Tribute: Ernest Borgnine

We mourn the loss of Oscar-winning actor Earnest Borgnine, who died today at age 95.  As the title character in the Best Picture winner, “Marty,” he was heart-wrenchingly poignant, a man who feared that his romantic soul and yearning for love would never overcome his shy, clumsy appearance.

He also appeared in “Bad Day at Black Rock” as a menacing small town man trying to keep a hate crime from being uncovered.

On television, he was the scheming but usually genial star of “McHale’s Navy.”

Recently, he appeared in “Red” as a keeper of the deepest (in every sense of the word) secrets of the CIA, and provided voice talent for Lion of Judah and Mermaid Man in SpongeBob SquarePants.

May his memory be a blessing.