Wondering why so many young people are sad about a 95-year-old actor’s passing? The Los Angeles Times explains the animated appeal of Ernest Borgnine:

Ernest Borgnine, who died on Sunday of apparent kidney failure at age 95, may have won an Oscarand may be remembered for his roles in the film “Marty” and the sitcom “McHale’s Navy,” but to an entire generation of kids, he’s Mermaid Man from “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

Borgnine began voicing the character, an elderly superhero, in 1999 during the animated series’ first season. He went on to play the character in several episodes of the series alongside his former “McHale’s Navy” co-star Tim Conway, who voiced Mermaid Man’s sidekick Barnacle Boy.

Though the height of Borgnine’s critical acclaim peaked decades earlier, the actor found a renewed fan base among kids of all ages through his work on the Nickelodeon series.