Ernest Borgnine Honored
BeansTalk Note: One of the last at-home interviews we did at our former day job was an interview with Ernest Borgnine, who we thought was marvelous. Check out what TCM has planned:
Academy Award®-winning actor Ernest Borgnine will join Turner Classic Movies (TCM) host Robert Osborne for an intimate discussion in PRIVATE SCREENINGS: ERNEST BORGNINE, a one-hour special premiering Monday, Jan. 26, 2009 at 8 p.m. With a career that spans more than 50 years and continues to this day, Borgnine has endeared himself to film and television audiences alike. This TCM original will be accompanied by a night of Borgnine’s films, including the Best Picture Oscar® winners Marty (1955) and From Here to Eternity (1953).
In PRIVATE SCREENINGS, Borgnine discusses his career that began by enrolling in the Randall School of Dramatic Arts in Hartford. From there, he broke into the professional ranks at the Barter Theatre in Virginia. Following his years at the Barter Theatre, he heard about a casting call, knocked on the door and asked if they had anything for him. A man came to the door and invited him to do a screen test. That man was director Robert Siodmak, who showed the screen test to producer Louis de Rouchemont. In no time, Borgnine was cast in the Lloyd Bridges labor-management drama, Whistle at Eaton Falls.
With the energy of a man in his 20s, Borgnine recounts such memories as being cast in From Here to Eternity opposite such top-name stars as Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr and Frank Sinatra. It was only his fourth film. He also recalls being put under contract and not getting work; his surprise Oscar win for Marty, which was presented to him by Grace Kelly; his various marriages; and what he really wanted to title his book.
PRIVATE SCREENINGS: ERNEST BORGNINE is full of additional fascinating anecdotes:
· His mom was a countess, which makes him, in his own words, “a count of no account.”
· Prior to becoming an actor, he served in the Navy for 10 years.
· Marty was originally made to be a “tax loss.”
· The motivation to go into acting came from his mother.
· His inspiration to venture into television came from a child selling chocolate bars.
At the end of PRIVATE SCREENINGS, Borgnine reflects on his career: “I’d like to think that maybe through my pictures, through my television, through everything crazy in the life I’ve led, maybe somewhere I left a laugh or two. Making people laugh: This is what it’s all about.”
The following is the complete schedule for TCM’s Monday, Jan. 26, tribute to Ernest Borgnine:
8 p.m. PRIVATE SCREENINGS: ERNEST BORGNINE (2008) – premiere.
9 p.m. Marty (1955) – starring Betsy Blair, Joe Mantell and Joe De Santis.
11 p.m. PRIVATE SCREENINGS: ERNEST BORGNINE (2008) – encore.
Midnight The Last Command (1955) – starring Sterling Hayden, Anna Maria Alberghetti and Richard Carlson.
2:45 a.m. From Here to Eternity (1953) – starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed.
5 a.m. Torpedo Run (1958) – Glenn Ford, Diane Brewster and Dean Jones.
