Happy Birthday to one of the nicest people in showbiz!! Earnest Borgnine!! He just turned 90 and he's still great!!About 10 years ago, my wife and I attended the taping of "The Single Guy", a sitcom starring Johnathon Silverman on CBS. We were guests of one of the co-stars of that show, the doorman, played by the one and only.... Earnest Borgnine!
He and Robert W. Morgan were buddies and he was a frequent guest of the show. I can't remember the exact details... but from what I can recall, Robert read a TV review about "The Single Guy", then a new sitcom, and the review said something like: "if the show fails it'll be because of Earnest Borgnine!" Robert was livid, he spent the entire show ripping apart this guys review.... got him on the phone and tore him a new one live on the air. He called Borgnine and told him about he review. It was great radio!!!
Shortly after that I wanted to attend a taping of the show. Ernest's assistant Jackie set us up to attend and we had a blast! After the taping of the show I introduced myself to him and told him I worked with Robert. He was pleased to hear about Robert defending him and called him a true friend.
One moment I recall during the taping of the show was during the filming of one scene, Ernie had a punchline that didn't grab the audiences laughter the way he wanted it... they wrote and re-wrote that line until it got the laugh it deserved! A true pro!
Now fast forward a few years later. About 3 years ago, I was in the midst of producing the USO Radiothon for K-Earth 101 and KNX 1070. I was lining up interviews with celebrities who were giving testimonials on why you should donate money to the USO. I decided to call Ernie's assistant to see if he would like to stop by the studio and lay something down for us. After going back and fourth, it was decided that the best thing to do was go to Ernie's house and record the interview!!! Wow!!
Gary Bryan a I drove down to this beautiful humble home south of the Blvd. in the Valley, where we set up shop in his living room. Ernest showed up, sat down and got to business. We only wanted to get a couple of lines from him but we ended up interviewing him for over a 1/2 an hour!! At one point we got to talk about him winning an Academy Award for his role in Marty! He pointed to his entertainment center and said, "there it is... what to hold it??"
It was heavy!!!! I was stoked and will never forget that day!
I was great to see him on TV the other day celebrating his 90th b-day.... he still looks and sounds the way he did ... still full of energy, and still a really nice man!
