Henry Winkler: Simply Amazing

October 30, 2023October 30, 2023 / thewritelife61 / 2 Comments

Today we are learning about the career of Henry Winkler. Although he was typecast for many years following Happy Days, he managed to continue his career with a variety of roles.

His parents were German Jews who lived in Berlin during the occupation of Nazi Germany. His father knew they would not be safe there and left in 1939. Winkler described what happened in an interview with Terry Gross on NPR in 2019: “My father knew that it was time. He got a six-week visa from Germany to come and do work in New York but was expected to come right back. I have told this story–that he took his mother’s jewelry, bought a box of chocolate, melted the chocolate down, put the pieces of jewelry in the chocolate box, melted–poured the chocolate over the jewelry, put the box under his arm, so when he was stopped by the Nazis and they said, are you taking anything of value out of Germany, he said, no, you can open every bag; we’ve got nothing. And the jewelry that he encased in chocolate, he sold when he came out of Ellis Island into New York and was able to start a new life here, slowly but surely. I have the actual letters from the government each time my father requested to stay a little longer, and they would say yes. And I was born.”

Although his family did not keep kosher, Henry and his sister Beatrice were raised with the traditions of Conservative Judaism.

Winkler struggled with his studies but he was popular and very funny. His parents were frustrated by his inability to learn. Apparently, his father spoke eleven languages and could easily do math in his head. Henry’s self-esteem began to suffer during these years. Because his grades weren’t better, he was banned from most theater productions, which was what he was most interested in. He was able to appear in “Billy Budd” in eighth grade and in “Of Thee I Sing” in high school.

When Winkler gave a talk at the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, he tried to describe what it had been like for him in school: “You want so badly to be able to do it and you can’t. And no matter how hard you try, it’s not working . . . I would study my words. I would know them cold. I would know them backwards and forwards. I would go to class. I would pray that I had retained them. Then I would get the test and spend a lot of time thinking about where the hell those words went. I knew them. They must have fallen out of my head. Did I lose them on the street? Did I lose them in the stairwell? Did I lose them walking through the classroom doorway? I didn’t have the slightest idea of how to spell the words that I knew a block and a half away in my apartment the night before.”

Henry Winkler Talks About His Dyslexia in CBS Interview | Understood - For learning and thinking differences — Photo: understood.org

After high school, he attended Emerson College to study theater. He applied to 28 colleges but his grades kept him from being accepted at 26 of them. He majored in theater and minored in child psychology. During his time there he was a member of the Alph Pi Theta fraternity. He had a role in “Peer Gynt” as Peer Gynt. Although he also struggled with college courses, he stayed the course for four years and graduated in 1967. He was admitted to the Yale School of Drama in 1967. He appeared in a number of productions there. He received his MFA in 1970. Twenty-six years later he spoke at Graduation Day at Yale.

He began doing commercials in New York after graduation and starred in The Lords of Flatbush and Crazy Joe, two independent films. He appeared one day on Broadway; the show opened and closed on the same day. He also performed with an improv group, Off the Wall in New York.

Bomber Happy Days Fonzie Jacket - Jackets Creator — Photo: usajacket.com

In 1973 he moved to California. His first role there was on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Although he paid his dues in New York, he was hired as Arthur Fonzarelli on Happy Days his second week in Hollywood. He would portray the Fonz for a decade. The part was originally written a minor role on the show. Winkler did not want to portray the character as a stereotyped role which is probably why he became so popular. He was allowed to wear a black leather jacket only on his motorcycle the first year. Winkler never drove the cycle because the first time he tried, he crashed. His motorcycle on the show was the same one Steve McQueen used in the last scene of The Great Escape in 1963.

During his time on the show, he was diagnosed with dyslexia, explaining his tough time at school.

During the middle of season two, his character became a regular cast member. Many fans attribute to his performance in the episode “Guess Who’s Coming to Christmas.” By season three, he was considered one of the leads in the show.

Both Ron Howard who played Richie and Winkler told writer Stephanie Nolasco of Fox News how they felt about each other and their time on Happy Days. Winkler had a hard time dealing with his sudden fame, and Howard was able to provide some grounding for him. Winkler described this time, “It’s unnatural—the human condition does not prepare you for stardom. That’s just the way it is. So, you have to hold on to yourself and then you’ve got friends like Ron who doesn’t take it all seriously. I learned from him; he was my teacher. And Garry Marshall never took bad behavior from anybody. He was a father figure. He was very funny and very idiosyncratic, and then he was very strict.”

