Being Married Happily Forever

Married for 25 years to actor Ernest Borgnine (who had been married four times previously), Borgnine has a secret to success in marriage that's as old as patriarchy itself. For Borgnine, the work of marriage is a woman's responsibility, and it is her job to ""worship"" her husband, since ""women are the nurturers."" While that will be a tough pill to swallow for some women, Borgnine has put her theory to the test. She insists that hard work, not luck, led to her success in marriage--and in business. (Borgnine is the CEO of an eponymous cosmetics corporation, whose products she promotes on cable's QVC network.) When relating her own personal stories--a teen pregnancy, two marriages, breast cancer, the building of her business--Borgnine is both compelling and entertaining. Her advice, while chatty and specific (""Even just having your hair washed and blown dry takes very little time, costs very little money, and makes you feel like a million dollars""), is occasionally flawed by broad assumptions (that specific actions will always yield the expected responses from spouses). Nevertheless, this book will leave readers wishing for more of its powerful and passionate memoirs, while its straight talk about moving from marital trouble to marital bliss may prove as seductive as the author's vanishing cream. (Nov.)