Flower Memorial Marks Borgnine's Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Flowers were placed Monday on the Hollywood Walk of Fame star honoring Oscar winner Ernest Borgnine, who died over the weekend of apparent kidney failure at Medical Center in Los Angeles.

"For six decades, Ernie entertained us with an impressive body of work and, at the age of 95, he continued to have a remarkably busy life and career,'' said Ken Howard, co-president of the actors' union SAG-AFTRA. "We will genuinely miss his smile and generous, joyous spirit."

Publicist Harry Flynn said Borgnine died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Sunday. Funeral services are to be private, and no public memorial events were immediately announced.

SAG-AFTRA noted that Borgnine, who died Sunday, was honored with the 47th Annual Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2010 for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment. He served on the SAG Board of Directors from April to November 1962 and again from November 1974 to November 1977.

Flowers were placed on Borgnine's star at 6324 Hollywood Blvd. on Monday morning, according to Walk of Fame managers.  

Born Ermes Borgnino in Connecticut in 1917 to Italian immigrant parents, he turned to acting following World War II after 10 years in the U.S. Navy.  

Borgnine worked on Broadway before appearing on a 1951 kids TV show, Captain Video and His Video Rangers. He appeared on dozens of live TV shows at the dawn of television.

His big Hollywood break was From Here To Eternity in 1953, where he memorably beat up Frank Sinatra. Later, his starring role in Marty as a love-struck butcher earned him the Academy Award for best actor in 1955, when he bested Sinatra, Spencer Tracy and James Cagney.

It was the invention of three-camera film sitcoms that elevated Borgnine to the pantheon of golden era TV stars. McHale's Navy starred Borgnine as a conniving, lazy, gambling navy commander of a PT boat on a tropical isle, his days spent bedeviling his commanding officer, played by Joe Flynn, and fumbling with his bumbling adjutant, played by Tim Conway.

A later generation met him as Dominic Santini on the 1980s series Airwolf. And even a later batch of Americans were entertained by Borgnine as he lent his voice to elderly superhero Mermaid Man on SpongeBob SquarePants—again co-starring with Conway.

Borgnine, who was married five times, has a street in his hometown of Hamden, CT, named in his honor.

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