Katy Jurado
Who was the spouse of Ernest Borgnine before Mar 1963?
Ernest Borgnine Ernest Borgnine ( ; born Ermes Effron Borgnino ; January 24 , 1917 – July 8 , 2012 ) was an American actor whose career spanned over six decades . He was noted for his gruff but relaxed voice and gap-toothed Cheshire Cat grin . A popular performer , he also appeared as a guest on numerous talk shows and as a panelist on several game shows . Borgnines film career began in 1951 , and included supporting roles in China Corsair ( 1951 ) , From Here to Eternity ( 1953 ) , Vera Cruz ( 1954 ) , Bad Day at Black Rock ( 1955 ) and The Wild Bunch ( 1969 ) . He also played the unconventional lead in many films , winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1956 , for Marty ( 1955 ) . Marty also won the 1956 Academy Award for Best Picture . Borgnine achieved continuing success in the sitcom McHales Navy ( 1962–1966 ) , in which he played the title character , and co-starred as Dominic Santini in the action series Airwolf ( 1984–1986 ) , in addition to a wide variety of other roles . Borgnine earned his third Primetime Emmy Award nomination at age 92 for his work on the 2009 series finale of ER . He was known as the original voice of Mermaid Man on SpongeBob SquarePants from 1999 until his death in 2012 . He replaced the late Vic Tayback as the voice of the villainous Carface Caruthers in both All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 ( 1996 ) and ( 1996–1998 ) . Early life . Borgnine was born Ermes Effron Borgnino ( ) on January 24 , 1917 , in Hamden , Connecticut , the son of Italian immigrants . His mother , Anna ( ; 1894– 1949 ) , hailed from Carpi , near Modena , while his father Camillo Borgnino ( 1891–1975 ) was a native of Ottiglio near Alessandria . Borgnines parents separated when he was two years old , and he then lived with his mother in Italy for about four and a half years . By 1923 , his parents had reconciled , the family name was changed from Borgnino to Borgnine , and his father changed his first name to Charles . Borgnine had a younger sister , Evelyn Borgnine Velardi ( 1925–2013 ) . The family settled in New Haven , Connecticut , where Borgnine graduated from James Hillhouse High School . He took to sports while growing up , but showed no interest in acting . Naval service . Borgnine joined the United States Navy in October 1935 , after graduation from high school . He served aboard the destroyer/minesweeper ( DD-119 ; AG-21 and DMS-2 ) and was honorably discharged from the Navy in October 1941 . In January 1942 , he reenlisted in the Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor . During World War II , he patrolled the Atlantic Coast on an antisubmarine warfare ship , the USS Sylph ( PY-12 ) . In September 1945 , he was once again honorably discharged from the Navy . He served a total of almost ten years in the Navy and obtained the grade of gunners mate 1st class . His military awards include the Navy Good Conduct Medal , American Defense Service Medal with Fleet Clasp , American Campaign Medal with bronze star , and the World War II Victory Medal . In 1997 , Borgnine received the United States Navy Memorial , Lone Sailor Award . On December 7 , 2000 , Borgnine was named the Veterans Foundations Veteran of the Year . In October 2004 , Borgnine received the honorary title of chief petty officer from Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Terry D . Scott . The ceremony for Borgnines naval advancement was held at the U.S . Navy Memorial in Washington , D.C . He received the special honor for his naval service and support of the Naval personnel and their families worldwide . In 2007 , he received the California Commendation Medal . Acting career . Early career . Borgnine returned to his parents house in Connecticut after his Navy discharge without a job to go back to and no direction . In a British Film Institute interview about his life and career , he said : He took a local factory job , but was unwilling to settle down to that kind of work . His mother encouraged him to pursue a more glamorous profession and suggested to him that his personality would be well suited for the stage . He surprised his mother by taking the suggestion to heart , although his father was far from enthusiastic . In 2011 , Borgnine remembered , Stage . He studied acting at the Randall School of Drama in Hartford , then moved to Virginia , where he became a member of the Barter Theatre in Abingdon , Virginia . It had been named for the directors allowing audiences to barter produce for admission during the cash-lean years of the Great Depression . In 1947 , Borgnine landed his first stage role in State of the Union . Although it was a short role , he won