Winkler also discussed his friendship with Howard. “I think people gravitate to the Fonzie/Richie relationship because Ron and I are ten years apart. He was 19 and I was 27. We had a connection that you cannot describe in real life, and it was similar off-camera. He gave me my first mitt; I’d never played baseball before. He’s my brother.”

Howard echoed the sentiments. “We were fast friends from the beginning. It continues all these years later. It was exciting for me to work with Henry because he was really a trained actor who attended Yale Drama School; just a trained New York actor. And, I’d grown up sort of through the Hollywood television system, so for me to work with this guy who was so thoughtful, so creative, and yet so hilarious, was really an opportunity for me to learn and grow and we just clicked, you know.”

The sudden fame for Fonzie might have damaged the friendship Winkler had with Ron Howard, but they were both professionals and never had their egos inflated. They honestly discussed what was happening and while Howard had a harder transition with the show, he understood that Fonz had become a national icon. Even now decades after the show ended, people recognize his “Ayyy” and “correctamundo” catch phrases and his thumb’s up gesture.

After the show was canceled, his leather jacket was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution for the National Museum of American History. A bronze statue of the Fonz was erected in Milwaukee in 2008 along the Milwaukee Riverwalk.

Fonzie was adored by many kids, especially kids who needed some extra help or attention. Marshall was asked if the show could do something to help kids realize how important reading was. In one of the episodes, The Fonz went to the library and checked out a book, saying “Everybody is allowed to read.” That week, library card registrations increased by 500%. In another situation, one day a call came to Paramount Studios. It was from a teenage boy who was contemplating suicide. He wanted to talk to Fonzie. Winkler picked up the call and gave the boy hope, convincing him not to take his life.

Tom Bosley and Marion Ross Photo: ebay.com

He received 50,000 letters a week. He also received $50,000 an episode. Winkler described The Fonz as his alter ego; he said that Fonz was everything he had always wanted to be: in charge, confident, and adored by others. Winkler credits Marion Ross and Tom Bosley, Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham on Happy Days, with being his acting mentors. He loved them for what they taught him and for being great people. When Bosley died, Winkler said “Tom was a family member, both on and off the sound stage. We acted together, traveled together, and played charades together. He was a loving husband, a doting father, and a fantastic grandfather.”

During his years on Happy Days, Winkler was able to tackle several other roles in the off season. He was a Vietnam War vet with PTDS in Heroes for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. He was in Carl Reiner’s The One and Only and in Ron Howard’s Night Shift.

Stacey Weitzman + Henry Winkler: Inside the Fonz's Real Life Love Story — Henry and Stacey Photo: wideopencountry.com

He also tackled the role of husband, when he married Stacey in 1978. After two years of dating, they married in the same synagogue where Winkler had his bar mitzvah. Together they raised three children, and they have been involved with a variety of children’s charities including the Children’s Action Network, the Annual Cerebal Palsy Telethon, the Epilepsy Foundation of America, the Toys for Tots, the National Committee for Arts for the Handicapped, and Special Olympics.

Even with these roles and several other television appearances under his belt, when Happy Days ended, Winkler was typecast and could not get quality roles. Winkler went the route of producer and director. He was one of the developers of MacGyver and produced and directed Sabrina the Teenage Witch. He worked on two movies: Memories of Me with Billy Crystal and Cop and a Half with Burt Reynolds. He also had appearances in Scream in 1996 and The Waterboy in 1998 and on television in The Practice in 1997 and Arrested Development in 2003.

In 2003, he added writer to his resume, creating a new series of children’s books, Hank Zipzer about a dyslexic boy, with co-author Lin Oliver. The BBC televised the series, and Winkler appeared as Mr. Rock in the show. Winkler and Oliver went on to create Here’s Hank, the Ghost Buddy series and the Alien Superstar series. Queen Elizabeth appointed him Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2011, and he was named one of the United Kingdom’s Top Ten Literary Heroes in 2013. In 2019, he was awarded the Bill Rosendahl Public Service Award for Contributions to the Public Good for his book series. In 2016, the award was renamed after Bill Rosendahl, a progressive political leader, Los Angeles’ first openly gay City Council member, an educator, a Vietnam veteran, an award-winning host of thousands of public affairs programs, and president of the Los Angeles Press Club.

