Ernest Borgnine – Navy

Most known for his Academy Award-winning performance on Marty, Ernest Borgnine was another actor who was a famous military veteran. In fact, he joined the U.S. Navy as an apprentice seaman years before he would make his first acting debut towards the end of the ‘40s. He was discharged in 1941 after six years of service, only to return to the Navy in 1942 after the Pearl Harbor attack. Borgnine finally retired from the Navy in 1945, after a ten-year service and a number of military awards. And while we must pay credit to Borgnine for his contribution to the country, we should probably point out that it wasn’t the Army that saved him from debt consolidation loans and kept him far from filing for bankruptcy, but his acting career that spanned for 65 years until his death in 2012.