over the audience . His next role was as the Gentleman Caller in Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie . In 1949 , Borgnine went to New York , where he had his Broadway debut in the role of a nurse in the play Harvey . Films . An appearance as the villain on TVs Captain Video led to Borgnines casting in the motion picture The Whistle at Eaton Falls ( 1951 ) for Columbia Pictures . That year , Borgnine moved to Los Angeles , California , where he eventually received his big break in Columbias From Here to Eternity ( 1953 ) , playing the sadistic Sergeant Fatso Judson , who beats a stockade prisoner in his charge , Angelo Maggio ( played by Frank Sinatra ) . Borgnine built a reputation as a dependable character actor and played villains in early films , including movies such as Johnny Guitar , Vera Cruz , and Bad Day at Black Rock . In 1955 , the actor starred as a warmhearted butcher in Marty , the film version of the television play of the same title . He won the Academy Award for Best Actor over Frank Sinatra , James Dean ( who had died by the time of the ceremony ) , and former Best Actor winners Spencer Tracy and James Cagney . Borgnines film career flourished for the next three decades , including roles in The Flight of the Phoenix ( 1965 ) , The Dirty Dozen ( 1967 ) , Ice Station Zebra ( 1968 ) , The Poseidon Adventure ( 1972 ) , Emperor of the North ( 1973 ) , Convoy ( 1978 ) , The Black Hole ( 1979 ) , and Escape from New York ( 1981 ) . One of his most famous roles was that of Dutch , a member of The Wild Bunch in the 1969 Western classic from director Sam Peckinpah . Of his role in The Wild Bunch , Borgnine later said , Television . Borgnine made his TV debut as a character actor in Captain Video and His Video Rangers , beginning in 1951 . These two episodes led to countless other television roles that Borgnine would gain in Goodyear Television Playhouse ; The Ford Television Theatre ; Fireside Theatre ; Frontier Justice ; Laramie ; Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre ; Run for Your Life ; Little House on the Prairie ( a two-part episode entitled The Lord is My Shepherd ) ; The Love Boat ; Magnum , P.I. ; Highway to Heaven ; Murder , She Wrote ; Walker , Texas Ranger ; Home Improvement ; Touched by an Angel ; the final episodes of ER ; the first episode of Wagon Train ; and many others . In 2009 , at the age of 92 , Borgnine earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for his performance as Paul Manning in the series finale of ER , entitled And in the End... . He made his first appearance as the character in the preceding episode Old Times . McHales Navy . In 1962 , Borgnine signed a contract with Universal Studios for the lead role as the gruff but lovable skipper , Quinton McHale , in what began as a serious one-hour 1962 episode called Seven Against the Sea for Alcoa Premiere , and later reworked to a comedy called McHales Navy , a World War II sitcom , which also co-starred unfamiliar comedians Joe Flynn as Capt . Wally Binghamton and Tim Conway as Ens . Charles Parker . The insubordinate crew of PT-73 helped the show become an overnight success during its first season , landing in the Top 30 in 1963 . He thrived on the adulation from fans for their favorite navy man , and in 1963 received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series . At the end of the fourth season , in 1966 low ratings and repetitive storylines brought McHales Navy to an end . Tim Conway said about the sitcom : You know , we were all guys , it was about the war , and about men , so , there werent many women working on the show , so we can spit , talk , swear , and everything—smoke ? Gosh . So , it was male oriented . Conway once referred to Borgnine making new friends off of the Universal set , It was the beginning of the trams , going through Universal . Ernie was probably one of the few people at Universal , who would stop the trams and say , Hello , how are you ? He would talk to everybody at the tram . While the show McHales Navy was going strong , Tim had also said of Borgnines short-lived marriage to Ethel Merman , Ernie is volatile . I mean , theres no question about that ; and Ethel was a very strong lady . So , you put two bombs in a room , something is going to explode , and I guess it probably did . He also said about the cancellation of McHales Navy was , We had gone from the South Pacific to Italy , and then , once in a while , we got to New York or something . The storylines were beginning to duplicate themselves . So , they actually said , Maybe , they had its run! . Conway kept in touch with Borgnine for more than 40 years , while living not too far from one another . In 1999 , the duo reunited to lend