In 2016 he joined the ranks of actors participating in reality shows on Better Late Than Never. During season two, Winkler traveled to Berlin and shared his family’s story. This was a quirky 12-episode reality show. NBC described it as: “This hilarious fish-out-of-water comedy/reality show follows cultural icons Henry Winkler, William Shatner, Terry Bradshaw and George Foreman on their greatest adventure yet. Deciding it’s Better Late Than Never, these four national treasures embark on the journey of a lifetime, traveling across Asia on their own with no schedule and no itinerary. The only “help” will come from Jeff Dye, a young, strong, tech-savvy comedian with an agenda of his own – who isn’t above leading the men off track. Each stop is packed with hilarious cultural experiences, heartwarming spectacles and unexpected twists as our legends take on this unforgettable adventure.”

Better Late Than Never art features Henry Winkler, William Shatner, Terry Bradshaw, George Foreman | EW.com — Photo: entertainmentweekly.com

In 2018, Winkler starred in the show Barry and won his first Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Emmy. The plot features a hit man from the Midwest who moves to Los Angeles and becomes fascinated with the city’s theater life.

The show was on HBO for two seasons and Bill Hader, one of the creators and star of the show, wanted Henry for the part of acting teacher Gene Cousineau. Winkler mentioned he was 27 when he got the regular role on Happy Days and 72 when he got the role on Barry. Stage 19 of Paramount was where Barry was filmed; it was also the same sound stage used for Happy Days. Hader wrote Cousineau as a dark, cold character and while he could humiliate his students, Winkler brought some warmth to the character as well.

Winkler is a loyal Democrat and has campaigned for, and financially supported, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, and Barack Obama.

Happy Days': Henry Winkler Revealed How He and John Ritter Met — With Friend John Ritter Photo: outsider.com

In addition to being lifelong friends with Ron Howard, Winkler was a close friend of John Ritter. They met at an ABC party in 1978 and became close friends. Winkler was actually on the set of John’s show when he collapsed and had to be taken to the hospital shortly before his death.

I do like to add some personal stories to my blogs when possible. I found a fun article in New York Magazine that looked at what famous people like to buy. One of the pieces was about Henry Winkler from October 2021. So, what did the famous Mr. Winkler purchase?:

Penn Ultra-Blue racquetballs to play with his dog Sadie. ($4); A Sony Alpha a6000 Mirrorless Camera ($650); Landmark Theatre Gift Cards ($5); Katz’s Pastrami and Rye food boxes ($155), a reminder of his youth; Munster Cheese from The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills ($15); Winston Boron fly fishing rod ($825); Knudsen’s heavy whipping cream ($4); Gotham Coffee Roasters Brooklyn Blend Coffee ($18) which needs the above cream, no half ‘n half for Henry; and Lavley I’d Rather Be Fly Fishing socks ($12), because no one likes the socks where the elastic stops working after two wash cycles. A bit of fun trivia about an icon’s shopping list.

Perhaps one of the best stories that displays the importance of Henry Winkler comes from journalist Anderson Cooper. Cooper is also dyslexic and said that one of the books that influenced his life was The Fonz: The Henry Winkler Story. He keeps it in his office at CNN. He also mentioned that in meeting Winkler in person as an adult, he realized what a kind and gracious person he is. That is something I read over and over; everyone described Winkler as kind, level-headed, grounded, unbelievably nice, and many other similar sentiments.

Henry Winkler Shares Insights at Vital Ayyy-ging Conference | News | San Diego County News Center — Photo: sandiegocountynews.com

Henry Winkler would be amazing just based on what he did with the character of The Fonz. He would be amazing just based on what he has done for his children’s charity work. He would be amazing just based on how seriously he takes his roles as husband and father. He would be amazing just based on his directing and producing work. He would be amazing just based on his later roles on Arrested Development and Barry. He would be amazing just based on his friendships with coworkers including Ron Howard, Marion Ross, Tom Bosley, Adam Sandler, and John Ritter. He would be amazing just based on his book series as an author. And he would be amazing just based on the work he has done to help others understand dyslexia. Put them all together and add the fact that no one can talk about him without describing what a genuine and kind person he is, and he is well, just simply amazing. Thank you, Henry Winkler, for all the ways you have amazed us over the decades.

