Ernest Borgnine aka Ermes Effron Borgino

Actor -- via CBS News.

How many 60-year careers in anything you know about? Huh? Much less a performing career, especially one that stayed substantial and interesting to the very end.

Ernest Borgnine first appeared on my radar as the star of the "Bilko of the Navy" TV sitcom "McHale's Navy" (both Pacific and European theaters).





But as I began to work through the great films, I was surprised to find Borgnine in so many of them. Try this list: "From Here to Eternity,"

Borgnine as Fatso Judson, the sadistic prison chief, in "From Here to Eternity."

"Johnny Guitar,"





 "Vera Cruz," "Bad Day at Black Rock,"





 of course "Marty," for which he won an Oscar;





 the original "Flight of the Phoenix,"





 "The Dirty Dozen,"





 "Ice Station Zebra," "The Wild Bunch,"





 "Escape from New York." And some howlers, of course -- "Willard," "The Devil's Rain," "The Poseidon Adventure." A disciplined professional, he elevated even TV movies such as "Legend in Granite," a biography of Vince Lombardi, and the wily Katz in "All Quiet on the Western Front."

"All Quiet in the Western Front," 1979.

To younger viewers he was Dominic Santini in "Airwolf" or Doorman Manny in "The Single Guy" -- and to my kids, he is the voice of Mermaid Man in "SpongeBob SquarePants." 



203 credits worth of pure Borgnine pleasure. Thanks, Ernie.