Durning would later be a regular figure at events honoring World War II vets, but did not speak about his experiences until his "Evening Shade" co-star, Ossie Davis, suggested that he appear at the annual National Memorial Day Concert on the 50th anniversary of D-Day in 2004. He was once again wounded and taken prisoner by Axis forces, and was one of only a handful of POWs to survive the brutal massacre at Malmedy, in which German forces machine-gunned an engineering battalion that had been caught behind enemy lines after the American retreat and who were surrendering at the time.ĭurning was shipped back to the United States and received treatment for his injuries as well as psychological trauma from his involvement in these two bloody ordeals eventually being discharged in 1946 with three Purple Hearts and the Silver Star. As the lone survivor in his unit, Durning was immediately shipped to England to recover, and returned to the frontlines for the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944. He also received eight stab wounds from a German soldier, whom he killed with a rock in hand-to-hand combat. The event was by all accounts a horrific one for him: among the first wave to land on Omaha Beach on June 6, he suffered machine gun wounds to his right leg and shrapnel injuries over his entire body. When America entered World War II, Durning was drafted into the Army as a rifleman and was present at the invasion of Normandy on D-Day in 1944. Unfortunately, like many men just starting out their lives at the time, world events proceeded to get in the way.
#CHARLES DURNING MOVIES LIST PROFESSIONAL#
He also did time as a professional boxer, construction worker, elevator operator, cab driver, nightclub singer and ballroom dancer before making his stage debut in Buffalo. He even took to the stage there after a comic was relieved of his job for drunkenness. As a teen, Durning displayed the tenacious nature that would later earmark many of his film and television roles by working as an usher at a burlesque theater in Buffalo, NY. 28, 1923 in Highland Falls, NY, Durning was reared solely by his mother Louise after his father, John, died when he was very young, leaving Louise to support her and her son by working as a laundress at the nearby West Point military academy. Though never an above the title name, Durning's durable presence in all genres of television and film made him a one-of-a-kind performer beloved by all.īorn Feb. Always busy well into his senior years, Durning delivered one quality performance after another and was especially good as Denis Leary's womanizing father on "Rescue Me" (FX, 2004-2011).
After wooing a cross-dressing Dustin Hoffman in the hit comedy "Tootsie" (1982), Durning was a regular on the popular sitcom "Evening Shade" (CBS, 1990-94), while landing notable supporting turns in films like "The Hudsucker Proxy" (1994).
From there, he stole scenes in "North Dallas Forty" (1979) and "The Muppet Movie" (1979), while in the following decade he earned Oscar nominations as Best Supporting Actor for "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" (1982) and "To Be or Not to Be" (1983). Two years later, he earned considerable praise for playing a Brooklyn cop who negotiates with Al Pacino's bank robber in the classic crime thriller "Dog Day Afternoon" (1975). After working as a nightclub dancer and instructor, the WWII veteran broke into acting in the 1960s on the New York stage, which lead to him being discovered by director George Roy Hill and cast as a corrupt cop who harasses Robert Redford in "The Sting" (1973). A veteran character actor who was a widely recognizable face in film and on television for over five decades, Charles Durning earned his place as a dependable presence often playing pugnacious tough guys and authority figures.
0 kommentar(er)
