Tova Traesnaes Borgnine (born Tove Træsnæs; November 17, 1941 – February 26, 2022) was a Norwegian-born American businesswoman. She was the founder of Beauty by Tova cosmetics and the widow of Hollywood actor

Ernest Borgnine Ernest Borgnine ( ; born Ermes Effron Borgnino; January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012) was an American actor whose career spanned over six decades. He was noted for his gruff but relaxed voice and gap-toothed Cheshire Cat grin. A popular perf ...

Early life

Tova was born in Oslo, Norway; her father was a graphic artist and her mother was a translator at the U.S. Embassy.) Following her parents' divorce, she moved to the United States with her mother, at age 7; though she did not speak English at the time.

Career

Tova studied acting in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, but she developed a fondness for applying makeup. After marrying a

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

businessman in 1965, she opened a makeup center. When the marriage failed, she moved her business to

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

to be near her mother. In Las Vegas, in 1975, Tova learned of a

cactus A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

-based face cream made from a formula by a Mexican family and bought worldwide distribution rights. By 1977, the revenues for her company, then called Tova9, were about $500,000; by 1981, they were nearly $2 million. In 1984, she published ''The Tova Difference: A Promise of Lasting Beauty'', with Elaine Trebek. Her perfume, Tova Signature, has been produced since 1983, and sold on

QVC QVC (short for "Quality Value Convenience") is an American free-to-air television network and a flagship shopping channel specializing in televised Shopping channel, home shopping, owned by QVC Group (formerly Qurate Retail Group). Founded in 19 ...

since 1990. By 1984, her firm had 47 employees at her offices in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hills ...

, and factory in nearby Arcadia. By 1987, she had 65 skincare products and 80 employees. According to QVC, as of 2001 her perfumes made her "a steady presence at QVC and its biggest fragrance vendor". In 2002, QVC bought the Tova brand for a seven-figure sum. As of 2008, Tova Signature was QVC’s top-selling perfume. She was awarded the

FiFi Award The FiFi Awards are an annual event sponsored by The Fragrance Foundation which honor the fragrance industry's creative achievements. Known as the "Oscars of the fragrance industry", the awards ceremony was conceived by the former president o ...

for the Women's Fragrance Star of the Year (Non-Store Venues) in 1998. Her fragrance, Tova Signature, was nominated for the 2008 Fragrance Hall of Fame FiFi Award. In June 2009, she received the Retailer of the Year award from the Fragrance Foundation, both for her innovative use of

direct marketing Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, where organizations communicate directly to a Target market, pre-selected customer and supply a method for a direct response. Among practitioners, it is also known as ''direct response ...

to sell her products and for her longevity in the fragrance industry.

Personal life

Borgnine was married twice. Her first husband was Louis A. Littleton of

Point Pleasant, New Jersey Point Pleasant is a Borough (New Jersey), borough situated on the Jersey Shore, in northern Ocean County, New Jersey, Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 18,941, an i ...

. The marriage ended in divorce in 1972 after seven years. She had one son, David Johnson, born out of wedlock.Stritof, Sheri & Bob
Timeline and Marriages of Ernest Borgnine
About.com; accessed October 17, 2014. She married actor

on February 24, 1973. Their marriage lasted for 39 years until his death at age 95 on July 8, 2012. She is the author of ''Being Married Happily Forever'', published in 1997. Borgnine died at her home in Pennsylvania on February 26, 2022, at the age of 80.

References

External links

Beauty By Tova
on QVC * {{DEFAULTSORT:Borgnine, Tova 1941 births 2022 deaths American businesspeople American socialites Businesspeople from Oslo Norwegian emigrants to the United States Perfumers QVC people Writers from Oslo