R.I.P. Ernest Borgnine

 

Margaret Wright’s interview with Western writing legend Max Evans a few weeks back got me thinking about actor Ernest Borgnine, recognizable by his wide, gap-toothed smile. Evans was a friend and collaborator with the great director Sam Peckinpah, whose most acclaimed film, 1969’s The Wild Bunch, starred Borgnine as a mean, old-school, whisky-swiggin’ gunslinger. Then, of course, there was Borgnine’s turn as the affable-but-homely, lovelorn butcher in 1955’s Marty—for which Borgnine took home the Best Actor Oscar. A character actor who worked well into his 90’s, Borgnine died today at the age of 95.