The Dirty Dozen is a 1967 war film directed by Robert Aldrich and released by MGM. It was filmed in England and features an ensemble cast, including Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas and Robert Webber. The film is based on E. M. Nathanson's novel of the same name that was potentially inspired by a real life group called the "Filthy Thirteen". In 2001, the American Film Institute placed the film number 65 on their 100 Years... 100 Thrills list.

Plot[link]

In England, in the spring of 1944, Allied forces are preparing for the D-Day invasion. Among them are Major John Reisman (Lee Marvin), an OSS officer; his commander, Regular Army Major General Worden (Ernest Borgnine), and his former commander Colonel Everett Dasher Breed (Robert Ryan). Early in the film the personalities of the three men are shown to clash and the characters of the individualistic Reisman and the domineering Breed are established. Reisman is aided by his friend, the mild mannered Major Max Armbruster (George Kennedy)

Major Reisman is assigned an unusual and top-secret pre-invasion mission: take a small unit of soldiers convicted of felonies and turn them into a commando squad to be sent on a special mission. The mission is an airborne infiltration and assault on a chateau near Rennes in Brittany. The chateau will be hosting a meeting of dozens of high ranking German officers, the elimination of which will presumably hamper the German military's ability to respond to D-Day. Those felons who survive the mission will have their sentences commuted. It quickly becomes clear that both Reisman and his superiors regard the operation as a near suicide mission and expect that few, if any of the felons will return.

Reisman is assigned twelve convicts, all either serving lengthy sentences or destined to be executed. Notable members include slow witted Vernon Pinkley (Donald Sutherland); Robert Jefferson (Jim Brown), an African American soldier convicted of killing a man in a racial brawl; Samson Posey (Clint Walker) a gentle giant who becomes enraged when pushed; Joseph Wladislaw (Charles Bronson) a taciturn coal miner convicted of shooting his squad's medic who was recruited for his ability to speak German; A.J. Maggott (Telly Savalas), a misogynist and religious fanatic; and Victor Franko (John Cassavetes), a former member of the Chicago organized-crime Syndicate who has extreme problems with authority. Under the supervision of Reisman and military police Sergeant Bowren (Richard Jaeckel), the group begin training. After being forced to construct their own living quarters, the twelve individuals are trained in combat by Reisman and gradually learn how to operate as a group. For parachute training they are sent to the base operated by Colonel Breed. Under strict orders to keep their mission secret, Reisman's men run afoul of Breed and his troops, especially when Pinkley poses as a general and inspects Breed's troops. Angered at the usurpation of his authority, Breed attempts to discover Reisman's mission and then attempts to get the program shut down. Major Armbruster suggests a test of whether Reisman's men are ready: during practice maneuvers which Breed will be taking part in, the "Dirty Dozen" will attempt to capture the Colonel's headquarters. During the maneuvers, the men use various unorthodox tactics, including theft, impersonation, and rule breaking, to infiltrate Breed's headquarters and hold him and his men at gunpoint. This proves to the General that Reisman's men are ready.

The night of the raid, the men are flown to France, and practise a rhyme they have learned which details their roles in the operation. There is a slight snag when one of the Dozen, Jiminez (Trini Lopez) breaks his neck and dies upon landing in a tree, but the others proceed with the mission. Wladislaw and Reisman infiltrate the meeting disguised as German officers while Franko and Maggott sneak onto the top floor of the building. The others set up in various locations around the chateau. The plan falls apart when Maggott sees one of the women who had accompanied the officers, abducts her at knifepoint, and orders her to scream. However the officers downstairs ignore her, thinking she is having sex. Maggott then stabs her and begins shooting, alerting the officers. As the officers and their companions retreat to an underground bomb shelter, a general firefight ensues between the Dozen and the German troops. After Wladislaw and Reisman lock the Germans in the bomb shelter, the Dozen pry open the ventilation ducts to the shelter and drop unprimed grenades down, then pour gasoline inside. Jefferson throws a primed grenade down each shaft and sprints for their vehicle, but is shot down as the grenades explode. Reisman, Bowren, Wladislaw, and Franko, the last remaining survivors of the assault team, are making their escape on a German half-track when Franko, shouting triumphantly that he has survived, is shot by a stray round. Back in England only Reisman, Bowren and Wladislaw have managed to get out alive.

The film unfolds in three major acts.

Act one - Identification and "recruiting" the prisoners[link]

After witnessing a hanging in a military jail in London, Major Reisman is briefed on the mission at General Worden's headquarters. As the credits to the film are rolling he walks along the line of 12 prisoners and stares at each of them as Sergeant Bowren (Richard Jaeckel) reads out their sentences.

On March 19, Reisman visits Franko, Wladislaw, Maggott, Posey and Jefferson in their cells. Some details of their crimes are revealed and he uses a different approach with each of them in an effort to gain their cooperation.

Act two - Training[link]

Depicts the unit building their own compound and training for the mission. It highlights the interpersonal conflict between the men, some of whom see the mission as a chance for redemption and others as a chance for escape. The second act places the mission, and the characters, in jeopardy when a breach of military regulations on Reisman's part forces General Worden, at Breed's urging, to have the men—now dubbed the "Dirty Dozen" by Sergeant Bowren because of their refusal to shave or bathe as a protest against their living conditions—prove their worth as soldiers at 'divisional maneuvers', a wargame in "Devonshire".