James Garner: Moving Forward

October 23, 2023December 2, 2022 / thewritelife61 / 2 Comments

Today we are winding up our blog series about some of our favorite actors. We finish today with one of my favorites who had a dual big-screen and small-screen career, James Garner.

Garner was born in Norman, Oklahoma as James Scott Bumgarner in 1928. His mother died when he was 4, and his father ran a small store and the family lived above it. When James was 7 the store burned down and his father left the boys and gave them to relatives to raise. Later he moved to Los Angeles and became a carpet layer. James’ first stepmom was very abusive, and they finally had a fight when he hit her and she took off. His second stepmother was a total opposite of the first. He called her Mama Grace and said she was a real mother to him.

At 16 James dropped out of high school to join the Merchant Marines. He liked his shipmates but could never get over his chronic seasickness. In 1945 Garner moved to Los Angeles and enrolled in high school. He was a popular student and played both football and basketball, but he was a terrible student. He moved back to Norman the next year to try high school there again. He dropped out before graduating.

He then joined the California Army National Guard where he served his first seven months in Los Angeles. Then he went to Korea for 14 months as a rifleman in the 5^th Regimental Combat Team. He was wounded twice and received two Purple Hearts. He also received his diploma from high school.

After he left the military, he had a variety of odd jobs including laying carpet with his father, pumping gas, installing telephones, chauffeur, dishwasher, janitor, lifeguard, grocery clerk, salesman, oil field worker, and modeling men’s clothing. His entry into the entertainment business is a bit different than most people’s. He was supposed to read lines to lead actors for Broadway production, “The Caine Mutiny Court Martial” in 1954. He was also given a minor, non-speaking role. As he was on the stage, he began to learn about the art of acting.

In 1955 he received a bit part on Cheyenne on television. He was also in Warner Brothers Presents. These small parts led to several offers to act in commercials and a larger offer from Warner Brothers to sign a contract for $200 a week. Garner began his big-screen career with Toward the Unknown in 1956. His film career included 46 additional movies with his last being The Notebook.

It was also 1956, when he married his wife Lois Fleishman Clarke; they would remain married until his death, and the couple had two daughters. They had a very short courtship. They met at the Beverly Hills Courthouse at a political rally for Adlai Stevenson and were a married couple two weeks later.

The couple bought a house in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood where their neighbors were Steve McQueen, O.J. Simpson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver, and Mark Harmon. They were still living there when James passed away.

His successful movie career did not halt his television career. From 1957 to 1962, Garner starred as Bret Maverick on Maverick. Garner developed the type of role he would be known for as the calm, good-natured, likable, smart guy who gets out of trouble using his wit and street smarts. The show was not canceled by the network; unfortunately, Garner and the producers had a dispute over money, and he decided not to come back for the next season.

In August of 1963, Garner was one of several stars who accompanied Martin Luther King Jr. in his March on Washington. He later also recalled sitting in the third row while listening to King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

In 1964 he made what he called his favorite film, The Americanization of Emily with Julie Andrews. He played the personal attendant of a Navy admiral and he said it contained the most impassioned speech of his career.

During the sixties and seventies, he continued making movies and showing up in a few places on television, shows like Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In, The Tonight Show, and several tv movies, one about Bret Maverick.

In 1974 he accepted his second role as star of a television series on The Rockford Files. He played Jim Rockford until 1980. Again, the network did not cancel the show which was still very popular but Garner had been having back pain and did not feel that he should continue the weekly series. He probably made the right choice because he was hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer during 1979; he would have quintuple heart bypass surgery in 1988; and both knees replaced in 2000.

In 1977 Garner began making commercials for Polaroid with Mariette Hartley. They were so convincing of being a married couple, that Hartley had a shirt made that said “I am not James Garner’s wife!” The couple filmed more than 300 commercials together.

After John Ritter passed away in 2003, Garner joined the cast of 8 Simple Rules as Cate’s father Joe and was on the show for the final three seasons.

Garner worked with several charities and foundations during his career. In 2003, he gave $500,000 to the James Garner Chair in the School of Drama for the University of Oklahoma to fund the first-endowed position at that school. He also volunteered with Save the Children.

In 2011, Garner wrote an autobiography called The Garner Files: A Memoir, cowritten with Jon Winokur.

