THE HAT SQUAD: ERNEST BORGNINE

Another legend gone.......

(CNN) -- Film and television actor Ernest Borgnine, who won an Academy Award for his portrayal of a shy, homely butcher in 1955's "Marty," has died at age 95, his manager said Sunday.

The thick-set, gap-toothed Borgnine began taking theater classes after serving in the Navy during World War II, and made the move to film in 1951. He built a reputation for playing heavies in his early films, but turned that reputation on its head as the lovelorn title character in "Marty."

Borgnine went on to television stardom in the 1960s as the lead character in the comedy "McHale's Navy" and as one of the original celebrities on the game show "The Hollywood Squares." He was still making movies and doing television appearances less than a year before his death.

I've included this one, even though it belongs in the Cineverse, because Rogo was my favorite of his movie roles. And I'm invoking Blogmaster privileges to run it:

And finally, because it's so hard to imagine Borgnine without that big ol' gap-toothed smile (unless of course he was playing one of his brutally fantastic heavies):

Good night and may God bless.......