their voices to several episodes of the popular 2000s animated comedy , SpongeBob SquarePants . At the time McHales Navy began production , Borgnine was married to actress Katy Jurado . Her death in 2002 drew Borgnine and Conway much closer , as Conway had heard so much of the actresss death . He knew that Borgnine had once referred to her as beautiful , but a tiger . Conway thought Borgnine was more than likely to have died an Italian count , had it not been for Benito Mussolini : I cant envision him as a count . But maybe as a king — certainly not a count . The last thing he said about his acting mentors long career : There were no limits to Ernie . When you look at his career — Fatso Judson to Marty — thats about as varied as you get in characters and he handled both of them with equal delicacy and got the most out of those characters . 1983 to 1998 : Subsequent success . Borgnine returned to Universal Studios in 1983 , for a co-starring role opposite Jan-Michael Vincent , on Airwolf . After he was approached by producer Donald P . Bellisario , who had been impressed by Borgnines guest role as a wrestler in a 1982 episode of Magnum , P.I. , he immediately agreed . He played Dominic Santini , a helicopter pilot , in the series , which became an immediate hit . Borgnines strong performances belied his exhaustion due to the grueling production schedule , and the challenges of working with his younger , troubled series lead . The show was canceled by CBS in 1986 . He appeared with Jonathan Silverman in The Single Guy as doorman Manny Cordoba , which lasted two seasons . According to Silverman , Borgnine came to work with more energy and passion than all other stars combined . He was the first person to arrive on the set every day and the last to leave . In 1988 , he appeared the action film Laser Mission . With Brandon Lee playing the lead . Borgnine joined Lee in Namibia to shoot their scenes . The plot concerns a mercenary named Michael Gold ( Lee ) who is sent to convince Dr . Braun ( Borgnine ) , a laser specialist , to defect to the United States before the KGB acquires him and uses his talents to create a nuclear weapon . In the United States the film was released in 1990 . Distributed by Turner Home Entertainment , it was a commercial success on home video . The film is generally panned by critics with a few finding it to be an amusing action B movie . In 1996 , Borgnine starred in the televised fantasy/thriller film Merlins Shop of Mystical Wonders ( partially adapted from the 1984 horror film The Devils Gift ) . As narrator and storyteller , Borgnine recounts a string of related supernatural tales , his modern-day fables notably centering on an enchanted and malicious cymbal-banging monkey toy stolen from the wizard Merlin . The film was later featured in the parodical television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 , and has since gained a prominent cult following . Also in 1996 , Borgnine toured the United States on a bus to meet his fans and see the country . The trip was the subject of a 1997 documentary , Ernest Borgnine on the Bus . He also served one year as the chairman of the National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans , visiting patients in many Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers . In 1997 , Borgnine appeared in the big-screen adaptation comedy film McHales Navy , where he played Rear Admiral Quinton McHale , who was also the father of Tom Arnolds character , Quinton McHale Jr . 1999 to 2011 : Last works . Starting in 1999 , Borgnine provided his voice talent to the animated sitcom SpongeBob SquarePants as the elderly superhero Mermaid Man ( where he was paired up with his McHales Navy co-star Tim Conway as the voice of Mermaid Mans sidekick Barnacle Boy ) . He expressed affection for this role , in no small part for its popularity among children . After his death Nickelodeon re-aired all of the episodes in which Mermaid Man appeared in memoriam . Borgnine also appeared as himself in The Simpsons episode Boy-Scoutz n the Hood , in addition to a number of television commercials . In 2000 , he was the executive producer of Hoover , in which he was the only credited actor . In 2007 , Borgnine starred in the Hallmark original film A Grandpa for Christmas . He played a man who , after his estranged daughter ends up in the hospital because of a car accident , discovers that he has a granddaughter he never knew about . She is taken into his care , and they soon become great friends . Borgnine received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television for his performance . At 90 , he was the oldest Golden Globe nominee ever . Borgnines autobiography Ernie was published by Citadel Press