Charles Durning

Charles Durning
File:Durning.jpg Charles Durning

Charles Durning (born February 28, 1923) is an American actor of stage and screen.

Biography

Early life

Durning was born in Highland Falls, New York to Louise and James Durning. He was raised in an impoverished family, and left his home as soon as possible to ease the financial pressure on his mother.

Military service

Durning served as a soldier in World War II, during which he was awarded a Silver Star, three Purple Heart medals, and a Good Conduct Medal. He was drafted into the U.S. Army at the age of 21, and landed on D-Day in the Normandy Invasion on June 6, 1944. Some sources state he was in the 1st Infantry Division at the time, but it is unclear if he was a rifleman or in an artillery unit by 1944.

On Omaha Beach itself, Pvt. Charles Durning was among the first troops to land. Drafted early in the war, he was first assigned as a rifleman with the 398th Infantry Regiment, but later served overseas with the 3rd Army Support troops and the 386th Anti-aircraft Artillery (AAA) Battalion.

Durning was wounded by an “S” Mine on June 15, 1944, at Les Mare des Mares. He was transported by the 499th Medical Collection Company to the 24th Evacuation Hospital. By June 17, he was back in England at the 217th General Hospital. Although severely wounded by shrapnel in the left and right thigh, right hand, the frontal region of the head and the interior left chest wall, Durning recovered quickly and was determined to be “fit for duty” on December 6, 1944. Durning was present for the Battle of the Bulge, the German counter-offensive in December 1944.

He was taken prisoner during the Battle of the Bulge, and was one of the few survivors of the infamous Malmedy massacre of American POWs, perpetrated by a battlegroup under Joachim Peiper of the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. "He escaped with two others, and returned to find the remainder murdered."

After being wounded in the chest, Durning was repatriated to the United States where he remained in army hospitals, receiving treatment for both physical and psychological wounds, until discharged with the rank of Private First Class on January 30, 1946.

Durning has said that he still suffers from nightmares about his war experiences (which is common among veterans living with post-traumatic stress disorder, although Durning himself is not confirmed to have suffered PTSD). He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his extraordinary portrayal of a Marine veteran in "Call of Silence", an unusual episode of the television series NCIS, first broadcast November 23, 2004. Clearly drawing on his first-hand knowledge of the lingering effects of battle-induced stress, 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. 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.

Durning is well-known for participating in various functions to honor American veterans. He was the chairman one year of the U.S. National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans.

Film career

After the war, Durning worked at various jobs. While working as a ballroom dance instructor (he had some training in classical dance) he was noticed and cast in the New York Shakespeare Festival. He has since performed in some 32 plays, and in 1990 he won the Tony Award for "Featured Actor in a Play" for his role in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

One of Durning's best-known roles is the corrupt policeman Lieutenant Snyder who doggedly pursues the young con artist Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) in the 1973 classic The Sting. Since then he has amassed over 100 film and TV credits, including Queen of the Stardust Ballroom, Dog Day Afternoon (with Al Pacino), the sci-fi classic The Final Countdown, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. In 1979, he played Doc Hopper, the main villain in The Muppet Movie. In Tootsie he plays a suitor to a cross-dressing Dustin Hoffman. The two actors worked together again in a 1985 TV production of Death of a Salesman. In 1993, Durning guest starred in the Sean Penn-directed music video for "Dance with the One That Brought You" by Shania Twain.

More recently he has played a benevolent father to Holly Hunter in Home for the Holidays (1995), a savvy southern state governor ("Pappy" O'Daniel) in O Brother, Where Art Thou, and as Victor Rasdale in Dirty Deeds. In 1996 he played Lew in the romantic comedy One Fine Day. He also had a recurring role on Everybody Loves Raymond (1996–2005) as the Barone family's long-suffering parish priest, Father Hubley. He also played the voice of recurring character Francis Griffin in the animated series Family Guy until 2007.

For his roles on television, Durning has earned eight Emmy Award nominations. He has also received Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nominations for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas in 1982 and for To Be or Not to Be in 1983. He won a Golden Globe in 1990 for his supporting role in the television miniseries "The Kennedys of Massachusetts."

He can currently be seen on the television show Rescue Me, playing the father of Denis Leary's character. His daughter Jeanine Durning is a well known New York based modern dance performer and choreographer.

Filmography

• The Sting (1973)
• The Front Page (1974)
• Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
• The Hindenburg (1975)
• Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976)
• The Choirboys (1977)
• The Fury (1978)
• The Green Tycoon (1978)
• When a Stranger Calls (1979)
• The Muppet Movie, (1979)
• Tilt (1979)
• The Final Countdown, (1980)
• True Confessions (1981)
• Tootsie (1982)
• The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)
• To Be or Not to Be (1983)
• Mass Apeal (1984)
• The Man with One Red Shoe (1985)
• Big Trouble (1986)
• Tough Guys (1986)
• The Rosary Murders (1987)
• Cop (1988)
• Dick Tracy (1990)
• The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
• Cabin Boy (1994)
• The Grass Harp (1995)
• Home for the Holidays (film)
• Spy Hard (1996)
• One Fine Day (1996)
• O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
• State and Main (2000)

External links

• Charles Durning at IMDb
• Charles Durning at the Internet Broadway Database
• O'Hare, Kate, Zapit.com. 'NCIS' Has Durning Hearing Echoes of War.
• McCaslin, John, TownHall.com (cached) "Stars by example"
• Hayes, Richard L., Osprey Publishing. "Hollywood Stars at D-Day"
• Soldiers Online - Army.mil. "Concert on Memorial Day"