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Charles Durning | |
|---|---|
 Durning in 1975 | |
| Born | Charles Edward Durning February 28, 1923 Highland Falls, New York, U.S. |
| Died | December 24, 2012 (aged 89) Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery 38°52′25″N 77°03′51″W / 38.8737°N 77.0641°W |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1951–2012 |
| Spouses |
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| Children | 3, including Jeanine Durning[1] |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1943–1946 |
| Rank |  Private First Class |
| Unit | 1st Infantry Division, 100th Infantry Division |
| Battles / wars | World War II |
| Awards | |
Charles Edward Durning (February 28, 1923 – December 24, 2012) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 movies, television shows and plays.[2] Durning's best-known films include The Sting (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), The Muppet Movie (1979), True Confessions (1981), Tootsie (1982), Dick Tracy (1990), and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for both The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) and To Be or Not to Be (1983). Prior to his acting career, Durning served in World War II and was decorated for valor in combat.
Durning was born in Highland Falls, New York. He was the son of Louise (née Leonard; 1894–1982), a laundress at West Point, and James E. Durning (1883 – c. 1935).[3] His father was an Irish immigrant,[4] and his mother was also of Irish descent.[5] Durning was raised Catholic.[6][7] Durning was the ninth of ten children. His three brothers – James (known as Roger, 1915–2000), Clifford (1916–1994), and Gerald (1926–2000) – and his sister Frances (1918–2006) survived to adulthood, but five sisters died from scarlet fever and smallpox as children.[3]
Durning served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was drafted at age 20. Durning landed in France as part of an artillery unit after the D-Day invasion of Normandy.[8] After being wounded by a German anti-personnel mine in the bocage, he spent six months recovering. Durning was reassigned to the 398th Infantry Regiment with the 100th Infantry Division, and participated in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. He was discharged with the rank of private first class on January 30, 1946.[9]
For his valor and the wounds he received during the war, Durning was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts.[10] Additional awards included the Army Good Conduct Medal, the American Campaign Medal and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with Arrowhead device and two bronze service stars, and the World War II Victory Medal.[11] His badges included the Combat Infantryman Badge, Expert Badge with Rifle Bar and Honorable Service Lapel Pin.[9]
Durning received the French National Order of the Legion of Honor from the French Consul in Los Angeles in April 2008.
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Durning participated in various functions to honor American veterans, including serving as Chairman of the U.S. National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans.[12] He was an honored guest speaker for 17 years at the National Memorial Day Concert televised by PBS every year on the Sunday evening of Memorial Day weekend.
Durning was paid a special tribute at the May 26, 2013, National Memorial Day Concert when "Taps" was sounded in his honor.
While pursuing an acting career, Durning, a professional ballroom dancer, taught at Fred Astaire Dance Studio in New York City.[13]
Durning began his career in 1951. While working as an usher in a burlesque theatre, he was hired to replace a drunken actor on stage.[13] Subsequently, he performed in roughly 50 stock company productions and in various off-Broadway plays, eventually attracting the attention of Joseph Papp, founder of The Public Theater and the New York Shakespeare Festival.[13] Beginning in 1961, he appeared in 35 plays as part of the Shakespeare Festival.[13] "That time in my life was my best time," Durning told Pittsburgh's Post Gazette in 2001. "I had no money at all, and he [Joseph Papp] didn't pay much. You were getting a salary for performance plus a rehearsal salary. We would do three plays in Central Park for the summer. And then you'd do three to six plays every year down on Lafayette Street – new plays by new writers: Sam Shepard, David Mamet, David Rabe, John Ford Noonan, Jason Miller."
During this period, he segued into television and movies. He made his film debut in 1965, appearing in Harvey Middleman, Fireman. He appeared in John Frankenheimer's I Walk the Line (1970) starring Gregory Peck, and three Brian De Palma movies: Hi, Mom! (1970, as Charles Durnham), Sisters (1973), and The Fury (1978). He also appeared in Dealing: or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1972) with Barbara Hershey and John Lithgow.