in July 2008 . Ernie is a loose , conversational recollection of highlights from his acting career and notable events from his personal life . On April 2 , 2009 , he appeared in the last episode of the long-running medical series ER . His role was that of a husband whose long marriage ended with his wifes death . In his final scene , his character is in a hospital bed lying beside his just-deceased wife . His performance garnered an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series , his third nomination and his first in 29 years ( since being nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special in 1980 for All Quiet on the Western Front ) . In 2009 , at age 92 , he starred as Frank , the main character of Another Harvest Moon , directed by Greg Swartz and also starring Piper Laurie and Anne Meara . On October 2 , 2010 , Borgnine appeared as himself in a sketch with Morgan Freeman on Saturday Night Live . On October 15 , 2010 , he appeared in Red , which was filmed earlier that year . In late 2011 , Borgnine completed what would be his last film , playing Rex Page in The Man Who Shook the Hand of Vicente Fernandez . Personal life . Borgnine married five times . His first marriage , from 1949 to 1958 , was to Rhoda Kemins , whom he met while serving in the Navy . They had one daughter , Nancee ( born May 28 , 1952 ) . He was then married to actress Katy Jurado from 1959 to 1963 . Borgnines marriage to singer Ethel Merman in 1964 lasted only 42 days . Their time together was mostly spent hurling profane insults at each other , and both would later admit that the marriage was a colossal mistake ( Mermans description of the marriage in her autobiography was a solitary blank page ) . Their divorce was finalized on May 25 , 1965 . From 1965 to 1972 , Borgnine was married to Donna Rancourt , with whom he had a son , Cristopher ( born August 9 , 1969 ) and two daughters , Sharon ( born August 5 , 1965 ) and Diana ( born December 29 , 1970 ) . His fifth and last marriage was to Tova Traesnaes , which lasted from February 24 , 1973 , until his death in July 2012 . In 2000 , Borgnine received his 50-year pin as a Freemason at Abingdon Lodge No . 48 in Abingdon , Virginia . He joined the Scottish Rite Valley of Los Angeles in 1964 , received the KCCH in 1979 , was crowned a 33° Inspector General Honorary in 1983 , and received the Grand Cross of the Court of Honour in 1991 . Borgnine was a heavy smoker until 1962 . Death . Borgnine died of lung failure on July 8 , 2012 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles , California . He was 95 years old . Borgnine was cremated . Honors . Borgnines hometown of Hamden , Connecticut , where he enjoyed a large and vocal following , named a park and a small road in his honor . From 1972 to 2002 , Borgnine marched in Milwaukees annual Great Circus Parade as the Grand Clown . In 1994 , Borgnine received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations . In 1996 , he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City . In 1997 , Borgnine was the commencement speaker at Lakeland College , and received an honorary doctorate in humane letters in recognition of his distinguished acting career . In 1998 , the Palm Springs , California , Walk of Stars dedicated a Golden Palm Star to him . In 2006 the comune of Ottiglio , Italy , his fathers birthplace , gave him honorary citizenship . is dedicated to Borgnine . Film awards and nominations . Borgnine won the 1955 Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Marty Piletti in the film Marty . At the time of his death , he was the oldest living recipient of the Best Actor Oscar . For his contributions to the film industry , Borgnine received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 . The star is located at 6324 Hollywood Boulevard . He was honored with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award at the 17th Screen Actors Guild Awards , held January 30 , 2011 . Awards from fraternal groups . In 2000 , Borgnine received his 50-year pin as a Freemason in Abingdon Lodge No . 48 , Abingdon , Virginia . He joined the Scottish Rite Valley of Los Angeles ( in the Southern Jurisdiction of the U.S.A ) in 1964 , received the KCCH in 1979 , was crowned a 33° Inspector General Honorary in 1983 , and received the Grand Cross of the Court of Honour in 1991 . He was also a member of the Loyal Order of Moose at that organizations Lodge in Junction City , Oregon . He volunteered to be Stories of Service National spokesman , urging his fellow World War II vets to come forward and share their stories . Further reading . - Wise , James . Stars in Blue : Movie Actors in Americas Sea Services . Annapolis , MD : Naval Institute Press , 1997 . . .