TCM will remember TV and movie icons Andy Griffith and Ernest Borgnine with tributes to both men, including a 24-hour tribute for Academy Award winner Borgnine.

TCM will hold an all-night tribute for Griffith, Wednesday, July 18 starting at 8 p.m.

The 24-hour tribute for Borgnine, who won Best Actor for his role in Marty is Thursday, July 26 starting at 8 a.m.

Griffith passed away last week at the age of 86. TCM's four-film memorial tribute begins with Griffith's brilliant performance in Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd (1957). The night also features the hilarious service comedy No Time for Sergeants (1958). The following is a complete schedule (all times Eastern):

8 p.m. - A Face in the Crowd (1957) - with Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa, Walter Matthau and Lee Remick. Directed by Elia Kazan.

10:15 p.m. - No Time for Sergeants (1958) - with Myron McCormick, Nick Adams, Murray Hamilton and Don Knotts. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy.

12:30 a.m. - Hearts of the West (1975) - with Jeff Bridges, Donald Pleasance, Blythe Danner, Alan Arkin, Richard B. Shull, Herb Edelman, Alex Rocco and Marie Windsor. Directed by Howard Zieff.

2:15 a.m. - Onionhead (1958) - with Felicia Farr, Walter Matthau, Erin O'Brien, Joe Mantell, Ray Danton, James Gregory and Joey Bishop. Directed by Norman Taurog.

Andy Griffith, 1926-2012

With his folksy, down-to-earth charm and winning smile, actor Andy Griffith brought a warm sincerity to his most popular roles - small town Sheriff Andy Taylor on "The Andy Griffith Show" (CBS, 1960-68) and the crafty southern lawyer Ben Matlock on "Matlock" (NBC/ABC, 1986-1995). Prior to becoming a friendly face in many American living rooms, Griffith was a talented musician with early aspirations to be an opera singer, though he went on to record gospel and Christmas albums - one of which earned him a Grammy Award. Often exerting strong creative control over his efforts, Griffith brought a sense of realism to his shows and characters that managed to never stray into caricature, and whose appeal endured for generations of viewers well into the new millennium.

Born on June 1, 1926, in Mt. Airy, NC, Griffith developed a strong interest and talent in music at an early age. First hoping to become an opera singer, he shifted gears and set out to become a preacher, enrolling at the University of Chapel Hill in North Carolina as a pre-divinity student. While in college, his focus turned again to the arts with an emphasis on music and theater, and he eventually earned his degree in 1949. After graduation, he became a music teacher at Goldsboro High School, but still yearned to perform professionally. After three years of teaching, Griffith and his first wife, Barbara Edwards, began developing comedy and music routines that they performed on the road, including a comedy monologue called "What it Was, Was Football," a first-person point of view of a simple farm boy's first bewildering experience watching a football game. The skit was released on a record album in 1953.

Griffith honed the monologue to perfection and performed it in one of his four appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" (CBS, 1948-1971). He was soon tapped to play the lead role in the United States Steel Hour presentation of the Ira Levin play, "No Time for Sergeants" (ABC, 1955). He reprised the role on Broadway the following year, earning a Tony nomination for his performance, and was joined onstage by a young comic actor named Don Knotts, with whom Griffith would enjoy a lengthy professional and personal relationship. He soon caught the eye of acclaimed film director Elia Kazan, who cast him in a startling dramatic role in "A Face in the Crowd" (1957). Griffith played Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes, an Arkansas drifter who is plucked out of obscurity and finds fame as a television host, but whose friendly, folksy charm is cover for scheming ambition for political power. Written by "On the Waterfront" (1954) screenwriter Budd Schulberg, the film was based on the alleged onstage phoniness of Will Rogers and Arthur Godfrey. In his first film role, Griffith arguably never again turned in such a powerful performance playing such a dark character.

