Actor Ernest Borgnine to receive lifetime award

Borgnine began his career on the stage in the late 1940s

Veteran screen star Ernest Borgnine is to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) next year, organisers have announced.

The 93-year-old, who won an Oscar for his role in the 1955 film Marty, has appeared in more than 200 movies during his lengthy career.

SAG president Ken Howard said Borgnine still had "boundless energy" and boasted an "impressive body of work".

He will collect his honour at an awards ceremony in Hollywood on 30 January.

Turning point

Borgnine's most recent award nomination was at the Emmys last year for a guest role in the final episode of medical drama ER.

His career has spanned six decades on the big and small screen, but began on stage after World War II.

The actor's performance as a bullying police officer in 1953's From Here To Eternity was a career turning point, followed by his Academy Awards success in Marty two years later.

Borgnine's lead role in Marty won him a slew of awards

He also picked up Bafta and Golden Globe plaudits for his role as Marty Piletti, a lonely butcher who lives with his mother in the Bronx.

But it would be another 52 years before Borgnine, the son of Italian immigrants to the US, collected a second Golden Globe nomination for sentimental TV movie A Grandpa For Christmas.

His latest film, Red, which also stars Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman, is due for release in October.

Mr Howard said: "Whether portraying brutish villains, sympathetic everymen, complex leaders or hapless heroes, Ernest Borgnine has brought a boundless energy which, at 93, is still a hallmark of his remarkably busy life and career.

"It is with that same joyous spirit that we salute his impressive body of work and his steadfast generosity."

Previous recipients of SAG's lifetime achievement award have included Dame Julie Andrews and Clint Eastwood.

Last year's honour was presented to former Golden Girls star Betty White.