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Show Ernest Borgnine still horsing around Bridget Byrne THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PARDON MY PLANET FOR THE LAST TIME, WHO YOU SPYING FOR MARY nVI - m TW-- T - vLVt ARE AVON? 5 iT. Uv JkV - -- A STE VWT TAiy. EH? PARLA - GIVE HER ANOTHER FORTY him as an actor who'd done but nothing much I ) a 1JJ lASHtS! "kill people." if houldnt I be?" exclaims They had wanted Rod Ernest Borgnine, when Steiger, who had played Piletti in the 1953 TV version, but KJ asked why he's still Steiger had just gotten a part working at 87. "I think old age is just an exBorgnine wanted the bad guy role of Jud Fry in "Oklahomar pression. As far as I'm conSo director Delbert Mann cerned, as long as I can keep and writer Paddy Chayefsky going and work at my craft, I flew to the "Black Rock" localove it," says the veteran chartion to audition Borgnine. acter actor. "And, hey, if I can He walked in wearing "a bring a little enjoyment to people, why not?" cowboy suit, cowboy hat, three-da- y David S. Cass Sr., the direcgrowth of beard, cowboy boots" and even started reading tor of Borgnine's latest movie, the part with a "Western "The Trail of Hope Rose" (Satdrawl" before he kicked in with urday, check local listings), the appropriate Bronx accent. ' says: "Ernie's from the old But Borgnine's test ended up school of acting where whatever the part demands he will try causing tears to flow, and he ... He's game for anything." knew he had the role. Later he was "more surprised Including riding a horse. "I stepped up on the ladder, than anybody else in the whole world" when "Marty" won him got on the horse, and off we the acting Oscar. (Mann and went," Borgnine recalls. Chayefsky also won Oscars.) "Maybe they didn't know that at one time John Wayne used to The nominees he beat out: Spencer Tracy, Frank Sinatra, get on a horse by ladder." James Dean and James Cagney. Once Borgnine was in the saddle, "he was like a Borgnine points to the statuette placed amid all the memoCass says. In the latest in a rabilia in the home he shares in of Western roles, Borgnine the canyons of Beverly Hills with his fifth wife, Tova, the plays rancher Eugene Lawson, cosmetics entrepreneur. who becomes a father figure to Keenan Deerfield (Lou Diamond "It was a wonderful thing, determined but you get your 15 minutes of Phillips), an n fame and then it's "What else to stay honest amid the corruption of an 1850s mining town. have you done? " he grins. g Cass says the role of Lawson Despite his called for someone "forceful in performance in "Marty," most a very gentle way," a characfolks probably know Borgnine terization that utilized both best as Quinton McHale, commander of a motley PT boat Borgnine's "'Wild Bunch' look, where it seems he might rip crew on ABCs 1960s smash "McHale's Navy." your head off and spit down He has a good story to tell your neck it you don't do what he says," and "the happiness in about getting that part, too. his soul and heart." He had told his agent, "No, I'm a motion picture actor, peri. Ashedidinl969'srrheWild od. I don't want to do televi-sioa- " Bunch," Borgnine has played But the next morning a many a bad guy, beginning with his first Western in 1953 kid came to the door selling can- -' "The Stranger Wore a Gun," dy to raise money for a school "The kid said, 'Gee, your face starring Randolph Scott. His breakout film role was as looks awfully familiar. What's " a heavy, too: Sgt. "Fatso" Jud-so- n your name? Borgnine recolin 1953's "From Here to lects. "I said 'James Arness.' He Eternity." It was when he was playing a said, 'No. He does "Gunsmoke. ' I said, 'My name is really thug opposite Spencer Tracy in "Bad Day at Black Rock" that Richard Boone.' "... he auditioned completely The kid responded: "No. He does 'Have Gun Will Travel.' " against type for the role of the Finally, the actor told him: gentle, diffident Bronx butcher in 1955's "Marty," winner of "My name is really Ernest four Academy Awards, includBorgnine." The reaction? ing best picture. How he got the role of Marty "Absolutely nothing ... I paid Piletti is a story he's told many the kid He left. I put down the chocolate bars and called my times, but still tells welL The filmmakers, like most in agent and said, is that part still the business then, thought of open?" 1 cosmcnc WAI?S I I J. THE BORN LOSER V VW WfcSYOUfc PTIN&V4lTA V" WouWDHT NOT GREAT! GT FPC, ) (V I NOT L EXACTLY... THE WIZARD OF ID 60TK5t6HED'r , y MUTTS I ex-co- m f Oscar-winnin- mumcomics com tmtxnm on a 'rwv'fe m T ".Him-BO- g 1 DIET; I ' mmmK t, tmntimft ' MOTHER GOOSE 'GRIMMS I've I T V low-fa- t "SPlKel5 MWJWfSl IHNPPEMTo FwHItH ' W WAVT HERE, SALLY FORTH I Oi) F0R60T TO PICK UP MILK OH, MAN! THE WAY HOME! WHY CANT REMEMBER ANYTHW6?! jri- -1 TAKE tX I SETTING STRESSED f YOU'RE eoilTO j! w JS,N MAKE IT HARDER TO RIGHT. TT ALTHOUGH DONTl WvJ PJH RELAX TOO MUCH. WE STBX NEED MILK. I |