Ernest Borgnine was a renowned and very popular Oscar and Emmy-winning actor who enjoyed decades of success in Show Business.
His success in marriage, however, was very rocky. Ernie was married four times before he met a Norwegian-born makeup artist named Tova. She was married once before.
They went into their marriage — his fifth, her second – with a new attitude. And it worked. The Norwegian immigrant and the son of Italian immigrants forged a solid partnership.
Their marriage was so successful, in fact, that in 1997 Tova Borgnine – the founder of Beauty by Tova – wrote a book that she called Being Married Happily Forever.
It was filled with what she called her secrets and strategies, and compromises. I met her when she was on a book tour.
So here now, from 1997, Tova Borgnine.
Ernest and Tova Borgnine were married for 39 years until his death in 2012. Tova died in 2022 at age 80.