Act three - The mission[link]

The final act, which was a mere footnote in the novel, is an action sequence detailing the attack on the chateau. The men recite the details of the attack in a chant in order to remember their roles:

1. Down to the road block, we've just begun
2. The guards are through
3. The Major's men are on a spree
4. Major and Wladislaw go through the door
5. Pinkley stays out in the drive
6. The Major gives the rope a fix
7. Wladislaw throws the hook to heaven
8. Jiminez has got a date
9. The other guys go up the line
10. Sawyer and Gilpin are in the pen
11. Posey guards points five and seven
12. Wladislaw and the Major go down to delve
13. Franko goes up without being seen
14. Zero-hour - Jiminez cuts the cable, Franko cuts the phone
15. Franko goes in where the others have been
16. We all come out like it's Halloween

Cast[link]

• Lee Marvin as Maj. John Reisman
• Ernest Borgnine as Maj. Gen. Worden
• Charles Bronson as Joseph Wladislaw
• Jim Brown as Robert T. Jefferson
• John Cassavetes as Victor R. Franko
• Richard Jaeckel as Sgt. Clyde Bowren
• George Kennedy as Maj. Max Armbruster
• Trini Lopez as Pedro Jiminez
• Ralph Meeker as Capt. Stuart Kinder
• Robert Ryan as Col. Everett Dasher Breed
• Telly Savalas as Archer J. Maggott
• Donald Sutherland as Vernon L. Pinkley
• Clint Walker as Samson Posey
• Robert Webber as Brig. Gen. Denton
• Tom Busby as Milo Vladek
• Ben Carruthers as Glenn Gilpin
• Stuart Cooper as Roscoe Lever
• Robert Phillips as Cpl. Carl Morgan
• Al Mancini as Tassos R. Bravos
• Colin Maitland as Seth K. Sawyer

Production[link]

Aldbury - scene of the wargame

Bradenham Manor - Wargames HQ

Although Robert Aldrich had tried to buy the rights to E.M. Nathanson's novel The Dirty Dozen while it was just an outline, MGM succeeded in May 1963. The novel was a best-seller upon publication in 1965.

Filming took place at the MGM British Studios, Borehamwood and the English prison camp location scenes were filmed at Ashridge in Hertfordshire. Wargame scenes were filmed at the village of Aldbury and Bradenham Manor in Buckinghamshire featured as 'Wargames Headquarters'. Beechwood Park School in Markyate was also used as a location during the school's summer holidays, appearing in the film as a military hospital.^[2]

The château was built especially for the production, by art director William Hutchinson. It was 240 ft wide and 50 ft high, surrounded with 5,400 sq. yds. of heather, 400 ferns, 450 shrubs, 30 spruce trees and 6 weeping willows. Construction of the faux château proved problematic. The script required its explosion, but it was so solid that 70 tons of explosives would have been required for the effect. Instead, a cork and plastic section was destroyed.

The film is remembered for being the one during which Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown announced his retirement from football at age 29. The owner of the Browns, Art Modell, demanded Brown choose between football and acting. With Brown's considerable accomplishments in the sport (he was already the NFL's all-time leading rusher, was predominantly ahead statistically of the second-leading rusher, and his team had won the 1964 NFL Championship), he chose acting. Despite his early retirement from football, Brown remains the league's eighth all-time leading rusher, the Cleveland Browns all-time leading rusher, and the only player in league history to have a career average 100 yards per game. In some form of tribute, Art Modell himself said in Spike Lee's Jim Brown: All American documentary, that he made a huge mistake in forcing Jim Brown to choose between football and Hollywood and if he had it to do over again, he would never have made such a demand. Modell fined Jim Brown the equivalent of over $100 per day, a fine which Brown said that "today wouldn't even buy the doughnuts for a team".

Casting[link]

The cast included many World War II US veterans, including (but not limited to) Robert Webber and Robert Ryan (US Marines), Telly Savalas (US Army) and Charles Bronson (Army Air Forces), Ernest Borgnine (Navy) and Clint Walker (Merchant Marine). Marvin served as a Private First Class in the US Marines in the Pacific War and provided technical assistance with uniforms and weapons to create realistic portrayals of combat, yet bitterly complained about the falsity of some scenes. He thought Reisman's wresting the bayonet from the enraged Posey to be particularly phony. Aldrich replied that the plot was preposterous, and that by the time the audience had left the cinema, they would have been so overwhelmed by action, explosions, and killing, that they would have forgotten the lapses.

