Tova Traesnaes

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. 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, but she developed a fondness for applying makeup. After marrying a New Jersey businessman in 1965, she opened a makeup center. When the marriage failed, she moved her business to Las Vegas to be near her mother. In Las Vegas, in 1975, Tova learned of a cactus-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.