THE HANDSOMEST MAN IN SHOW BUSINESS
Jul. 11th, 2012 12:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogYou know about Ernest Borgnine passing away.
Which is timely, as I was just watching RED over the weekend again. Borgnine has a small role in it, and I was impressed that he could still find work at his age (not realizing even then that he was already in his 90s when he made that film).
One of the interesting things about the reaction to it is that what people remember him from seems to depend on their age. For example, people around ten years younger than me tend to know him mainly from this movie.
Whereas I first saw him either on McHale’s Navy reruns or The Poseidon Adventure. To me he’ll always be either the exasperated and loudmouthed but likeable Navy captain or the loudmouthed NYPD cop who dotes on his wife and shouts at Gene Hackman (who himself is no slouch in the Shouting Dept).
One observation to add about his career:
I’ve always been struck by how he managed to become a pop-culture icon of sorts, mainly by being the anthithesis of the Hollywood hunk. Anytime you needed a joke about a big ugly guy, Ernest was typically the first pop-culture reference that came up. Even George Carlin made jokes about “nude pictures of Ernest Borgnine.”
I always wondered how Borgnine felt about that. I get the impression he had a sense of humor about it – and he could afford to, seeing as how he made a great living at it. And had an Oscar on his shelf.
Respect.
FUN FACT: I’ve seen a lot of movies with Borgnine in them – but I’ve never seen Marty, the one that won him the Oscar. I probably should one day, if anyone here cares to recommend it.
Hey good-lookin’,
This is dF
Which is timely, as I was just watching RED over the weekend again. Borgnine has a small role in it, and I was impressed that he could still find work at his age (not realizing even then that he was already in his 90s when he made that film).
One of the interesting things about the reaction to it is that what people remember him from seems to depend on their age. For example, people around ten years younger than me tend to know him mainly from this movie.
Whereas I first saw him either on McHale’s Navy reruns or The Poseidon Adventure. To me he’ll always be either the exasperated and loudmouthed but likeable Navy captain or the loudmouthed NYPD cop who dotes on his wife and shouts at Gene Hackman (who himself is no slouch in the Shouting Dept).
One observation to add about his career:
I’ve always been struck by how he managed to become a pop-culture icon of sorts, mainly by being the anthithesis of the Hollywood hunk. Anytime you needed a joke about a big ugly guy, Ernest was typically the first pop-culture reference that came up. Even George Carlin made jokes about “nude pictures of Ernest Borgnine.”
I always wondered how Borgnine felt about that. I get the impression he had a sense of humor about it – and he could afford to, seeing as how he made a great living at it. And had an Oscar on his shelf.
Respect.
FUN FACT: I’ve seen a lot of movies with Borgnine in them – but I’ve never seen Marty, the one that won him the Oscar. I probably should one day, if anyone here cares to recommend it.
Hey good-lookin’,
This is dF