Griffith returned to comedy with a feature film version of "No Time for Sergeants" (1958), working again with Knotts, then returned to the stage and earned another Tony nomination for his performance in the musical "Destry Rides Again" (1960). After a series of occasional guest appearances on "The Steve Allen Show" (NBC, 1956-1960), Griffith landed an episode on the Danny Thomas show, "Make Room for Daddy," (ABC, CBS, 1953-1965), making his first appearance as the no-nonsense, down-home Sheriff Andy Taylor. The episode served as the inspiration for "The Andy Griffith Show," which debuted on CBS in 1960, where he expanded his character into one of the most beloved television series of all time. Set in the fictional town of Mayberry, the show centered on Taylor, a widower living with his son Opie (Ron Howard) and his Aunt Bee (Francis Bavier), who worked alongside his earnest, but high-strung deputy, Barney Fife (Knotts). The town itself was populated by an array of quirky townspeople, including Gomer (Jim Nabors), a dim-witted, but well-meaning mechanic; his equally dull cousin, Goober, gossipy Floyd the barber, a rock-throwing town clown named Ernest T. Bass, and Sarah, a nosy-but-unseen telephone operator. Part of the show's appeal was avoiding the stereotype that Mayberry's locals were irreproachably moral - the citizenry, including Andy himself, were just as petty, judgmental or selfish as the outsiders who passed through town.

Throughout the years, Griffith made subtle adjustments to his performance. For the second season, he began to rein in some of his wide-eyed, "gee whiz" qualities, and became more of a straight man to comic foil, Knotts. The show was also remarkable for its portrayal of Taylor as a single father going through the dating process; first with Mayberry's pharmacy clerk Ellie Wakler (Elinor Donahue), then Opie's schoolteacher, Helen Crump (Aneta Corsaut). Initially, Griffith and Knotts figured on the show running just five years and signed contracts accordingly. But when the first five years were up, Knotts left the series, while Griffith chose to remain until the show finished its run in 1968 after eight seasons. The series remained a ratings success and finished number one in the ratings in its last season. Griffith stepped into an executive producer role for the spin-off, "Mayberry RFD" (CBS, 1968-1971), though he did appear in the pilot episode. Despite setting a ratings record for a new show, the spin-off was nonetheless cancelled when the network elected to rid itself of rural-themed shows.

Griffith went on to occasionally star in movies, but it was mostly forgettable fare like "Angel in My Pocket," (1969) and "Hearts of the West" (1975). On television, he tried to recapture some of his down-home appeal with the short-lived "The New Andy Griffith Show" (CBS, 1971), a confusing program on which Griffith played Andy Sawyer, a man who made good and left his small rural hometown, only to return to fill in as a replacement mayor. Regarded as distinctly inferior to the original, "The New Andy Griffith Show" was cancelled after a few months on air. Meanwhile, Griffith continued appearing in guest spots on shows like "The Mod Squad" (ABC, 1968-1973), "Hawaii 5-0" (CBS, 1968-1980), "Here's Lucy" (CBS, 1968-1974) and "The Bionic Woman" (ABC/NBC, 1976-78). Griffith had a leading role in the television movie "Salvage" (ABC, 1979) and its subsequent series, "Salvage 1," (ABC, 1978-1980), playing Harry Broderick, an ordinary junk dealer who creates a working rocket ship to fly to the moon to retrieve spare parts left behind by NASA astronauts.

After a string of guest spots and the disappointing ratings of "Salvage 1," Griffith turned in an Emmy-nominated performance as the suspicious father of a woman believed to have been murdered by her plastic surgeon husband in the TV movie-of-the-week "Murder in Texas" (NBC, 1981). He then appeared in the James Burrows-produced old west sitcom "Best of the West" (ABC, 1981-82), before turning in a cameo in a 1982 episode of "Saturday Night Live" (NBC, 1975- ). But in 1983, his acting career was put on hold when he became stricken with Guillen-Barre syndrome, a muscular disease that left him partially paralyzed for several months. But in a few years, he made a triumphant return, joining co-stars Don Knotts, Ron Howard and others for a reunion movie, "Return to Mayberry," (CBS, 1986). That same year, Griffith made a significant return to series television with the courtroom drama, "Matlock" (NBC, ABC, 1986-95). His portrayal of lawyer Ben Matlock, whose country charm and simple mannerisms belied a sharp, cunning mind, struck a chord with millions of viewers - many of them older and likely fans of his previous work as a Sheriff Taylor. Griffith also served as executive producer on the show and appeared in all 180 episodes. After the long-running series left the airwaves, he reprised the role in a special guest appearance for two-part storyline on "Diagnosis Murder" (CBS, 1993-2001).