Some of Garner’s hobbies included spending time with his family and political activism. However, his biggest passion was sports. He was a big fan of the Oakland Raiders and could often be seen on the sidelines with the team. He loved golfing. He was inducted into the Off Road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1978. He owned the American International Racing team in the late sixties and he drove the pace cars for the Indianapolis 500 in 1975, 1977, and 1986.

He was also honored by his hometown of Norman, Oklahoma. He has a street named after him there and in 2006, a ten-foot bronze statue as Bret Maverick was erected there.

He was also loved by his coworkers. In 1973, John Wayne named Garner the best American actor in an interview. He was also close friends with Tom Selleck, Sally Field, and Clint Eastwood. When he passed away in 2014 from a heart attack, Sally Field said “My heart just broke. There are few people on this planet I have adored as much as Jimmy Garner. I cherish every moment I spent with him and relive them over and over in my head. He was a diamond.” He was nominated for 15 Emmy awards during his television career, winning in 1977 as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for The Rockford Files.

He didn’t do a lot of comedy but I think he was a funny guy. When he was asked if he would ever consider a nude scene, he said “No, I don’t do horror films.”

James always said he was not concerned with fame; he just wanted to make a good living at something he enjoyed. That comes across as something he truly believed in, not just talking the talk. He lived in the same house and was married to the same woman for most of his life. He did work he was proud of and was very successful in both film and television. He loved sports and his career allowed him to participate in more of those activities that he loved. He was also a generous man, giving to causes that he thought were important.

Although not the most important films in his portfolio, I always think of him acting with Doris Day in The Thrill of it All and Move Over Darling. I enjoyed learning about his life and respect him as a person. He never complained about the terrible childhood he had or used it to make excuses when he did make a poor choice; he said you have to just keep moving forward and he moved forward in an honorable way. Thanks for sharing your life with us and letting us travel forward with you, James Garner.

John Astin: The Math Adds Up for Him to Be an Actor

October 16, 2023November 28, 2022 / thewritelife61 / 4 Comments

This month we are learning about some of our favorite sitcom stars. Today we are discovering the career of John Astin, better known as Gomez Addams.

Astin was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1930. His father was the director of what is today the National Institute of Standards and Technology. After high school, he enrolled at Washington and Jefferson College to major in mathematics, and he later transferred to Johns Hopkins, where he graduated in 1952 with a degree in drama.

One of his first roles was husband when he married Suzanne Hahn in 1956. The couple divorced in 1972.

John made his Broadway debut as an understudy in Shaw’s “Major Barbara.

He was also getting movie offers with The Pusher his first role in 1960 and West Side Story in 1961 was his second film. He would go on to appear on the big screen on and off during his career. He was in two of my favorite Doris Day movies: That Touch of Mink and Move Over Darling.

His first television appearance in 120 different series began in 1957 for Studio One. The sixties found him quite busy on the small screen with roles in a variety of genres including The Donna Reed Show, Maverick, The Twilight Zone, Hazel, Dennis the Menace, Star Trek, Batman, The Wild Wild West, and Bonanza.

It was also in the sixties that he received his first starring sitcom role as Gomez Addams in The Addams Family. The show, like The Munsters, began in 1964 and ended in 1966.

Astin had been a fan of Charles Addams’ work in The New Yorker before being asked to star in the show. He said that he was the first actor of the cast chosen and got to pick his own name, since the cartoon characters did not have names. He said that he had to argue with the network a bit. He said they wanted him to shave his head to resemble the cartoon, but he put his foot down. He was not being vain; he just thought viewers would not accept Morticia falling for him if he looked older and bald.

He had a few challenges filming his role. Not everyone has to do take after take upside down, and he said he did that sort of thing a lot.

Astin was able to sit in on the auditions for Morticia and the network was having a hard time finding the right person. He was thrilled when he heard they were going to offer the part to Carolyn Jones. The only problem is that she wanted top billing and he already received that in his contract. In order to get the right Morticia, he willingly gave it up and she got that designation. John said he and Carolyn “liked each other and both had a sense of humor.” He said they became friends for life and he still misses her, especially her laugh. “Carolyn had a great laugh. Just working with her when she laughed, it was a wonderful thing.”

