Ernest Borgnine Dead at 95

Actor Ernest Borgnine, known for his Academy Award-winning performance in Marty, as well as his TV role in the 1960s sitcom McHale's Navy, died Sunday from kidney failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, reports the Chicago Tribune. He was 95.

With a career that spanned over six decades, Borgnine's big break came when he starred as "Fatso" Judson, a bullying, bloodthirsty sergeant opposite of Frank Sinatra's character in From Here to Eternity (1953).

He went on to play more villainous roles, but it was his sensitive portrayal as an Italian American butcher longing for love in Marty (1955) that captured audiences' hearts and won him an Academy Award for Best Actor.

PHOTO GALLERY: Ernest Borgnine, His Life in Pictures

Among the more than 115 movies he starred in, Borgnine's notable appearances include Johnny Guitar, The Flight of the Phoenix, The Vikings, The Dirty Dozen, The Wild Bunch, and The Poseidon Adventure.

He also had an extensive career in television. In the 1960s he played the title role in ABC's sitcom McHale's Navy as the commander of a PT boat during World War II, and in the following decades, he starred in shows like Airwolf, The Single Guy, and also gave voice to the Mermaid Man in the animated series, SpongeBob SquarePants.

PHOTO GALLERY: Gap-Toothed Grinners

At the 2008 Golden Globe awards, Borgnine was nominated for his role in the TV-movie A Grandpa for Christmas and was quoted as saying: "You die on the vine if you just sit down in a chair and get old. The idea is to get up out of the chair and go out there and hustle."

A husband five times around—which included a 31-day marriage to Broadway actress Ethel Merman in 1964—Borgnine is survived by his fifth wife, Tova, four children, six grandchildren, and sister.