John Wayne was the original choice for Reisman, but he turned down the role because he objected to the adultery present in the original script, which featured the character having a relationship with an Englishwoman whose husband was fighting on the Continent.^[3] Jack Palance refused the "Archer Maggott" role when they wouldn't rewrite the script to make his character lose his racism; Telly Savalas took the role instead.^[4]

Six of the Dozen were experienced American stars whilst the "Back Six" were actors resident in the UK, Englishman Colin Maitland, Canadians Donald Sutherland and Tom Busby, and Americans Stuart Cooper, Al Mancini and Ben Carruthers. According to commentary on The Dirty Dozen: 2-Disc Special Edition when Trini López left the film early, the death scene of Lopez's character where he blew himself up with the radio tower was given to Busby^[5] (in the film, it is Ben Carruthers' character Glenn Gilpin who is tasked with blowing up the radio tower while Busby's character Milo Vladek is shot in front of the château).^[6] The same commentary also states that the impersonation of the General scene was to have been done by Clint Walker who thought the scene demeaning to his character who was a native American. Aldrich picked out Sutherland for the bit.^[7]

Reception and criticism[link]

In response to the violence of the film, Roger Ebert, in his first year as a film reviewer for the Chicago Sun-Times, wrote sarcastically:

"I'm glad the Chicago Police Censor Board forgot about that part of the local censorship law where it says films shall not depict the burning of the human body. If you have to censor, stick to censoring sex, I say...but leave in the mutilation, leave in the sadism and by all means leave in the human beings burning to death. It's not obscene as long as they burn to death with their clothes on."^[8]

In another contemporary review, Bosley Crowther called it "an astonishingly wanton war film" and a "studied indulgence of sadism that is morbid and disgusting beyond words"; he also noted:

"It is not simply that this violent picture of an American military venture is based on a fictional supposition that is silly and irresponsible.... But to have this bunch of felons a totally incorrigible lot, some of them psychopathic, and to try to make us believe that they would be committed by any American general to carry out an exceedingly important raid that a regular commando group could do with equal efficiency — and certainly with greater dependability — is downright preposterous."^[9]

Crowther called some of the portrayals "bizarre and bold":

"Marvin's taut, pugnacious playing of the major ... is tough and terrifying. John Cassavetes is wormy and noxious as a psychopath condemned to death, and Telly Savalas is swinish and maniacal as a religious fanatic and sex degenerate. Charles Bronson as an alienated murderer, Richard Jaeckel as a hard-boiled military policeman, and Jim Brown as a white-hating Negro stand out in the animalistic group."^[9]

Variety was more positive, calling it an "exciting Second World War pre-D-Day drama" based on a "good screenplay" with a "ring of authenticity to it"; they drew particular attention to the performances by Marvin, Cassavetes, and Bronson.^[10]

The Time Out Film Guide notes that over the years, "The Dirty Dozen has taken its place alongside that other commercial classic, The Magnificent Seven:

"The violence which liberal critics found so offensive has survived intact. Aldrich sets up dispensable characters with no past and no future, as Marvin reprieves a bunch of death row prisoners, forges them into a tough fighting unit, and leads them on a suicide mission into Nazi France. Apart from the values of team spirit, cudgeled by Marvin into his dropout group, Aldrich appears to be against everything: anti-military, anti-Establishment, anti-women, anti-religion, anti-culture, anti-life. Overriding such nihilism is the super-crudity of Aldrich's energy and his humour, sufficiently cynical to suggest that the whole thing is a game anyway, a spectacle that demands an audience."^[11]

The film currently holds a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 21 reviews.^[12]

Awards[link]

The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning in the category Best Sound Effects.^[13]

• Actor in a Supporting Role (John Cassavetes)
• Film Editing (Michael Luciano)
• Sound
• Sound Effects (John Poyner) (Won)

Box office performance[link]

This film was the fifth highest grossing picture of 1967, earning a net profit of $18,200,000.^[14]

Basis in fact[link]

The Dirty Dozen is not the story of a real unit. In the prologue to the novel, Nathanson states that, while he heard a legend that such a unit may have existed, he was unable to find any corroboration in the archives of the US Army in Europe.

However, there was a unit called the "Filthy Thirteen", an airborne demolition unit documented in the eponymous book,^[15] and this unit's exploits inspired the fictional account. Barbara Maloney, the daughter of John Agnew, a private in the Filthy Thirteen, told the American Valor Quarterly that her father felt that 30% of the movie's content was historically correct, including a scene where officers are captured. Unlike the Dirty Dozen, the Filthy Thirteen were not convicts; however, they were men prone to drinking and fighting and often spent time in the stockade.^[16][17]

Both the Germans and Soviets used convicted men in high risk operations during the war.

Sequels and adaptations[link]

Three years after The Dirty Dozen was released, Too Late the Hero—a film also directed by Aldrich—was described as a "kind of sequel to The Dirty Dozen".^[18] The 1969 Michael Caine film Play Dirty follows a similar theme of convicts-recruited-as-soldiers.

Several made-for-TV movies were produced in the mid- to late-1980s which capitalized on the popularity of the first film. Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine reprised their roles for The Dirty Dozen: The Next Mission in 1985, leading a group of military convicts in a mission to kill a German general who was plotting to assassinate Adolf Hitler.^[19] In The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission (1987), Telly Savalas, who had played the role of the psychotic Maggott in the original film, assumed the different role of Major Wright, an officer who leads a group of military convicts to extract a group of German scientists who are being forced to make a deadly nerve gas.^[20] Ernest Borgnine again reprised his role of General Worden. The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission (1988) depicts Savalas's Wright character and a group of renegade soldiers attempting to prevent a group of extreme German generals from starting a Fourth Reich, with Erik Estrada co-starring and Ernest Borgnine again playing the role of General Worden.^[21] In 1988, FOX aired a short-lived television series, with no major stars, that lasted only eleven episodes.^[22]

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Dirty Dozen at the Internet Movie Database
• The Dirty Dozen at AllRovi
• The Dirty Dozen at the TCM Movie Database

Dirty Dozen may refer to:

Chemistry

• The first group of compounds identified as Persistent organic pollutants.