Of all the characters he played over the years, Griffith remarked that Matlock was his favorite. During the show's run, he played the character in several well-received movies-of-the-week, including "Matlock: The Vacation" (ABC, 1992), "Matlock: The Legacy" (ABC, 1992) and "Matlock: The Heist" (ABC, 1995). Griffith continued working even after the show, playing a villain in the Leslie Nielsen espionage spoof "Spy Hard" (1996), while appearing on episodes of "Dawson's Creek" (WB, 1998-2003) and "Family Law" (CBS, 1999-2002). He also recorded a series of Christmas and gospel albums, including I Love to Tell the Story: 25 Timeless Hymns which won a Grammy Award in 1997. Griffith made frequent appearances on television after the death of his old co-star Don Knotts in early 2006, including a tribute to his friend on "Larry King Live" (CNN, 1985- ). As the years piled on, the aging star appeared less frequently on screen, while several health issues began to take prominence. In 2000, he underwent a successful quadruple bypass surgery. After receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, Griffith re-emerged for a return to the big screen in the independent romance, "Waitress" (2007), playing Old J , a wise patron of a small town diner where an unhappy waitress (Keri Russell) works. The beloved actor died on July 3, 2012 at the age of 86 at his home in Dare County, North Carolina.

The Borgnine tribute begins at 6 a.m., July 26 with The Catered Affair.

• Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will remember the life and career of actor Ernest Borgnine on Thursday, July 26. Borgnine passed away Sunday, July 8th at the age of 95. TCM's 24-hour memorial tribute is set to begin at 6 a.m. (ET) with Borgnine's performance in The Catered Affair (1956). The tribute will include such essential Ernest Borgnine films as The Dirty Dozen (1967), From Here to Eternity (1953), and Bad Day at Black Rock (1955). Borgnine's Academy Award-winning role as Marty (1955) will air at 9 p.m. (ET) and there will be two showings of Private Screenings: Ernest Borgnine (2009) as the actor sits down for a lively one-on-one talk with TCM host Robert Osborne. The following is a complete schedule (all times Eastern):
  
  
  
  
  6:00 a.m. - The Catered Affair
  8:00 a.m. - The Legend of Lylah Clare
  10:30 a.m. - Pay or Die
  12:30 p.m. - Torpedo Run
  2:30 p.m. - Ice Station Zebra
  5:15 p.m. - The Dirty Dozen
  8:00 p.m. - Private Screenings: Ernest Borgnine
  9:00 p.m. - Marty
  10:45 p.m. - From Here to Eternity
  1:00 a.m. - The Wild Bunch
  3:30 a.m. - Bad Day at Black Rock
  5:00 a.m. - Private Screenings: Ernest Borgnine
  
  Ernest Borgnine, 1918-2012
  
  One of the most prolific and talented character actors in American film, Academy Award winner Ernest Borgnine appeared in every genre of motion picture for over 50 years, remaining active onscreen even as he entered his ninth decade. Cineastes may have dismissed Borgnine for his occasionally broad performances and roles in campy B-movies, but the actor was a favorite of film directors Delbert Mann, Robert Aldrich and Sam Peckinpah. He was a solid television presence in the 1960s on "McHale's Navy" (ABC, 1962-66), during the 1980s in "Airwolf" (CBS, 1984-86), and in the new millennium as a superhero voice on "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Nickelodeon, 1999- ). To fans of classic Hollywood, Borgnine was recognized as a versatile performer who was equally adept at playing all-too-human heroes as he was hissable villains.
  
