Ernest Borgnine

Born: January 24 1917
Where: Hamden, Connecticut

The bruiser-faced Oscar-winning actor has enjoyed a string of critical successes ranging from From Here To Eternity to The Dirty Dozen.

Determinedly old school, Borgnine's life has been as colourful offscreen (his marriage to Ethel Merman lasted a month) as on.

The son of Italian immigrants (his mother was allegedly a countess), his parents divorced when he was two years old.

Borgnine joined the United States Navy in 1935 and served for ten years, including decorated stints in World War II when he reached the rank of gunner.

After a few years of drifting and factory jobs, Borgnine attended the Randall School of Drama in Hartford, Connecticut.

Following graduation, he went to the famous Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia and his first role was as the Gentleman Caller in Tennessee Williams' Glass Menagerie.

In 1949, he debuted on Broadway in the role of a nurse in the hit play Harvey and subsequently moved to Los Angeles where he received his big break in 1953's From Here to Eternity.

He played the cruel Sergeant "Fatso" Judson, in charge of the stockade, who taunts fellow soldier Angelo Maggio (played by Frank Sinatra).

While on location in Mexico in 1954 filming Vera Cruz he and Charles Bronson - in bandoliers and pistols - were arrested in costume while going out to buy cigarettes by local police who thought they were real bandits.

Borgnine went on to build a reputation as a dependable character actor and appeared in early film roles as villains, including Johnny Guitar (1954) and Bad Day at Black Rock (1955).

But in 1955, the actor switched styles as a warm-hearted butcher in the film version of the television play Marty, which gained him an Academy Award for Best Actor.

Later film roles include The Vikings (1958) and the original The Flight of the Phoenix.

Offscreen, in 1964 he was married to Broadway diva for just 32 days, claiming the marriage failed when he received more fan mail than her.

(he later claimed "I thought I was marrying Rosemary Clooney...")

The following year Borgnine was cast by director Robert Aldrich as General Worden in the World War II caper movie The Dirty Dozen alongside Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson.

(He would later be the only actor to star in all four of the "Dirty Dozen" movies.)

Subsequent roles included disaster flicks The Poseidon Adventure with Gene Hackman and The Black Hole.

(he also has the distinction of appearing in more of Razzle's 100 Most Enjoyably Awful Movies of All Time than any other actor).

From 1962 to 1966, he starred in the popular situation comedy television series McHale's Navy, for which he received an Emmy Award nomination.

Borgnine's later TV work included a co-starring role (with Jan-Michael Vincent) as veteran helicopter pilot Dominic Santini in the action series Airwolf.

In 1996, Borgnine toured the US in a bus to meet his fans and was also Chairman of the National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans.

Since 1999, Borgnine provided his voice talent to the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants as the elderly superhero Mermaid Man.

Borgnine has also appeared on an episode of The Simpsons as himself in addition to a number of television commercials.

Deeply conservative, Borgnine has always treated women's emancipation with suspicion ("give them a bath, put a chastity belt on them, and put them in secretary school") and claimed John Wayne would be "rolling over in his grave" if he'd seen Brokeback Mountain.

In 2007, Borgnine starred in the TV movie A Grandpa for Christmas and was Golden Globe nominated for his role as a grandfather who discovers he has a granddaughter he never knew about.

Recent work includes the critically-derided comedy Strange Wilderness with Steve Zahn.