Ernest Borgnine

Borgnine served a full decade in the U.S. Navy before pursuing acting on the advice of his mother, building a substantial career playing tough, often menacing characters before his career-defining Oscar-winning role.

An Oscar winner (Marty), he found gleeful, cackling joy playing Cabbie, the only person in Carpenter's Manhattan prison who seems to be having a good time. Already a decades-established star with an Academy Award for Best Actor to his name, he brought unexpected warmth to the role.

His performance provided much of the film's rare moments of levity, a comedic register audiences didn't always associate with his more typically hardened screen persona.