  Born Ermes Effron Borgnine on Jan. 24, 1918 in Hamden, CT, he was the only child of immigrant parents from Northern Italy. After his parents separated when he was two, he lived in Italy with her mother before returning to the United States at the age of five. After graduating high school in 1935, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was discharged in 1941. When the United States entered World War II, he re-enlisted and served until 1945. After returning to civilian life, Borgnine labored at various factory jobs, but he found little enjoyment in a blue-collar career. Sensing his disillusionment, Borgnine's mother suggested that his larger-than-life personality and imposing presence might be positive qualities for an actor. In agreement, he enrolled at the Randall School of Drama in Hartford, CT. After graduation, he joined the well-regarded Barter Theater in Abington, VA, and honed his craft while working odd jobs at the theater. Finally, a break came in 1949 when he landed a supporting role in a Broadway production of "Harvey" with Joe E. Ross.
  
  Flush with success, he relocated to Los Angeles in 1951 and began landing supporting roles in films and on live television shows. His large frame, boxer's face (which frequently flashed his trademark gap-toothed smile) and husky tone made him a natural for heavies - so not surprisingly, he made his first impression on movie audiences as "Fatso" Judson, the vicious enlisted man who kills Frank Sinatra's Maggio in "From Here To Eternity" (1953). Borgnine's forceful turn in the Oscar-winning Best Picture led to other bad-guy roles in major films, including the Western "Johnny Guitar" (1954) and "Bad Day at Black Rock" (1955) - in which he portrayed one of the local heels who threaten Spencer Tracy.
  
  In 1955, director Delbert Mann approached Borgnine to play the lead in a feature film version of Paddy Chayefsky's TV drama, "Marty." The original star, Rod Steiger, was unavailable, so Borgnine was tapped to play the title character - a lonely Bronx butcher who finds love with a shy schoolteacher (Betsy Blair). Borgnine's heart-rending performance earned him Academy Awards for Best Actor in the United States and Britain, as well as a Golden Globe. No longer relegated to villain status, the newly minted star enjoyed a wide variety of roles throughout the 1950s and 1960, including a cuckolded rancher in the Western "Jubal" (1956), the cabdriver husband of Bette Davis in "The Catered Affair" (1956), a Norse chieftain in "The Vikings" (1958) and a Mob-busting New York cop in "Pay Or Die" (1960).
  
  In 1962, Borgnine starred in an episode of the anthology series, "Alcoa Premiere" (ABC, 1961-63) as the commander of a WWII Navy PT boat crew that had gone native while avoiding Japanese patrols in the South Seas. The episode later served as the launching pad for "McHale's Navy" (ABC, 1962-66), a broad service comedy that enjoyed healthy ratings during its network run. The hit show even spawned two theatrical features, "McHale's Navy" (1964) and "McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force" (1965) - though Borgnine did not participate in the latter, due to scheduling conflicts with his role in Robert Aldrich's superior adventure film, "The Flight of the Phoenix" (1965). Years later, Borgnine would re-team with his "McHale" co-star Tim Conway to provide the voices of aging superheroes Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy for the popular animated series, "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Nickelodeon, 1999- ).
  
  After "McHale's" concluded its network run, Borgnine returned to a busy schedule of film appearances in Hollywood and abroad. Among his better projects were the WWII action flick "The Dirty Dozen" (1967), again for Robert Aldrich; 1968's "Ice Station Zebra," in which he played a duplicitous Russian for his "Bad Day at Black Rock" director John Sturges; and as the sympathetic Dutch Engstrom, second in command of "The Wild Bunch" (1969) for Sam Peckinpah. Borgnine also appeared in several Italian westerns and action films during this period and was the first "Center Square" on "The Hollywood Squares" (NBC, 1965-1982) when it premiered in 1965.
  
  Borgnine became even busier in the Seventies, though the quality of his films seemed to vary from project to project. No matter, though - his performances were consistently believable. Borgnine was the morally questionable New York cop who survived "The Poseidon Adventure" (1973) and a brutal conductor locked in combat with a willful train-hopping hobo (Lee Marvin) in Robert Aldrich's violent "Emperor of the North Pole" (1973). He even played real-life boxing coach Angelo Dundee opposite Muhammad Ali (as himself) in "The Greatest" (1977). Borgnine also stole scenes as the sadistic boss who was devoured ("Tear him up!") by Bruce Davison's trained rats in "Willard" (1971) and re-teamed with Peckinpah for the truck-driving action pic, "Convoy" (1978).
  
