Tova Traesnaes

Tova Traesnaes Borgnine (born Tove Træsnæs; 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.

Her perfume, Tova Signature, has been produced since 1983, and sold on QVC since 1990. By 1984, her firm had 47 employees at her offices in Beverly Hills, California, 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 for the Women's Fragrance Star of the Year (Non-Store Venues) in 1998.

In June 2009, she received the Retailer of the Year award from the Fragrance Foundation, both for her innovative use of direct marketing to sell her products and for her longevity in the fragrance industry. She married actor Ernest Borgnine on February 24, 1973. Their marriage lasted for 39 years until his death from kidney failure at age 95 on July 8, 2012.

She is the author of Being Married Happily Forever, published in 1997.