Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 29, 1995 TAG: 9507310118
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LYNN ELBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
Relaxing in his sunny, spacious hilltop home, his ``Marty'' best-actor Oscar standing guard on a bookshelf, Borgnine seems a testament to the soothsayer.
He is a robust 78, still an actor in demand and preparing to start work on a new NBC comedy, ``The Single Guy.'' Tova, his wife of 22 years, is a cosmetics tycoon: ``Believe me, quite a girl,'' Borgnine says.
And he has the freedom and energy to jump into his 40-foot bus, dubbed the Sunbum, and flit around the country from RV park to RV park, stopping happily to sign autographs and accept hellos from surprised truckers.
His indelible portrayal of the kind, lonely butcher in ``Marty'' and the likable Navy captain in the TV series ``McHale's Navy'' overcame his early, villainous screen image.
That suits Borgnine, who revels in the real-life role of forthright, good-natured American.
His hero is Abraham Lincoln, whom Borgnine calls ``the only good politician, because he was for the people.'' The burly actor is a proud member of the Masons fraternal order and unabashedly sentimental.
``My mother told me if you can make one person in the world happy every day, you've accomplished a great deal,'' Borgnine says. ``I figure through my work, if I make one person smile, that's what it's all about.''
TV, specifically the 1962-66 comedy ``McHale's Navy,'' also brought the celebrity that Borgnine freely admits he relishes.
``I worked all my life to be recognized,'' he says. ``This is what's so foolish about people in my profession. They make a little name for themselves and they hide behind dark glasses.
``So ridiculous. Show the people your face. That's what it's all about, that's what you're selling.''
Borgnine began selling himself as a performer after a 10-year stint in the Navy, which included World War II duty protecting the East Coast from enemy invasion (his ship encountered one submarine, he says, but it got away).
After an apprenticeship in the theater in the late 1940s, a series of TV and movie parts followed. His breakthrough role came in the unexpected vehicle of ``Marty'' (1955).
The small, poignant story almost didn't get made, Borgnine says. Its producers, including Burt Lancaster, had intended the project as a tax write-off.
It was no great financial windfall for Borgnine. ``I made `Marty' for $5,000, with the promise of another $5,000 if I signed a seven-year contract - which cost me a half-million dollars to get out of,'' he said with a laugh.
Borgnine also made a determined effort to avoid ``Marty'' typecasting.
``You know, people in the business sometimes make their whole career playing the same character,'' he says. ``My next feature [after ``Marty''] was a musical, `The Best Things in Life are Free.' I sang, danced, played the banjo and carried on like a fool with Gordon MacRae and Dan Dailey.''
He offers a story, told with Borgnine zest, to explain the decision to veer from movies to television and ``McHale's Navy.''
The day after he was first offered and turned down the comedy, a boy arrived at the actor's house selling candy for his school. You look familiar, he told Borgnine.
``I said kiddingly, `My name is James Arness,''' Borgnine recounted. No, the boy replied, he stars in ``Gunsmoke.''
``I said `Yeah, you're right. My name is Richard Boone.''' Nope, responded the child. He's in ``Have Gun, Will Travel.''
``Then I told him, `My name is really Ernest Borgnine.' No recognition. I said, `Thank you very much, here's your money,' put down the chocolate bars and called my agent and asked if the part was still open.'''
His latest return to television comes in a supporting role, as a lovable doorman who meddles in the life of ``The Single Guy'' star Jonathan Silverman. He was pressured into taking the job, Borgnine explains.
His agent, his wife and his secretary all chided him for being unemployed. ``C'mon, you can't just tinker around with your bus all the time, going here and there,'' they told him.
``The Single Guy'' caught his eye. Given the odds of success in television, Borgnine figured he'd probably just make the series' pilot and be done.
But then NBC picked up the show for the fall and gave it a choice Thursday night spot between the hit comedies ``Friends'' and ``Seinfeld.''
``I'm stuck with it, but I'm going to enjoy it,'' Borgnine says.
``I'm not carrying the show,'' he adds. ``But believe me, my little five minutes in there will be fun, and that's what I want.
``Listen, for 13 weeks, I'm sure I can do it. If it goes longer, fine. I'll be the oldest actor extant in television.''
by CNB