Oscar-Winning Actor Ernest Borgnine Dead at 95

Ernest Borgnine, best recognized for his role in 1955's "Marty," has died of renal failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, reported the AP. He was 95 years old. According to his spokesman, Larry Flynn, his wife and children were present at his bedside.

"The Oscar made me a star, and I'm grateful," Borgnine said in a 1966 interview. "But I feel had I not won the Oscar I wouldn't have gotten into the messes I did in my personal life." The messes in question are his four failed marriages. His shortest one was to singer Ethel Merman, which lasted a little over a month.

His fifth marriage to Norwegian business woman Tova Traesnaes stood the test of time. In 2007, he joked about his 34 year union to Traesnaes, "That's longer than the total of my four other marriages," he said.

Borgnine truly loved to act, and didn't necessarily have to be the lead. As a matter of fact, he preferred more supportive roles because he considered them to be less pressure-filled.

"I don't care whether a role is 10 minutes long or two hours," he remarked in 1973. "And I don't care whether my name is up there on top, either. Matter of fact, I'd rather have someone else get top billing; then if the picture bombs, he gets the blame, not me."

Borgnine was born in Hamden, Conn., on Jan. 24, 1917. He enlisted in the Navy in 1935, during World War II, and took leave a decade later.

I wouldn't trade those 10 years for anything," said a proud Borgnine. "The Navy taught me a lot of things. It molded me as a man, and I made a lot of wonderful friends."