Music

• Bonkers 12: The Dirty Dozen, a compilation album
• Dirty Dozen Brass Band, a New Orleans jazz band
• D12, an American hip hop group
• The Dirty Dozen (album), by George Thorogood and the Destroyers
• Dirty Dozen (album) by Hugh Cornwell
• The Dirty Dozen, a song recorded by Jelly Roll Morton on the Library of Congress Recordings

Sports

• Dirty Dozen (American football), a group of Dallas Cowboys players drafted in 1975
• The United States men's basketball team at the 1998 World Championship
• The Dublin team who won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship 1983 in the infamous "Game of Shame" final
• The Dirty Dozen (bicycle competition), a bicycle competition in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA, featuring the 13 steepest hills in the city and surrounding area.

Other uses

• Dirty dozen (Stockholm Convention), a group of twelve persistent organic pollutants (POPs)
• The Dirty Dozen, a film
• The Dirty Dozen (book), a book by Robert A. Levy and William Mellor about twelve Supreme Court decisions
• Dirty Dozens, an improvised trash-talk competition
• Saddam's Dirty Dozen, a group of people who carried out the orders of Saddam Hussein
• The Dirty Dozen, a group of soldiers in the novel Wolf Island
• The Dirty Dozen, a list published by the League of Conservation Voters
• CS-12, "The Dirty Dozen" at the United States Air Force Academy

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Lee Marvin
Marvin in 1971.
Born	(1924-02-19)February 19, 1924 New York City, New York, United States
Died	August 29, 1987(1987-08-29) (aged 63) Tucson, Arizona, United States
Cause of death	Heart failure
Resting place	Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, United States
Residence	Tucson, Arizona
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1950–1986
Home town	Hartford, Connecticut
Spouse	Betty Ebeling (1951–67; divorced) Pamela Feeley (1970–87; his death)
Partner	Michelle Triola (1965-1970)

Lee Marvin (February 19, 1924 – August 29, 1987) was an American film actor.^[1] Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)^[2] stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou (1965), he landed more heroic and sympathetic leading roles.

Early life[link]

Marvin was born in New York City. He was the son of Lamont Waltman Marvin, an advertising executive and the head of the New York and New England Apple Institute, and his wife Courtenay Washington (née Davidge), a fashion writer and beauty consultant.^[3] He was named in honor of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who was his first cousin, four times removed.^[4] His father was a direct descendant of Matthew Marvin, Sr., who emigrated from Great Bentley, Essex, England in 1635 and helped found Hartford, Connecticut.^[3]

Marvin studied violin when he was young.^[5] As a teenager, Marvin "spent weekends and spare time hunting deer, puma, wild turkey, and bobwhite in the wilds of the then-uncharted Everglades."^[6] He attended St. Leo College Preparatory School in St. Leo, Florida after being expelled from several other schools for bad behavior.^[7]

Marvin left school to join the United States Marine Corps, serving as a Scout Sniper in the 4th Marine Division.^[8] He was wounded in action during the WWII Battle of Saipan, in the assault on Mount Tapochau, during which most of his company ("I" Company, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division) were killed.^[9] Marvin's wound (in the buttocks) was from machine gun fire, which severed his sciatic nerve.^[10] He was awarded the Purple Heart and was given a medical discharge with the rank of Private First Class.^[11] Contrary to rumors, Marvin did not serve with producer and actor Bob Keeshan during World War II.^[11]

Career[link]

After the war, while working as a plumber's assistant at a local community theatre in Upstate New York, Marvin was asked to replace an actor who had fallen ill during rehearsals. He then began an amateur Off-Broadway acting career in New York City and served as an understudy in Broadway productions.

In 1950, Marvin moved to Hollywood. He found work in supporting roles, and from the beginning was cast in various war films. As a decorated combat veteran, Marvin was a natural in war dramas, where he frequently assisted the director and other actors in realistically portraying infantry movement, arranging costumes, and the use of firearms. His debut was in You're in the Navy Now (1951), and in 1952 he appeared in several films, including Don Siegel's Duel at Silver Creek, Hangman's Knot, and the war drama Eight Iron Men. He played Gloria Grahame's vicious boyfriend in Fritz Lang's The Big Heat (1953). Marvin had a small but memorable role in The Wild One (1953) opposite Marlon Brando (Marvin's gang in the film was called "The Beetles"), followed by Seminole (1953) and Gun Fury (1953). He also had a notable small role as smart-aleck sailor Meatball in The Caine Mutiny. He had a substantially more important part as Hector, the small town hood in Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) with Spencer Tracy.

During the mid-1950s, Marvin gradually began playing more important roles. He starred in Attack, (1956) had a good supporting role in the Western Seven Men from Now (1956) and starred in The Missouri Traveler (1958) but it took over one hundred episodes as Chicago cop Frank Ballinger in the successful 1957-1960 television series M Squad to actually give him name recognition. One critic described the show as "a hyped-up, violent Dragnet... with a hard-as-nails Marvin" playing a tough police lieutenant. Marvin received the role after guest-starring in a memorable Dragnet episode as a serial killer.

