Merman's Moaning Ended Borgnine Marriage - Comments and Message Board

Merman was no saint and was truly a nasty piece of work. She was revilled by many in the profession for years and was the inspiration for the character of 'Helen Lawson' played by Susan Hayward in "Valley Of The Dolls". She was pretty much totally egocentric, backstabbing and ready to destroy anyone who was not either totally intimidated by her, those who upstaged her or those who stood up to her. She had a coterie of friends in Hollywood and New York who were always bowing and scraping to her for decades out of fear and were most likely the main sources for all the biographies written about her since her death. Merman herself never shut up about her marriage to Borgnine and probably her standard tirade is the one mentioned in this Merman biography. She would blurt out this story so often, she was like a human jukebox, as my father would say--I know as he was in the business and had her among the clients he had to service until his death in 1980. He heard it many times in the mid 60s and all over again when Borgnine's career took an upswing throughout the 70s, the only time she did show restraint was the blank page she devoted to the marriage in her own autobiography.I think Borgnine is far more generous to Merman than she ever was to him, and his comments in the last couple of years and his recent autobiography shows him pretty much showing a lot of love and sympathy for her, as well finally wanting to move on (with the guy in his 90s, who's he wanting to impress? Talking about his ego in this case is pretty lame)Knowing what a terminally bitter person Merman was makes me think that Borgnine's side of the story is the truth. But no matter who you believe, I fear one day this whole incident will end up being the basis of some kind of wacky musical on Broadway in the years to come.