When The Addams Family was canceled, he took a role in a show that I enjoyed, The Phyllis Diller Show a/k/a The Pruitts of South Hampton. In this series, the Pruitts find out they owe the IRS a ton of money, but the IRS does not want to have the public find out because they are afraid that the family won’t be able to pay back the money they owe. The IRS works with them to keep their mansion and a few “necessities.” Phyllis as Phyllis Pruitt schemes to make money the IRS is not aware of. Her brother-in-law played by Astin is usually eager to help her. This show had an amazing cast with other members being Richard Deacon, Reginald Gardiner, Marty Ingels, Charles Lane, Billy De Wolfe, Gypsy Rose Lee, and Hope Summers. However, the series only lasted one year.

Astin did not slow down in the seventies where we saw him on The Odd Couple, Love American Style, The Doris Day Show, The Partridge Family, McMillan and Wife, Marcus Welby MD, and Welcome Back Kotter.

As the decade started, he married Patty Duke; they were married thirteen years.

During the eighties and nineties, you would have seen Astin in Simon and Simon, The Love Boat, St. Elsewhere, Webster, Murder She Wrote, and Becker.

In the eighties, he again was part of the cast of several series. In 1986 he accepted the role of Ed LaSalle on Mary. In this short-lived show, Mary Tyler Moore is a divorced woman who is forced to write for The Chicago Eagle, a seedy tabloid, after the fashion magazine she writes for goes out of business.

Astin made eleven appearances as Kenny on Night Court; Kenny was a former patient with mental health issues and turned out to be Harry’s biological father. It was during the eighties that he began a very successful voice career in animation which was still going strong in 2022.

They say the third time is the charm and that seems to be true in Astin’s case. He married his third wife, Valerie Ann Sandobal in 1989 and is living back in Baltimore.

In 2001 he began teaching at Johns Hopkins as well. He said that at that time, he “didn’t know one major university that has a known actor teaching every day.” His brother is also a professor; Alexander W. Astin at UCLA is considered one of the most influential scholars in the field of higher education research.

as Edgar Allan Poe Photo: centraljerseyarchives.com

At one point, John got his Masters in English literature. He became a huge fan of Edgar Alexander Poe and studied his works. He toured the country in a one-man show, “Edgar Allan Poe: Once Upon a Midnight.” Astin says “Poe had a mission to tell us what it’s all about. To answer some of the great questions of life. The themes Poe used were universal and timeless. As long as the English language exists at all, we will be able to appreciate what he did. It will not become dated.”

I had a lot of fun learning more about the career of John Astin. I had not heard about his Edgar Allan Poe tour; I also did not know that he was a drama professor. Now in his eighties, he certainly is keeping busy, not only continuing his career but helping new generations of actors with their careers. Thanks for entertaining us for decades and for ensuring that we will continue to be entertained into the future.

Ernest Borgnine: Loved By Many as Mermaid Man

October 9, 2023November 20, 2022 / thewritelife61 / 2 Comments

This month we are learning about the careers of some of our favorite classic television actors. This prolific actor has 211 acting credits. He began his small-screen career in 1950 and made his last television appearance in 2012. In between, he did made movies and appeared on Broadway. Today we are talking about the amazing career of Ernest Borgnine.

Borgnine was born Ermes Effron Borgnino in 1917 in Connecticut. Both his parents grew up in Italy. They separated when he was only two and then he and his mother returned to Italy. In 1923, his parents reconciled, changed their name to Borgnine, and moved back to Connecticut. While Ernest participated in a lot of sports in school, especially boxing, acting was not on his list of interests.

In 1935, Ernest joined the US Navy. He served on the USS Lamberton, a minesweeper. He returned home in 1941, but he re-enlisted in 1942 after Pearl Harbor was attacked. During WWII, he was aboard an antisubmarine warfare ship and returned home in 1945. He received several medals for his service.

Ernest moved back into his parents’ home and eventually took a job in a factory. One day his mother said, “You always like getting in front of people and making a fool of yourself, why don’t you give it a try?” His father was not as enthusiastic.

He enrolled in the Randall School of Drama in Hartford, Connecticut and then moved to the Barter Theater in Virginia. His first stage role was in “State of the Union” and his second was a small part in “The Glass Menagerie.”

In 1949, he had his Broadway debut as a nurse in “Harvey.”

