Ernest Borgnine falls into the classification as ‘legendary actor’ – and was one of the driving forces that inspired me to travel to Chicago on October 17, 2009. Although he looked great, he was 92 years old, so I didn’t know when there might be another chance to get to meet this Oscar-winning performer. Borgnine had claimed the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the title character in Marty in 1955.
Borgnine was a dependable character actor in both television and film, starring in such movies as From Here to Eternity, Bad Day at Black Rock, The Dirty Dozen, The Wild Bunch, The Poseidon Adventure, and The Black Hole. One of the sillier movies he starred in, which was a childhood favorite during its numerous runs on cable TV was Super Fuzz. Borgnine also had leading roles in the TV shows McHale’s Navy and Airwolf.
Although I had previously acquired a signed photo of Borgnine through the mail back in 1998 (above), I wasn’t very happy with the slight smudge in the signature. And even though I had gotten a good signature in his autobiography Ernie last year (through my friend Bob), this gave me the opportunity to get a nice in-person signature – on an Academy Award photo no less. So I plunked down the $20.
There was also a $20 fee to get a photo with him, courtesy of his handlers, and I did that as well. He was very nice and even offered to pose for a picture with my Mom (for free) after he had beamed his million-dollar tooth gap for me…twice.
Celebrities of the Chicago Collectors Show will continue…
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