BORGNINE, ERNEST

(1917– )

Born Ermes Effron Borgnino in Connecticut, the Oscar winner played in numerous Westerns, including Vera Cruz (1954), throughout the 1950s and 1960s. His most famous role was in Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch (1969) as the ruthless killer Dutch Engstrom. As with numerous secondary American actors of Westerns, Borgnine went to Europe to film Westerns in the 1970s, playing the lead in Those Desperate Men Who Smell of Dirt and Death (1969). In one of his last Westerns, the Mexican film The Revengers (1972), Borgnine again teamed up with William Holdenin a film reminiscent of The Wild Bunch. Ernest Borgnine has proven himself a remarkably versatile actor over a very long film career.