Wagon Train Photo: televisionsnewfrontier.com

In 1950 he tried his hand at television, appearing in Rocky King, Detective. The following year he moved to Los Angeles and had his first big-screen role in China Corsair. Throughout the fifties, Ernest was kept busy in both mediums. He would appear in 25 movies, including From Here to Eternity and Marty. He won an Oscar for the role of Marty. He also accepted 11 roles in television shows, including The Danny Thomas Show, Wagon Train, and On the Waterfront.

In 1961, Borgnine accepted the role of Quinton McHale on McHale’s Navy. He would appear in 138 episodes of the series for four years. McHale had a gruff voice and a mischievous grin. The show, featuring Joe Flynn and Tim Conway along with a cast of characters, became an instant hit and went to the top thirty the first year. Borgnine was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in season two.

Tim Conway and Ernest became life-long friends. Conway said the show was definitely male-oriented: “You know, we were all guys, it was about the war, and about men, so there weren’t many women working on the show, so we can spit, talk, swear, and everything.” Borgnine also talked about the show and said, “It’s not exactly the Navy I remember. I don’t think we could have won the war if we’d had one like this. But it’s a lot more laughs.”

Throughout the sixties and seventies, he continued accepting roles on the silver screen and on television. In 1984 he took on another regular role on Airwolf. Starring opposite Jan-Michael Vincent, he played Dominic Santini, a helicopter pilot.

A decade later, he tried it again with The Single Guy where he played Manny Cordoba for two seasons.

He won an Emmy for his role on ER as Paul Manning. Manning’s wife was critically ill , and she died in the final episode of the series.

Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy Photo: twitter.com

In the 2000s, he finished his career as Mermaid Man on SpongeBob SquarePants. He was paired with Tim Conway as Barnacle Boy.

Borgnine released his autobiography, Ernie, in 2008.

While Ernie tried many forms of entertainment, he also tried many forms of marriage. He married Rhoda Kemins in 1949 whom he met in the Navy. They divorced in 1958 and he married Katy Jurado from 1959-63.

His shortest matrimony journey was with Ethel Merman; they were married for 42 days! Conway also had an opinion on this marriage. He said “Ernie is volatile, I mean, there’s no question about that; and Ethel was a very strong lady. So you put two bombs in a room, something is going to explode, and I guess it probably did.”

In 1965 Ernie married Donna Rancourt but they also divorced by 1972. His final marriage was to Tova Traesnaes; they were married in 1973 until his death from kidney failure in 2012.

I didn’t read a lot about his hobbies, probably because he was too busy working for 62 years, but he did love stamp collecting. He began as a boy and had an extensive collection of Russian and Cuban stamps that he collected during the Cold War. He even was involved with one or two national stamp-collecting groups.

It was so refreshing to read about Ernie. Despite his volatile temper, everyone seemed to have loved him. I did not read one negative thing about him except what Ethel Merman shared. Knowing what I know about Ethel, despite her great acting skills, I am amazed they lasted forty-two days.

It was a lot of fun to learn more about him; I always associated him with McHale’s Navy and Marty so it was interesting to learn more about his television career.

Eddie Albert: The John Muir of Hollywood

October 2, 2023November 20, 2022 / thewritelife61 / 2 Comments

This month we are looking at some of our favorite classic television actors. If you are a big fan of Oklahoma or Green Acres, you will be well acquainted with our star today, Eddie Albert. Let’s learn a bit more about his life and career.

Eddie was born Edward Albert Heimberger in 1906 in Illinois. When he was one, his family moved to Minneapolis. When he was six, he became a paper boy. He and his schoolmate, Harriet Lake, were in the drama club. Harriet would later change her name to Ann Sothern. After graduating in 1926, Albert enrolled at the University of Minnesota to major in business.

He began his career in earnest, but the stock market crash derailed his job search. He worked a variety of jobs including singer, trapeze artist, and insurance salesman.

In 1933 he moved to New York City and cohosted a radio show called “The Honeymooners-Grace and Eddie Show,” with costar Grace Bradt. He was on the show three years and then Warner Brothers offered him a contract.

Albert also had an early career on Broadway with lead roles in “Room Service” and “The Boys From Syracuse.” He also began working on television. In 1936, NBC hosted a play of his “The Love Nest” on their experimental television station W2XBS, now WNBC.