  In many cases, Borgnine was the best part of his films - he was the sole high point of the wretched Satanic thriller "The Devil's Rain" (1975), for which he endured a ridiculous make-up job which turned him into a ram-headed devil, and survived the box office debacle that was Walt Disney Pictures' live action sci-fi adventure, "The Black Hole" (1979). During this period, Borgnine even found time to pop up on television, most notably as a celebrity guest on "The Dean Martin Show" (NBC, 1965-1974), but also as a series regular on the short-lived sci-fi program, "Future Cop" (ABC, 1976-77) and as a worldly-wise soldier in Delbert Mann's moving adaptation of "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1979). Borgnine received an Emmy nomination for his performance in this production.
  
  The Eighties provided less substantial roles for Borgnine, but the actor, who was entering his sixth decade, showed no signs of slowing down or losing interest in his craft. Episodic television provided a steady flow of work for him, and he enjoyed a renewed burst of popularity as the jocular co-pilot and sidekick to taciturn hero Jan-Michael Vincent in the action series, "Airwolf" (CBS, 1984-86). But there were interesting supporting roles for Borgnine throughout the decade, including the enthusiastic Cabbie in John Carpenter's "Escape from New York" (1981), the menacing leader of a rural religious community in Wes Craven's little-seen "Deadly Blessing" (1981), and as J. Edgar Hoover in the Jimmy Hoffa/Robert Kennedy drama, "Blood Feud" (1983). But for the most part, Borgnine passed the decade in obscure low-budget productions on both sides of the Atlantic. When pressed, he simply stated that he liked to work.
  
  And he continued to work throughout the 1990s, albeit in largely unseen independent films or foreign productions. He did enjoy the occasional guest shot on an episodic television series, and had a few fun turns - most notably in a reunion with many of his surviving "Dirty Dozen" co-stars, who voiced a squadron of animated toy commandos in Joe Dante's "Small Soldiers." His expressive voice made him a natural go-to for cartoon voiceover work, and he could be heard in the "All Dogs Go to Heaven" sequels and series (ABC/Fox Family, 1996-99), among many others. Borgnine also made a brief return to sitcoms with the tepid comedy "The Single Guy" (NBC, 1995-97), for which he earned a smattering of press that trumpeted his "comeback;" however, even a passing glance at his endless list of credits made it clear that Borgnine had never entirely gone away.
  
  The relative slowdown of his career allowed Borgnine to indulge in a passion for driving around the country in a customized motor home, from which he would meet and talk with people in small towns. His wanderlust was the subject of a short documentary, "Ernest Borgnine On the Bus" (1997). Borgnine also frequently appeared in print and television ads for a cosmetics company owned by his fifth wife, Tova. Borgnine had been married a total of five times - prior to Tova included Mexican actress Katy Jurado and Broadway star Ethel Merman, whom he famously divorced in 1964 after just 32 days. His first marriage produced one child, while a fourth marriage to Donna Rancourt from 1965 to 1972 gave him two more children.
  
  As the 1990s flowed into the 21st century, Borgnine was introduced to a new audience when he was cast in a recurring voice role as Mermaid Man, a television superhero admired by absorbent man-boy "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Nickelodeon, 1999- ) on the top-rated cable cartoon. He was back in front of the camera playing a chauffeur wooing a small-town grandmother (Eileen Brennan) in the direct-to-video release "The Last Great Ride" (1999), and his booming baritone was tapped again to narrate the documentary "An American Hobo" in 2002. Borgnine earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie for his starring turn as a retired song-and-dance man in the TV movie, "A Grandpa for Christmas" (Hallmark, 2007), while reflecting on his own history in showbiz with the release of the 2008 memoir Ernie. He further added to his historic resume with a guest appearance in the series finale of NBC's Thursday night staple "ER" (NBC, 1994-2009), offering a performance as a grieving widower that was recognized with an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor. Following a small role as Henry the Records Keeper in the action comedy "Red" (2010), starring Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren, Borgnine was honored with the 47th Annual Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild.