Durning to recover from his physical and psychological wounds. He later helped liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp.
He was wounded in battle three times, captured by Nazi troops and killed a soldier in hand-to-hand combat. He had held dozens of menial jobs and, while serving as an Army infantryman, was among the first soldiers to land on the Normandy beaches during the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944. Durning had accumulated a lifetime of real-world experience.
CHARLES DURNING MOVIES LIST MOVIE
He got his major break in Jason Miller’s 1972 Broadway play about the aging members of a high school basketball team, “That Championship Season.” A year later, he appeared as a corrupt police officer in the con-man caper movie “The Sting,” with Paul Newman and Robert Redford.īy then, Mr. Durning was virtually unknown until he was almost 50.
He was nominated for two Academy Awards and nine Emmy Awards and won a Tony Award for his performance as Big Daddy in a 1990 Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’s “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”īut the short, thick-bodied Mr. Durning appeared in almost 200 movies, countless television shows and dozens of plays, portraying a range of characters from Shakespearean fools to crooked cops to military veterans haunted by the past. His agent, Judith Moss, confirmed his death to the Associated Press but did not disclose the cause. And I was in 60 feet of water with a 60 pound pack on, so I let it all go.Charles Durning, who was often called the ultimate character actor because of his ability to inhabit almost any role, from everyday workingman to politician to priest, and who saw some of the fiercest combat in Europe during World War II, died Monday at his home in New York City. We were supposed to be able to walk into shore but they didn't bring us far enough. First guy the ramp went down, the guy fell and I tried to leap over him and I stumbled and we both slipped into the water. I was the second man off my barge and the first and third men got killed. Even the guys who had seen a lot of action before, and this was my first time, they were just as ashen as I was, and I was frightened to death. You're not thinking about anything, you're just thinking about you hope that shell that just went off isn't going to hit this boat. This guy in the boat, he turned to me and he threw up all over me, and I got seasick. My sergeant said 'are you scared, son?' and I said 'yes, I am', and he said 'that's good, it's good to be scared', he said 'we all are'. It's hard to describe what we all went through that day, but those of us who were there will understand. High demand on television and has guest starred inĪppeared in the role of "Santa Claus" in five different television With his multitude of feature film roles, Durning has always been in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982).ĭurning continued a regular on screen association with Light footed, dancing Governor (alongside Burt Reynolds once more) in Highly strung police officer berating maverick cop The versatile Durning is equally adept at comedic roles andĭemonstrated his skills as "Doc Hopper" in 'Robert Redford' in the multi award winning mega-hitĮntertaining in the Billy Wilder productionįeatured as "Spermwhale Whalen" in the story of unorthodox policeīehavior in The Choirboys (1977). Minor roles over the next decade until he really got noticed by filmįans as the sneering, corrupt cop "Lt.
CHARLES DURNING MOVIES LIST TV
His start in guest appearances in early 1960's TV shows. Irish immigrant and his mother was of Irish descent. (Leonard), a laundress, and James Gerald Durning. Durning was born in Highland Falls, New York, to Louise Marie Hollywood's most dependable and sought after supporting actors. The stockily built Charles Durning was one of WWII veteran, dance instructor and diversely talented stage & screenĪctor were all inclusions on the resume of this perpetually busy USĪctor who didn't get in front of the cameras until around the time of
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