« Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine

He was invited to the re-opening of the fabulous Desert Inn Hotel-Casino on September 16, 1978—and so was I. Originally built in 1950, the hotel had undergone a $54 million expansion. Also on hand to celebrate the grand occasion were Richard Thomas of John-Boy Walton fame (in the CBS drama The Waltons) and comedian/ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, accompanied by his dummy Charlie McCarthy. Bergen, whose comedy show was a fixture on radio from 1937 to 1957, was among the first entertainers to appear at the Desert Inn when it originally opened. Bergen died two weeks after this event, on Sept. 30, 1978, in Las Vegas. His daughter is Candice Bergen. Borgnine, the gap-toothed Connecticut native, who won an Oscar for Marty in 1955, died at age 95 on July 8, 2012.

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