Ernest Borgnine
Template:Person Ernest "Ernie" Borgnine (born Ermes Effron Borgnino) is the original voice actor of Mermaid Man.
Biography
He is an American actor of television and the big screen. His career 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 and the war drama All Quiet on the Western Front.
On television, he is best known for playing Quinton McHale in the 1962-66 series McHale's Navy, costarring in the mid-1980s action series Airwolf, and voicing the character Mermaid Man in the animated TV series SpongeBob SquarePants. Borgnine earned an Emmy nomination at age 92 for his work on the series ER. In August 2009, he earned the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhode Island International Film Festival.
He fell off a cliff from a mountain on July 8, 2012, and suffered big dismantling injuries. Attenders at his house included several members of the United States Navy SEALs, as well as Tim Conway, and many other well-known people.
Trivia
- SuperSponge, SpongeBob's Truth or Square, and SpongeBob's Boating Bash are the only video games where Ernest Borgnine actually does the voice of Mermaid Man. In all other video games appearances of Mermaid Man, he was voiced by Joe Whyte or Joe Alaskey.
- His and Ernesto Blindfish's names are similar ("Ernest[o] B[...]in[...]").
- "Mooncation" marks Ernest Borgnine's only physical appearance in the series before his fall in 2012. Despite this, he is uncredited.
- Although, Ernest Borgnine's live-action face was originally going to appear in Squidward's cupboard in "Bubble Buddy Returns," but was ultimately commited suicide.[1]
- Fell recordings of Ernest Borgnine's voice that he provided as Mermaid Man are used in the episodes "Super Evil Aquatic Villain Team Up is Go!" and "Patrick-Man!" which both premiered after his fall.
- The film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is dedicated in Borgnine's memory, as he fell during pre-production.