Marvin in Attack

In the 1960s, Marvin was given prominent supporting roles in such films as The Comancheros (1961), John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), and Donovan's Reef (1963), all starring John Wayne, with Marvin's roles getting larger with each film. As the vicious Liberty Valance, Marvin played his first title role and held his own with two of the screen's biggest stars (Wayne and James Stewart).

For director Don Siegel, Marvin appeared in The Killers (1964) playing an efficient professional assassin alongside Clu Gulager. The Killers was also the first film in which Marvin received top billing and the only time Ronald Reagan played a villain, rendering an extremely convincing performance in his last movie role before entering politics.

Marvin won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Actor for his comic role in the offbeat Western Cat Ballou starring Jane Fonda. He also won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 15th Berlin International Film Festival.^[12]

Marvin in 1959 from the set of M Squad

Next Marvin performed in the hit Western The Professionals (1966), in which he played the leader of a small band of skilled mercenaries (Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, and Woody Strode) rescuing a kidnap victim (Claudia Cardinale) shortly after the Mexican Revolution. He followed that film with the hugely successful World War II epic The Dirty Dozen (1967) in which top-billed Marvin again portrayed an intrepid commander of a colorful group (future stars John Cassavetes, Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas, Jim Brown, and Donald Sutherland) performing an almost impossible mission. In the wake of these two films and after having received an Oscar, Marvin was a huge star given enormous control over his next film. In Point Blank, an influential film for director John Boorman, he portrayed a hard-nosed criminal bent on revenge. Marvin, who had selected Boorman himself for the director's slot, had a central role in the film's development, plot line, and staging. In 1968, Marvin also appeared in another Boorman film, the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful World War II character study Hell in the Pacific, also starring famed Japanese actor Toshirō Mifune. Marvin was originally cast as Pike Bishop (later played by William Holden) in The Wild Bunch (1969), but fell out with director Sam Peckinpah and pulled out in order to star in the Western musical Paint Your Wagon (1969), in which he was top-billed over a singing Clint Eastwood. Despite his limited singing ability, he had a hit song with "Wand'rin' Star". By this time he was getting paid a million dollars per film, $200,000 less than top star Paul Newman was making at the time; yet he was ambivalent about the film business, even with its financial rewards:^[5]

"You spend the first forty years of your life trying to get in this fucking business, and the next forty years trying to get out. And then when you're making the bread, who needs it?"

Marvin had a much greater variety of roles in the 1970s and 1980s, with fewer 'bad-guy' roles than in earlier years. His 1970s films included Monte Walsh (1970) with Jeanne Moreau, the violent Prime Cut (1972) with Gene Hackman, Pocket Money (1972) with Paul Newman, Emperor of the North Pole (1973) opposite Ernest Borgnine, as Hickey in The Iceman Cometh (1973) with Fredric March and Robert Ryan, The Spikes Gang (1974) with Noah Beery, Jr., The Klansman (1974) with Richard Burton, Shout at the Devil (1976) with Roger Moore, The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday (1976) with Oliver Reed, and Avalanche Express (1978) with Robert Shaw. Marvin was offered the role of Quint in Jaws (1975) but declined, stating "What would I tell my fishing friends who'd see me come off a hero against a dummy shark?".^[13] Marvin's immediately-previous co-star Robert Shaw accepted the part, which gave Shaw his most prominent role and vaulted the supporting player into mainstream leading man status.

Marvin's last big role was in Samuel Fuller's The Big Red One (1980), a war film based on Fuller's own war experiences. His remaining films were Death Hunt (1981) with Charles Bronson, Gorky Park (1983), Dog Day (1984), and The Dirty Dozen: The Next Mission (1985; a sequel with Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, and Richard Jaeckel picking up where they'd left off despite being 18 years older); his final appearance was in The Delta Force (1986) with Chuck Norris.

Personal life[link]

A father of four, Marvin was married twice. His first marriage to Betty Ebeling began in February 1951 and ended in divorce on January 5, 1967; during this time his hobbies included sport fishing off the Baja California coast and duck hunting along the Mexican border near Mexicali.^[6] He and Ebeling had a son, Christopher (b. 1952), and three daughters: Courtenay (b. 1954), Cynthia (b. 1956) and Claudia (b. 1958).^{[citation needed]}

He was married to Pamela Feeley (who had been his girlfriend in Woodstock, New York a quarter century earlier) from October 18, 1970 until his death.^[14]

Gravestone, Arlington National Cemetery

During the 1970s, Marvin resided off and on in Woodstock, caring for his dying father,^[15] and would make regular trips to Cairns, Australia to engage in marlin fishing.^[16] In 1975 Marvin and Pamela moved to Tucson, where he lived until his death.

Marvin was a liberal Democrat who opposed the Vietnam War and declared his support for the gay rights movement in a January 1969 interview with Playboy magazine. He publicly endorsed John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election.

