Ernest Borgnine: “I went to work the first day and as luck would have it, my first scene was with Frank Sinatra and I’m dying inside, because here was the man who sang ‘Nancy’ (I named my daughter because of that song). My idol, my everything. I loved him in everything he ever did. And I said, ‘How can I, a mere nothing, come on here?’… but I knew I had to play this part as the meanest s.o.b. that ever existed, otherwise the part won’t play. So I was out there pounding the piano and everything else, and we started this scene. I’m looking around and I see Frank Sinatra dancing with this girl. And I see Montgomery Clift over with somebody else. And over standing on the side were Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster talking to Fred Zinnemans. I was just engulfed with stars. And I’m just shaking, you know. And Fred suddenly looked up and said, ‘Okay, begin the scene!’ So we started. I’m playing the piano and it came to the point where Frank says, ‘Come on, why don’t you stop this banging on the piano, will ya? Give us a chance with our music.’ And I stood up to say my first line. I said, ‘Listen, you little wop.’ He looked up at me, and as he looked up at me, he broke out into a smile and he said, ‘My God, he’s ten feet tall!’ Do you know, the whole thing just collapsed. His laughter broke the tension. It was so marvelous. I’ve never forgotten Frank for that. He was the most wonderful guy to work with that you ever saw in your life. He knew how I must have felt, you know. And because of it, he took the time to break that tension. That’s something that I have done with everybody that I’ve ever worked with since. I break the ice for the other people. And I think it’s nice, because it reverberated all down the line.”
Photo: Ernest Borgnine and Frank Sinatra in From Here to Eternity, 1953.