Durning's performances in Broadway productions include Drat! The Cat! (1965), Pousse-Café (1966), The Happy Time (1968), Indians (1969), That Championship Season (1972), In the Boom Boom Room (1973),[14] The Au Pair Man (1973),[14] Knock Knock (1976),[14] Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1990), Inherit the Wind (1996), The Gin Game (1997),[13] and The Best Man (2000).
In 2002, he performed in Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui with Al Pacino, produced by Tony Randall. He played the role of Jack Jameson in Wendy Wasserstein's final play, Third (2005), with Dianne Wiest at Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre.
Durning won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for his powerful performance in The Westwood Playhouse's 1977 production of David Rabe's Streamers. In 1980, he won critical acclaim for his performance as Norman Thayer, Jr. in Los Angeles's Ahmanson Theater's production of On Golden Pond opposite Julie Harris.
In 1972, director George Roy Hill, impressed by Durning's performance in the Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning play That Championship Season, offered him a role in The Sting (1973).[14] In the Best Picture-winner, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, Durning won distinction as a crooked cop, Lt. Wm. Snyder, who polices and hustles professional con artists. He doggedly pursues the young grifter, Johnny Hooker (Redford), only to become the griftee in the end. Other film credits include Dog Day Afternoon with Al Pacino; When A Stranger Calls; The Final Countdown; The Hindenburg; Twilight's Last Gleaming with Burt Lancaster; True Confessions with Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall. Some television credits include The Connection; Queen of the Stardust Ballroom, the made-for-television musical in which he played the mailman who reaches out to Maureen Stapleton's lonely widow on the dance floor; Attica; PBS's Dancing Bear with Tyne Daly; the PBS production I Would Be Called John as Pope John XXIII; Hallmark Hall of Fame: Casey Stengel, in which Durning played the legendary baseball manager Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel; NBC's mini-series Studs Lonigan with Harry Hamlin and Colleen Dewhurst; The Best Little Girl in the World with Jennifer Jason Leigh.[15] In 1976, he received both an Emmy and a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in the television mini-series Captains and the Kings.
In 1979, he played Doc Hopper, a man who owns a frog leg restaurant and the main antagonist in The Muppet Movie.[16] In Tootsie, he played a suitor to Dustin Hoffman's cross-dressing lead character.[14] The two actors worked together again in a 1985 TV production of Death of a Salesman.
In 1993, he guest-starred in the Sean Penn-directed music video "Dance with the One That Brought You" by Shania Twain.
Other film roles include Henry Larson, the benevolent father of Holly Hunter's character in Home for the Holidays (1995) and Waring Hudsucker in The Hudsucker Proxy (1994). He worked with the Coen Brothers again playing "Pappy" O'Daniel, a cynical governor of Mississippi (a character loosely based on the Texas politician and showman W. Lee O'Daniel) in the Coen Brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000).
Prior to appearing in the Burt Reynolds's TV series, Evening Shade, as the town doctor Harlan Eldridge (1990–1994), Durning appeared with Reynolds in five films, beginning with 1979's Starting Over, followed by 1981's Sharky's Machine, 1982's Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, 1985's Stick and 1999's Hostage Hotel.
On TV, Durning had a recurring role on Everybody Loves Raymond as the Barone family's long-suffering parish priest, Father Hubley. He also played the voice of recurring character Francis Griffin, the religious zealot father of Peter in the animated series Family Guy. He appeared on the FX television series Rescue Me, playing Mike Gavin, the retired firefighter father of Denis Leary's character.
In 2005, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for his portrayal of a Marine veteran in "Call of Silence," an episode in the television series NCIS, first broadcast November 23, 2004. Durning's character turns himself in to authorities, insisting that he must be prosecuted for having murdered his buddy during ferocious combat on Iwo Jima six decades earlier.[17] The real truth of the incident only becomes known for certain when the guilt-stricken veteran goes through a cathartic reliving of the battlefield events.
For his numerous roles on television, he earned nine Emmy Award nominations. He also received Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nominations for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas in 1982 and To Be or Not to Be in 1983.[14] He won a Golden Globe in 1990 for his supporting role in the television miniseries The Kennedys of Massachusetts, having had three previous nominations. That same year, he won a Tony Award for his performance as Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.[13] He received two Drama Desk Awards for his performances in That Championship Season and Third.