Death[link]

Marvin was a heavy smoker from an early age. In December 1986, Marvin underwent intestinal surgery after suffering abdominal pains while at his ranch outside Tucson. Doctors said then that there was an inflammation of the colon, but that no malignancy was found. He died of a heart attack on August 29, 1987 after being hospitalized for more than two weeks because of "a run-down condition related to the flu."^[17] He is interred at Arlington National Cemetery where his headstone reads "Lee Marvin, PFC US Marine Corps, World War II".^[18]

Community property case[link]

See also Marvin v. Marvin

In 1971, Marvin was sued by Michelle Triola, his live-in girlfriend from 1965–1970, who legally changed her surname to 'Marvin'.^[5] Though the couple never married, she sought financial compensation similar to that available to spouses under California's alimony and community property laws. Triola claimed Marvin made her pregnant three times and paid for two abortions, while one pregnancy ended in miscarriage.^[19] She claimed the second abortion left her unable to bear children.^[19] The result was the landmark "palimony" case, Marvin v. Marvin, 18 Cal. 3d 660 (1976).^[20] In 1979, Marvin was ordered to pay $104,000 to Triola for "rehabilitation purposes" but the court denied her community property claim for one-half of the $3.6 million which Marvin had earned during their six years of cohabitation - distinguishing non-marital relationship contracts from marriage, with community property rights only attaching to the latter by operation of law. Rights equivalent to community property only apply in non-marital relationship contracts when the parties expressly, whether orally or in writing, contract for such rights to operate between them. After the case, Marvin was the subject of controversy when he said that the trial was a "circus" and that "everyone was lying, even I lied."

In August 1981, the California Court of Appeal found there was no such contract, and thus nullified the award she had been made.^[21][22] Michelle Triola died of lung cancer on October 30, 2009.^[23]

This case was used as fodder for a mock debate skit on Saturday Night Live called "Point Counterpoint".^[24]

Partial filmography[link]

Television appearances[link]

Marvin's appearances on television included Rebound (debut), M Squad, Climax!, Biff Baker, U.S.A., Dragnet, The Ford Show Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford, General Electric Theater, The Investigators, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Route 66, The Untouchables, Checkmate, The Dick Powell Show, Combat!, The Twilight Zone, Kraft Suspense Theatre, Dr. Kildare, Wagon Train, Bonanza, and The Virginian.

See also[link]

Biography portal

• The Sons of Lee Marvin, a tongue-in-cheek secret society dedicated to Marvin

References[link]

External links[link]

• Lee Marvin at the Internet Movie Database
• Lee Marvin at the Internet Broadway Database
• Profile of Marvin in Film Comment
• Lessons From Lee Marvin article

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2010)

Ernest Borgnine
Receiving Oscar in 1956 for Marty, from Grace Kelly
Born	Ermes Effron Borgnino (1917-01-24) January 24, 1917 (age 95) Hamden, Connecticut, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1951–present
Spouse	Rhoda Kemins (1949–58; divorced; 1 child) Katy Jurado (1959–63; divorced) Ethel Merman (1964–65; divorced) Donna Rancourt (1965–72; divorced; 3 children) Tova Traesnaes (1973–present)
Signature

Ernest Borgnine (born Ermes Effron Borgnino; January 24, 1917)^[1][2] is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty. On television, he played Quinton McHale in the 1962–66 series McHale's Navy and co-starred in the mid-1980s action series Airwolf, in addition to a wide variety of other roles. Borgnine is also known for his role as Mermaid Man in the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. Borgnine earned an Emmy Award nomination at age 92 for his work on the series ER.

Early life[link]

Borgnine was born in Hamden, Connecticut, the son of Anna (née Boselli), who immigrated to the United States from Carpi (Modena, Italy), and Camillo Borgnino, who immigrated to the U.S. from Ottiglio (Province of Alessandria, Italy).^[3]

His parents separated when he was two years old, and he and his mother went to live in Italy. By 1923, his parents had reconciled, and the family name was changed from Borgnino to Borgnine. The family had settled in North Haven, Connecticut, where he attended public schools. His mother also had the passion to develop her own style of dance.^{[citation needed]} Anna gave her son a lot of moral support and he stood closely by her at all times.^{[citation needed]}

Naval career[link]

Borgnine joined the United States Navy in 1935, after graduation from James Hillhouse High School^[4] in New Haven, Connecticut. He was discharged in 1941, but re-enlisted when the United States entered World War II and served until 1945 (a total of ten years), reaching the rank of Gunner's Mate 1st Class. He served aboard the destroyer USS Lamberton (DD-119). His military decorations included the Navy Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal with Fleet Clasp, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.

In a British Film Institute interview about his life and career, Borgnine said of the war:

After World War II we wanted no more part in war. I didn't even want to be a boy-scout. I went home and said that I was through with the Navy and so now, what do we do? So I went home to mother, and after a few weeks of patting on the back and, 'You did good,' and everything else, one day she said, 'Well?' like mothers do. Which meant, 'Alright, you gonna get a job or what?' ^[5]

In 2004, Borgnine received the honorary rank of Chief Petty Officer from the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Terry D. Scott—the US Navy's highest ranking enlisted sailor at the time—for Borgnine's support of the Navy and naval families worldwide.

Acting career[link]

After the war was over he returned to his parents' home with no job and no direction. Since he wasn't willing to settle for a dead-end job at one of the factories, his mother encouraged him to pursue a more glamorous profession and suggested that his personality would be well-suited for the stage. He surprised his mother by taking the suggestion to heart, although his father was far from enthusiastic. After graduation, he auditioned and was accepted to the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia, so-called for its audiences bartering their produce for admission during the Great Depression. In 1947, he landed his first stage role in State of the Union. Although it was a short role, he won over the audience. His next role was as the Gentleman Caller in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie. In 1949, he had his Broadway debut in the role of a nurse in the play Harvey. More roles on stage led him to being a decades-long character actor.

