1 / 17 photos Ernest Borgnine

Tough guy Ernest Borgnine is ready for action in a still from an unidentified Western film.  (Photo by Hulton Archive)

Borgnine transformed himself from a brutish character actor to a leading man in 1955's Marty, where he played a sensitive butcher. Here he is alongside Betsy Blair in a still from the critically-acclaimed film. (Photo by Hulton Archive)

Marty won Borgnine his first and only Oscar for Best Actor, beating out the likes of James Dean, Frank Sinatra, James Cagney and Spencer Tracy. Here he receives the award from Grace Kelly, March 21, 1956.

Borgnine and Sheree North in a scene from the film The Best Things In Life Are Free, 1956. (Photo by 20th Century-Fox)

Borgnine with his rather stern looking wife, Rhoda, at the premiere of director Billy Wilder's film, The Spirit of St. Louis, 1957. (Photo by Darlene Hammond/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Borgnine and second wife Katy Jurado toasting each other during the gala after the world premiere of the Italian film King Of Poggioreale. (Photo by Keystone)

Stars of the film, The Vikings, Kirk Douglas, Janet Leigh, Borgnine and Tony Curtis, leaving London Airport for filming locations in Norway. June 1957 (Photo by A. W. Cox/Cox)

Ernest Borgnine and Glenn Ford during a quiet moment in a scene from the film Torpedo Run, 1958. Borgnine joined the Navy right after graduating from high school in 1935, was discharged in 1941, then reenlisted when World War II broke out. He would don the Navy tans again in the 1960s TV sitcom McHale's Navy. (Photo by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

Borgnine leans in to kiss Ethel Merman, his third wife, during their wedding reception in Beverly Hills, California in June 1964. The marriage lasted just 32 days. (Photo by Archive Photos)

Emmy hopefuls Ernest Borgnine, Donna Douglas, and Lorne Greene are ever so hopeful of winning the coveted trophy in May 1964. (Photo by: NBC/NBCU Photo Bank)

Muhammad Ali sits with Ernest Borgnine in a scene from the film The Greatest, 1977. Based on a book written by Ali and Herbert Muhammad and Richard Durham, Borgnine portrayed Angelo Dundee, a boxing trainer who worked with Ali for over two decades. (Photo by Columbia Pictures)

Borgnine makes a very Italian gesture during the 9th Annual Los Angeles Police Celebrity Golf Tournament at Rancho Park in 1979. Both his parents were Italian-born.  (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd.)

Posing for a portrait with his fifth and last wife wife Tova Traesnaes, at their home in Los Angeles, California, around 1980. (Photo by Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives)

Borgnine (as Dominic Santini), Jean Bruce Scott (as Caitlin O'Shannessy), Jan-Michael Vincent (as Stringfellow Hawke) and seated, Alex Cord (as Michael Archangel) on the set of Airwolf in 1985.

Ernest Borgnine receives the California Commendation Medal from Major General William H. Wade II, Adjutant General, Commander, California National Guard, 2007. (Photo by Mathew Imaging)

Borgnine reads the children's book The Rainbow Fish for Storyline Online presented by the Screen Actors Guild Foundation at the SAG Foundation Actors Center on January 12, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner)

Ernest Borgnine, January 24, 1917 - July 8, 2012