In 1999, Durning was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame on Broadway. He was honored with the Life Achievement Award at the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Award Ceremony on January 27, 2008.[18] On July 31, 2008, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame adjacent to one of his idols, James Cagney.
"There are many secrets in us, in the depths of our souls, that we don't want anyone to know about," he told Parade. "There's terror and repulsion in us, the terrible spot that we don't talk about. That place that no one knows about — horrifying things we keep secret. A lot of that is released through acting."
The Charles Durning Collection is held at the Academy Film Archive. Along with films he appeared in, his collection consists mainly of films he admired as well as a small collection of family home movies.[19]
Charles Durning died of natural causes at his home in Manhattan on Christmas Eve December 24, 2012, aged 89.[20][21] He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.[3][22]
On December 27, 2012, Broadway theatres dimmed their lights to honour him. The New York Times, which commented on Durning's more than 200 credited roles, referred to him and actor Jack Klugman, who died the same day, as "extraordinary actors ennobling the ordinary".[23] The Huffington Post compared the two men, calling them "character actor titans".[24]
Durning married his first wife, Carole Doughty, in 1959. They had three children together before divorcing in 1972. Durning married his second wife, Mary Ann Amelio, in 1974. In 2010, the two filed an official Declaration of Separation.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | The Password Is Courage | American G.I. | Uncredited |
| 1965 | Harvey Middleman, Fireman | Dooley | |
| 1967 | Las Vegas Free-for-All | Las Vegas Mafia Boss | |
| 1969 | Stiletto | Cop | Uncredited |
| 1970 | Hi, Mom! | Superintendent | (as Charles Durnham) |
| I Walk the Line | Hunnicutt | ||
| 1971 | The Pursuit of Happiness | 2nd Guard | |
| 1972 | Doomsday Voyage | Jason's First Mate | |
| Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues |
Murphy | ||
| Sisters | Joseph Larch | ||
| 1973 | Deadhead Miles | Red Ball Rider | |
| The Sting | Lieutenant Snyder | ||
| 1974 | The Front Page | Murphy | |
| 1975 | Queen of the Stardust Ballroom | Alvin 'Al' Green | TV movie Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie |
| Dog Day Afternoon | Sergeant Eugene Moretti | National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture | |
| Breakheart Pass | O'Brien | ||
| The Hindenburg | Captain Max Pruss | ||
| 1976 | Harry and Walter Go to New York | Rufus T. Crisp | |
| 1977 | Twilight's Last Gleaming | President David Stevens | |
| The Choirboys | Spermwhale Whalen | ||
| 1978 | The Fury | Dr. Jim McKeever | |
| An Enemy of the People | Peter Stockmann | ||
| The Greek Tycoon | Michael Russell | ||
| 1979 | Tilt | Harold 'The Whale' Remmens | |
| The Muppet Movie | 'Doc' Hopper | ||
| North Dallas Forty | Coach Johnson | ||
| Starting Over | Michael Potter | ||
| When a Stranger Calls | John Clifford | ||
| 1980 | Attica | Russell Oswald | TV movie Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie |
| Die Laughing | Arnold | ||
| The Final Countdown | Senator Samuel Chapman | ||
| 1981 | Crisis at Central High | Principal Jess Matthews | TV movie |
| True Confessions | Jack Amsterdam | ||
| Dark Night of the Scarecrow | Otis P. Hazelrigg | TV movie | |
| Sharky's Machine | Lieutenant Friscoe | ||
| 1982 | The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas | Governor | Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor |
| Tootsie | Leslie 'Les' Nichols | ||
| 1983 | Scarface | Immigration Officer | Voice, Uncredited |
| Two of a Kind | Charlie | ||