In 1951, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he eventually received his big break in From Here to Eternity (1953), playing the cruel Sergeant "Fatso" Judson in charge of the stockade, who taunts fellow soldier Angelo Maggio (played by Frank Sinatra). Borgnine built a reputation as a dependable character actor and appeared in early film roles as villains, including movies like Johnny Guitar, Vera Cruz and Bad Day at Black Rock. But in 1955, the actor starred as a warm-hearted butcher in Marty, the film version of the television play of the same name, which gained him an Academy Award for Best Actor over Frank Sinatra and former Best Actors Spencer Tracy and James Cagney.

Borgnine's film career continued successfully through the 1960s, 1970s and the 1980s, including The Vikings, The Flight of the Phoenix, The Dirty Dozen, Ice Station Zebra, The Poseidon Adventure, The Black Hole and Escape from New York. One of his most famous roles became that of Dutch, a member of The Wild Bunch in the 1969 Western classic from director Sam Peckinpah.

Of his role in 'The Wild Bunch', he later said, 'I did [think it was a moral film]. Because to me, every picture should have some kind of a moral to it. I feel that when we used to watch old pictures, as we still do I'm sure, the bad guys always got it in the end and the good guys always won out. Today it's a little different. Today it seems that the bad guys are getting the good end of it. There was always a moral in our story.'^[5]

Character actor[link]

Borgnine made his TV debut as a character actor in Captain Video and His Video Rangers, beginning in 1951. These two episodes led to countless other television roles that Borgnine would gain in Goodyear Television Playhouse, Short Short Dramas, The Ford Television Theatre, Waterfront, The Lone Wolf, Fireside Theatre, The O. Henry Playhouse, Frontier Justice, Laramie, The Blue Angels, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, Run for Your Life, Little House on the Prairie's two-part episode - "The Lord is My Shepherd", The Love Boat, Magnum, P.I., Highway to Heaven with old friend Michael Landon, Murder, She Wrote, Walker, Texas Ranger, Touched by an Angel and the final episodes of ER, among many others.

In 2009, at the age of 92, Borgnine earned an Emmy nomination for his performances in the final two episodes of the long-running NBC medical series ER.

Television roles[link]

[edit] McHale's Navy

In 1962, Borgnine joined the ranks of other sitcom stars such as John Forsythe, Andy Griffith, Danny Thomas, Alan Young, Fred MacMurray and Buddy Ebsen. That same year he signed a contract with Universal Studios for the lead role as the gruff but lovable skipper Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale in what began as a serious one-hour 1962 episode called Seven Against the Sea for Alcoa Premiere. Just like the McHale character, Borgnine was a longtime navy man in real life. It later was reworked to comedy and became McHale's Navy, a World War II sitcom that co-starred two formerly unknown comedians/actors, the late Joe Flynn as Capt. Wallace B. Binghamton and Tim Conway as Ensign Charles Parker. Both of them got along very well with Borgnine, especially Conway. The insubordinate crew of PT-73 helped the show become an overnight success during its first season, although it did not land in the Top 30 until 1963, when it tied with Hazel in the ratings. Borgnine thrived on the adulation from fans for their favorite Navy man. He received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 1963. At the end of the fourth season in 1966 low ratings and repetitive story lines brought McHale's Navy to an end. Borgnine was not happy about the show’s cancellation and was concerned about what television role he might play in the future. He also starred in the 1964 film version of the series and later appeared in a cameo performance in the 1997 remake.

[edit] Airwolf

Borgnine returned to a new contract with Universal Studios in 1983, for a co-starring role opposite Jan-Michael Vincent, on Airwolf. After he was approached by producer Donald P. Bellisario, who had been impressed by Borgnine's guest role as a wrestler in a 1982 episode of Magnum, P.I., he immediately agreed. He played Dominic Santini, a helicopter pilot, in the series which became an immediate hit. Borgnine's strong performances belied his exhaustion due to the grueling production schedule, and the challenges of working with his younger, troubled series lead. The show was cancelled by CBS in 1986.

[edit] The Single Guy

He auditioned a third time for a co-starring role opposite Jonathan Silverman in The Single Guy as doorman Manny Cordoba, which lasted two seasons. According to Silverman, Borgnine would come to work with more energy and passion than all other stars combined. He was the first person to arrive on the set every day and the last to leave.

Other activities[link]

Also in 1996, Borgnine toured the US on a bus to meet his fans and see the country. The trip was the subject of a 1997 documentary, Ernest Borgnine on the Bus. He also served one year as the Chairman of the National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans, visiting patients in many Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers.

Borgnine is a Freemason in Hollywood Lodge No. 355, and a 33rd° Scottish Rite Mason in the Southern Masonic Jurisdiction. He is also a member of the Loyal Order of Moose at that organization's Lodge in Junction City, OR.^{[citation needed]}

Borgnine has volunteered to be Stories of Service National spokesman, urging his fellow World War II vets to come forward and share their stories.

