Ernie: The Autobiography by Ernest Borgnine (2008) Here's the guidelines I've always followed before picking up a biography or autobiography of an actor. Any actor.
* Only if it's about an actor I've always loved, admired or always been intrigued, interested or weirdly obsessed by. (Right away, this rule eliminates thousands of actor biographies currently on bookstore and library shelves)
* If I do decide to read an actor's bio, there's a 90 per cent chance I'm going to skip all the opening chapters about their childhood and adolescence. I want to get right to the good stuff.....the inside scoop and dirt and behind the scenes reveals about their careers. To hell with their tortured childhoods. Who cares.....things are tough all over.
(For those who think that last paragraph was a bit on the cruel side, understand this. As a writer of musicals for children's theater companies, I worked closely with actors for over a decade. By the very nature of their profession, it's almost a given they're self absorbed and driven by pure ego.......this leads them to believe that every moment of their lives constitute dramatic keepers worthy of sharing with the world.......uh....nope.)
The only actor whose biographical childhood chapters I bothered to read was Tony Curtis......only because, if you're inclined to believe him, he enjoyed vast amounts of sexual encounters from the very moment he hit puberty.......
But on to Ernest Borgnine, one of the busiest, most prolific and memorable character actors who ever worked in major films. I did skim through a few of his childhood chapters, and I get the feeling, from how quickly they went, do did Ernie.
Here's what I loved.......early on, he announces the book will now launch into what we readers came for......a film by film breakdown of his memories and impressions of every movie and TV show he worked on.......the classics, the junk, his encounters with fellow icons.... the good, bad and ugly.
Everything you'd hope to read about is in here......his groundbreaking role as vile Fatso Judson in "From Here To Eternity", his academy award winning performance in "Marty" and his experiences in working with directors like Robert Aldrich and the wildly rambunctious Sam Peckinpah.
The actor's style here stays gracious and congenial, even as he briefly mentions his five marriages, including his doomed-from-the-start, famously ridiculed 5 month union with the braying Broadway diva Ethel Merman. No doubt he possessed a hot temper, but you'll detect little or none of it this book.
If, like me, you've enjoyed a lifetime of watching Borgnine in the movies, then you should find "Enrie" quite an entertaining read. He knows what everyone wants in an actor's biography and he cheerfully delivers it all. 4 stars (****)
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