| To Be or Not to Be | Colonel Erhardt | Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture | |
| 1984 | Mister Roberts | The Captain | |
| Mass Appeal | Monsignor Thomas Burke | ||
| 1985 | Stick | Chucky | |
| The Man with One Red Shoe | Ross | ||
| Death of a Salesman | Charley | TV movie Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie | |
| Stand Alone | Louis Thibadeau | ||
| 1986 | Big Trouble | O'Mara | |
| Where the River Runs Black | Father O'Reilly | ||
| Tough Guys | Sergeant Deke Yablonski | ||
| Meatballs III: Summer Job | Pete | Uncredited | |
| Solarbabies | The Warden | ||
| 1987 | The Rosary Murders | Father Ted Nabors | |
| Happy New Year | Charlie | ||
| A Tiger's Tale | Charlie Drumm | ||
| Hadley's Rebellion | Sam Crawford | ||
| The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains | Warden Hardy | TV movie Nominated—CableACE Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie | |
| 1988 | Cop | Detective Arthur 'Dutch' Peltz | |
| Far North | Bertrum | ||
| Case Closed | Detective Les | ||
| 1989 | It Nearly Wasn't Christmas | Santa | |
| Etoile | Uncle Joshua | ||
| Brenda Starr | Editor Francis I. Livright | ||
| Cat Chaser | 'Jiggs' Scully | ||
| Dinner at Eight | Dan Packard | TV movie | |
| 1990 | Dick Tracy | Chief Brandon | |
| Fatal Sky | Colonel Clancy | ||
| 1991 | V.I. Warshawski | Lieutenant Bobby Mallory | |
| 1993 | The Music of Chance | Bill Flower | |
| When A Stranger Calls Back | John Clifford | ||
| 1994 | The Hudsucker Proxy | Waring Hudsucker | |
| I.Q. | Louis Bamberger | ||
| 1995 | The Last Supper | Reverend Gerald Hutchens | |
| The Grass Harp | Reverend Buster | ||
| Home for the Holidays | Henry Larson | ||
| 1996 | Spy Hard | The Director | |
| Recon | Chief | ||
| The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists |
Archie The Archelon | Voice | |
| Mrs. Santa Claus | Santa Claus | ||
| One Fine Day | Lew | ||
| 1997 | The Secret Life of Algernon | Norbie Hess | |
| 1998 | Shelter | Captain Robert Landis | |
| Jerry and Tom | Vic | ||
| Hi-Life | 'Fatty' | ||
| Hard Time | Detective Charlie Duffy | ||
| 2000 | Lakeboat | 'Skippy' | |
| O Brother, Where Art Thou? | Pappy O'Daniel | ||
| Very Mean Men | Paddy Mulroney | ||
| The Last Producer | Syd Wolf | ||
| State and Main | Mayor George Bailey | Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast National Board of Review Award for Best Cast Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast | |
| Never Look Back | Unknown | ||
| 2001 | L.A.P.D.: To Protect and to Serve | Stuart Steele | |
| 2002 | Turn of Faith | Philly Russo | |
| Mother Ghost | George | ||
| Mr. St. Nick | King Nicholas XX | ||
| The Naked Run | Congressman Davenport | Short | |
| The Last Man Club | John 'Eagle Eye' Pennell | ||
| Pride & Loyalty | Dylan Frier | ||
| 2003 | Dead Canaries | Jimmy Kerrigan | |
| 2004 | Death and Texas | Marshall Ledger | |
| One Last Ride | Mr. Orlick | ||
| A Boyfriend for Christmas | Santa Claus | ||
| 2005 | River's End | Murray Blythe | |
| Resurrection: The J.R. Richard Story | Frank McNally | ||
| The L.A. Riot Spectacular | The Lawyer | ||
| Dirty Deeds | Victor Rasdale | ||
| Detective | Max Ernst | TV movie | |
| Jesus, Mary and Joey | Teddy, The Bartender | ||
| 2006 | Descansos | Innkeeper #2 | |
| Desperation | Tom Billingsley | ||
| Miracle Dogs Too | Captain Pete Weaver | ||
| Unbeatable Harold | Mr. Clark | ||
| Local Color | Yammi | ||
| Forget About It | Eddie O'Brien | ||
| 2007 | Polycarp | Alexander Hathaway | aka Kinky Killers |
| 2008 | Good Dick | Charlie | |
| Deal | Charlie Adler | ||
| The Drum Beats Twice | Satan | ||
| Break | The Wise Man | ||
| iMurders | Dr. Seamus St. Martin | ||
| The Golden Boys | John Bartlett | ||
| A Bunch of Amateurs | Charlie Rosenberg | ||
| 2009 | Shannon's Rainbow | Floyd | |