Work since 1999[link]

Borgnine in October 2004

Since 1999, Borgnine has provided his voice talent to the animated sitcom SpongeBob SquarePants as the elderly superhero Mermaid Man (where he is once again paired up with his McHale's Navy co-star Tim Conway as the voice of Mermaid Man's sidekick Barnacle Boy). He has expressed affection for this role, in no small part for its popularity among children. Borgnine also appears as himself in The Simpsons episode "Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood", in addition to a number of television commercials. In 2000, he was the executive producer of Hoover, in which he is the only credited actor.

In 2007, 90-year-old Borgnine starred in the Hallmark original film A Grandpa for Christmas. He played a man who, after his estranged daughter is in a car accident, discovers that he has a granddaughter he never knew about. She is taken into his care, and they soon become great friends. Borgnine received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television for his performance. At 90, he was the oldest Golden Globe nominee ever.

On April 2, 2009, Borgnine starred in the last episode of the long-running medical series ER. His role was that of a husband whose long marriage ended with his wife's death. In his final scene, Borgnine's character is in a hospital bed lying beside his just-deceased wife. His performance garnered an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, his third nomination and his first in 29 years (since being nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special in 1980 for All Quiet on the Western Front).

In 2009, at age 92, he was the main character in Another Harvest Moon, directed by Greg Swartz and also starring Piper Laurie and Anne Meara. On October 2, 2010, Borgnine appeared as himself in a sketch on Saturday Night Live. On October 15, 2010 he appeared in his latest movie, Red, which was filmed earlier that year.

Autobiography[link]

Borgnine's autobiography Ernie was published by Citadel Press in July 2008. Ernie is a loose, conversational recollection of highlights from his acting career and notable events from his personal life.

In the wake of the book's publication, he began a small promotional tour, visiting independent bookstores in the Los Angeles area to promote the book's release and meet some of his fans.^[6]

Personal life[link]

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Borgnine in April 2010

Borgnine has been married five times. He was first married to Rhoda Kemins (1949–1958), whom he met while serving in the Navy;^[7] They had one daughter,Nancee (born August 18, 1952). Then he married actress Katy Jurado (1959–1963) Borgnine once referred to his second ex-wife this way: "Beautiful, but a tiger."

He later married singer Ethel Merman (1964); the marriage barely lasted a month. Their divorce was finalised on May 25, 1965. Borgnine married Donna Rancourt (1965–1972), with whom he had a son, Christopher (born August 9, 1969) and two daughters, Sharon (born August 5, 1965) and Diana (born December 29, 1970). His fifth and current marriage is to Tova Traesnaes (married February 24, 1973).

He has one sister, Evelyn Velardi (b. 1926). His mother, Anna Borgnine, died in 1949, after a long battle against tuberculosis, just days before his first wedding.

On January 24, 2007, Borgnine celebrated his 90th birthday at a bistro in West Hollywood, California. Guests included his wife Tova, decades-long friend Tim Conway, Dennis Farina, Army Archerd, Andy Granatelli, Bo Hopkins, Burt Young, Steven Bauer, his son Cris Borgnine, grandson Anthony Borgnine, Connie Stevens, David Gerber, Debbie Reynolds, Joe Mantegna, Norm Crosby and many more.

On February 24, 2008, Borgnine celebrated the 35th anniversary of his marriage to cosmetics maker Tova Traenaes.

He is a member of the Lambda chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

Borgnine as "Grand Clown" in June 1973

A street was named in Borgnine’s honor in his hometown of Hamden, Connecticut, where he still enjoys a large and vocal following. There is also a Mexican-themed restaurant in New York City with a shrine dedicated to Borgnine.^[8]

For 30 years (1972–2002), Borgnine marched in Milwaukee's annual Great Circus Parade as the "Grand Clown."^[9]

In 2000, he received his 50-year pin as a Freemason in Abingdon Lodge No. 48, Abingdon, Virginia. He joined the Scottish Rite Valley of Los Angeles in 1964, received the KCCH in 1979, was coroneted a 33° Inspector General Honorary in 1983, and received the Grand Cross of the Court of Honour in 1991.^[10]

On August 14, 2008, Borgnine was interviewed on FoxNews when he was asked about the secret to his longevity. Laughingly Borgnine responds "I don't dare tell you," but then he leans over to whisper into the ear of his interviewer, but the whisper is caught by the microphone, "I masturbate a lot."^[11][12] This incident was lampooned in the 30 Rock episode "The Funcooker" which aired in March the following year, where Tracy Jordan, who has just been fined by the FCC for cursing on air, believes his paying for his transgression gives him increased license: "I can even say what Ernest Borgnine whispered to me."

Awards and nominations[link]

Borgnine won the 1955 Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Marty Piletti in the film Marty.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Ernest Borgnine has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6324 Hollywood Blvd. In 1996, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

He was honored with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award at the 17th annual SAG Awards, held January 30, 2011.^[13]

Each year, a dinner is held in Borgnine's honor by Tortilla Flats, a Mexican restaurant in Manhattan's West Village. February 2010 was the eighteenth consecutive year for the celebration. In addition to sitting in booths decorated with his photos, dinner guests answer trivia questions while wearing sailor hats and Borgnine masks.^[14]

Filmography[link]