His first movie role occurred in 1938 in Brother Rat. He would make 25 additional films during the next decade and then another 50 big-screen movies before his career ended, with his last one being the Narrator in Death Valley Days in 1995.

During his odd-job era, Albert had toured Mexico as a clown and trapeze artist with the Escalante Brother Circus while working for the US Army intelligence, photographing German boats in Mexican harbors. In 1942, he enlisted in the US Coast Guard. In 1943, he resigned in order to accept an offer as a lieutenant in the US Naval Reserve. He rescued 47 marines under heavy enemy fire in 1943 and was awarded a Bronze Star.

After returning from the War, Albert married Mexican actress, Margo. Their son also became an actor and their daughter took on the role of Eddie’s business manager. His son had more than 130 credits, the first being in 1963. You probably saw him on many of your favorite shows. Unfortunately, he passed away from lung cancer only a year after his father died.

During the late forties to the early sixties, Albert returned to Broadway for roles in “Miss Liberty,” “The Seven-Year Itch,” and “The Music Man.”

Albert had a long and active television career. During the fifty years that he was working in the industry, he appeared in almost 100 different shows. His first appearance was in the Ford Theater Hour in 1948.

Throughout the fifties, Eddie showed up in many of the early drama series on television. The sixties found him, along with most other actors of that decade, showing up on a variety of westerns, including Laramie, Tales of West Fargo, The Virginian, and Wagon Train. He was offered roles in several dramas as well, including Dr. Kildare, The Outer Limits, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

In 1965 he received the starring role of Oliver Douglas in Green Acres. For six seasons, he extolled the virtues of farming over the big city rat race. While Oliver had a harder time fitting into Hooterville life, his elegant wife Lisa was accepted immediately. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know I love this show. I am more impressed with it now, fifty years later. There is so much sophisticated humor and wit in the show and I love getting to know the quirky characters who live in the Hooterville community. As Oliver Douglas, Albert was also on The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction. The show was purged with the other rural comedies, even though the ratings were still quite high.

The seventies and eighties kept Albert busy on television and in films. He appeared on many shows including Columbo, McCloud, Here’s Lucy, Simon & Simon, Hotel, Murder She Wrote, and thirtysomething.

He opted to star in one more television series in Switch from 1975-78. He starred as ex-cop Frank McBride who started a detective agency with ex-con Pete Ryan (Robert Wagner).

Much of Eddie’s life was spent as an activist for social and environmental causes. He participated in the first Earth Day. He founded the Eddie Albert World Trees Foundation and was national chairman for the Boys Scouts of America’s conservation program. From 1985-1993, he was the spokesperson for the National Arbor Day Foundation. He was a trustee of the National Recreation and Park Association and became a member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s advisory board.

In addition, he was involved with Meals for Millions and was a consultant for the World Hunger Conference. Meals for Millions was a project that created nutritional meals for three cents each! They were sent to 129 different countries and added up to more than 6.5 million pounds of food. He and Albert Schweitzer participated in a documentary about malnutrition in Africa, and he often campaigned against DDT. He was also a director for the U.S. Council on Refugees and promoted organic gardening. Albert was also the founder of City Children’s Farms, a program to get inner-city kids involved in gardening.

I’m not sure when he had any other time for leisure and recreation, but he loved jogging, swimming, golfing, traveling, sculpting, beekeeping, sailing, reading, making wine, gardening, and playing guitar.

He 1995, Albert was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. His son temporarily retired from acting to care for his father. In 2005, Eddie passed away from pneumonia.

When Albert passed away, we lost much more than an actor, although we did lose a great actor. I was so impressed with how much he did for the economy. He told a great story about his former costar Eva Gabor. She loved her fashion. They were great friends and like any couple, married or not, they had their differences. She never understood his passion for wildlife conservation. She asked him, “Every time you hear about a sick fish, you make a speech, vy?” And he patiently explained that we needed to preserve nature and save wild animals. A few days later she showed up in a gown made of feathers. He told her she should not be wearing it, and she said it was so chic. Albert told her that she was a role model, and when other women saw her gown, they would want one and many birds would die just to supply the feathers. Lisa just laughed and seriously said, “But Eddie, feathers don’t come from birds.” So he asked her where they did come from and she said, “Dahlink, Pillows! Feathers come from pillows.” In addition to being a great actor and an amazing activist, he was also a good and patient friend.

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Month: October 2023