" www.VividlyVintage.com
1977, I spent the night at our local Hilton (honeymoon). As I got into the elevator the next morning this local "sheriff" gets on with me, all I noticed was being in uniform I found it odd he was wearing green tennis shoes. I finally looked up and realized it was Ernie, he was staying there while filming "Convoy" and on his way to work. Down to earth guy, we chatted on the way down. Of course riding back up the elevator with Ali McGraw was cooler!
One of the members of the Just Old Trucks site, Dan B, spent several years looking and researching the Convoy trucks and ended up with parts and pieces of the black Mack the Rubber Duck Truck, and did a full recreation of the truck that Kris and Alley used in the Movie, out of the blue one day in 08 he received a call from Ernest, who was impressed as all get out that someone had done this, read Dans full story here. Quite an amazing man, RIP. http://forums.justoldtrucks.com/Topic1826.aspx?PageIndex=2
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