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Show T served as a chief gunner's mate. Their marriage was apparently a happy one until Ernie achieved Hollywood success first as the sadistic Fatso Judson in From Here to Eternity and then in the title role of Marty, the film which won him an Academy Award. "The moment I won the Oscar," Borgnine says, "everything changed except me. I won the award but my wife Rhoda started wearing the dark glasses, and in no time at all our marriage was on the rocks." Mexican actress next No sooner was Borgnine free of Rhoda than he married Katy Jurado, a tempestuous Mexican actress with two children by a previous marriage. Celebrating their second anniversary, they staged a beautiful, knockdown, drag-ofight on the Via Veneto in Rome. Ernie chased Katy all over the city in a cab, finally collared her, and carried her screaming and clawing into their hotel. "We had some real rough-toug- h fights," Katy later revealed, "mostly because Ernie was insanely jealous and complained all the time that I did nothing, absolutely nothing, right." The third Mrs. Borgnine was the most famous Ethel Merman, the Broadway singing star, several years Ernie's senior whom he married June 26, 1964. At the wedding Ernie showered Ethel with $10,000 worth of flowers. He hired 36 violinists to serenade her. They cruised to Japan on their honeymoon. But the marriage lasted only 38 days. "I'm a lover not a fighter," Ethel Merman later explained. "Insofar as I'm concerned this marriage is a big, fat mistake." Five months later she had her divorce. Unable to remain single for any appreciable time, Borgnine a few months later eloped to Juarez, Mexico, with actress Donna Granoucci Rancourt. They were married on July 7, 1965. When asked about his fourth marital venture, the actor announced, "This time it's for keeps. I can assure you that my marriage to Donna will be my last. She has nothing to do with show business. All she wants is to be my wife." Borgnine (I.) as the sadistic Fatso Judson in "From Here to Eternity," his first success. At right, Montgomery Clift holds back Frank Sinatra. ut 38 days, divorced him five months later. Donna Rancourt, No. 4, stuck it out seven years, and bore him two children. "before was flying to Los Angeles every weekend to see him. And maybe you won't believe this, and I know I'm prattling on like an infatuated schoolgirl, but the truth is our romance grows better all the time. We got married in secret because Ernie said he didn't want me to be publicized as wife Nun ber I 5. "And I must tell you this: when we were in Niagara Falls he sang to me. He still sings to me every morning. His favorite song is 'For Once in My Life.' "About his other wives, I don't know very much. What I do know is that he's been taken advantage of, because he gives so much of himself to everyone." It may very well be that love for Ernie is lovelier the fifth time around and that the years have mellowed him into But a lovable, pliant marshmallow. that's not how his four previous wives see him. The first, Rhoda Kemins, built like a Notre Dame tackle, divorced Borgnine in 1958 after nine years of marriage, with allegations of cruelty. She knew him on the way up, when he was a struggling young actor not too long discharged from the Navy in which he'd 73 7 years, 2 children After two children and seven years of marriage, Mrs. Borgnine Number 4 told a judge in Los Angeles that sweet, sentimental Ernie had threatened to kill her and their two children, that she had paid out more than $15,000 for armed guards, and that she wanted a divorce. The judge ordered Borgnine to be a good boy and pay his family $1500 a month. Then, announcing that "there is paranoia on both sides of this case," he granted Donna Borgnine a divorce. Of his sad and expensive marital history, Borgnine has this to say: "When a marriage breaks up some people think it's alv.ays the man's fault. It's not. I've had some awful things happen to me. With Betsy Blair in "Marty," for which he won an Oscar in the role of a lonely butcher. He says the Oscar helped break up his first marriage. Flanked by Red Buttons and Stella Stevens in "The Poseidon Adventure," his latest film. Of his marriages, he sums up: " never hurt anyone." "You go on location, and you come back to find that your kids have been taken away from you, and your wife says she's not going to live with you anymore because she prefers younger men. 'Still a gentleman' "Your car is desecrated; your home is desecrated. No man should have to put up with that. My conscience doesn't bother me one bit. I still love my kids, and I'm still a gentleman. In fact I'm the kind of softy who cries at something beautiful like a sunset. "I've never hurt anyone inside of marriage or out. I'm the guy who's been hurt. But I know this marriage to Tove will work out because we're dedicated to each other. We've promised each other to be honest and aboveboard about everything and to discuss any problems that come up. That's why I'm sure this marriage is going to succeed." Ernest Borgnine, 58, originally from New Haven, Conn., but now of Hollywood, Calif., is on the record one of the screen colony's foremost optimists. Only Mickey Rooney, with seven wives to his credit, tops him. 5 |