While I haven't seen much of his earlier work, I particularly enjoyed his role of Dominic Santini. Beyond that I can only say with certainty that I saw him in The Dirty Dozen.
From the little I know about his personal life, it would seem that he was a very likable man, involved in the community and with a great sense of humor.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Ernest Borgnine was, at every stage in his life, the spitting image of my wife's father*. Who is himself an awesome, awesome man, whom I look up to as though he were a father to me. He's still with us, and yet we both feel an oddly personal connection to Borgnine, and a sadness at his passing.
*I mean, to the extent that back when McHale's Navy was on, he would routinely get asked for autographs when he went out to eat.
Posted by ak (Member # 90) on :
I thought he was a great actor, yet the roles and films he got were often not that good. We came up with various hypotheses about the movies that different actors played in. For instance, the Caine Conjecture states that Michael Caine movies were always either very good or very bad. We had one called the Borgnine Axiom that stated that Ernest Borgnine movies were always terrible. I'm sure there were some counterexamples, but it seems sad to me that his great talent wasn't better used during his career. I'm sad he's dead.
Posted by Destineer (Member # 821) on :
Yes, Santini. AIRWOLF. So classic.
Poseidon Adventure, also.
Posted by Destineer (Member # 821) on :
Oh God, and he was the cab driver in Escape From New York. Possibly the best John Carpenter movie, at least top 3. His work is immortal.
Posted by Destineer (Member # 821) on :
![[Hail]](graemlins/hail.gif)