| 2010 | Three Chris's | Kris Kringle | |
| Chronicle of Purgatory: The Waiter | Frank 'The Handler' Maro | ||
| An Affirmative Act | Man In The White Suit | ||
| 2011 | Naked Run | Congressman Davenport | |
| The Great Fight | Judge Frier | ||
| The Life Zone | James Wise | ||
| 2012 | Rogue Assassin | Frank 'The Handler' Maro | |
| 2014 | Scavenger Killers | Dylan Frier | Posthumous release |
| 2015 | Captured Hearts | Santa Claus | Posthumous release, (final film role) |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | The High Chaparral | Hewitt | Episode: "The Reluctant Deputy" |
| 1972 | Another World | Gil McGowan (#1) | Unknown episodes |
| 1973 | All in the Family | Detective | Episode: "Gloria the Victim" |
| 1975–1976 | The Cop and The Kid | Officer Frank Murphy | 13 episodes |
| 1975 | Barnaby Jones | Don Corcoran | Episode: "The Deadly Conspiracy: Part 2" |
| 1975 | Hawaii Five-O | Havens | Episode: "Retire in Sunny Hawaii Forever" |
| 1976 | Captains and the Kings | Ed Healey | 3 episodes Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie |
| 1981 | Great Performances | McMahon | Episode: "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses and Other Stories" |
| 1982 | American Playhouse | Retired Man | Episode: "Working" |
| 1985 | Amazing Stories | Assistant to The Boss | Episode: "Guilt Trip" |
| 1985 | Tall Tales & Legends | Uncle Doffue | Episode: "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" |
| 1986 | Amazing Stories | Earl | Episode: "You Gotta Believe Me" |
| 1987 | Dolly | Musical numbers and skit | Episode 13 |
| 1989 | The Butter Battle Book | Grandfather | Television special |
| 1990–1994 | Evening Shade | Dr. Harlan Elldridge | 98 episodes Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (1991–92) |
| 1990 | The Kennedys of Massachusetts | John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald | 3 episodes Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film |
| 1992 | The Water Engine | Tour Guide | Television movie |
| 1994 | Roommates | Barney | Television movie |
| 1996 | Elmo Saves Christmas | Santa Claus | Television special |
| 1997 | Orleans | Frank Vitelli | 3 episodes |
| 1997 | Early Edition | Psychiatrist | Episode: "A Regular Joe" |
| 1998 | Homicide: Life on the Street | Thomas Finnegan | Episode: "Finnegan's Wake" Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series |
| 1998 | Cybil | A.J. Sheridan | 2 episodes |
| 1998–2002 | Everybody Loves Raymond | Father Hubley | 6 episodes |
| 1998–2000 | The Practice | Stephen Donnell | 2 episodes |
| 1999–2009 | Family Guy | Francis Griffin | 5 episodes |
| 1999–2000 | Now and Again | Narrator | 20 episodes |
| 2000 | The Hoop Life | Wes Connelly | Episode: "The Second Chance" |
| 2000 | Early Edition | Judge Steven Romick | Episode: "Time" |
| 2001 | Arli$$ | Unknown | Episode: "Fielding Offers" |
| 2001 | Citizen Baines | Clifford Connelly | Episode: "Three Days in November" |
| 2002 | First Monday | Justice Henry Hoskins | 13 episodes |
| 2003 | Touched by an Angel | Father Madden | Episode: "The Root of All Evil" |
| 2004–2011 | Rescue Me | Michael Gavin | 27 episodes Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series |
| 2004 | NCIS | Corporal Ernie Yost | Episode: "Call of Silence" Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series |
| 2006 | Everwood | Eugene Brown | 2 episodes |
| 2007 | Monk | Hank Johansen | Episode: "Mr. Monk Goes to the Hospital" |
| 2010 | No Clean Break | The Wise Man | Unsold TV pilot |
His father, an Irish immigrant who had joined the Army to gain U.S. citizenship, lost a leg during World War I and died when Charles was 12.
...as he describes her, his maternal parent, Mrs. Louis Leonard Durning, is the quintessential Irish mother...
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