Trivia

He died at his home in Manhattan (NYC). He was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.

He was the ninth of ten children, but five of his sisters died of smallpox or scarlet fever in childhood, three of them within two weeks. His surviving siblings were James (1915-2000), Clifford (1916-1994), Frances (born 1919) and Gerald Durning (born 1926). His mother, Louise (Leonard), who was of Irish descent, was a laundress at West Point, and his father, James Durning, was an Irish immigrant who had been badly wounded in World War I, just as Charles would be in WW II. He died when Charles was 12.

Despite the wounds he received in WWII (he was shot in the legs and hip by machine-gun fire), he went on to become a professional dancer and dance teacher. He taught at the Fred Astaire studios and relied upon it when he couldn't find acting work.

Developed an interest in Acting at the age of 28 when, while working as an usher, he was called onstage to replace a drunken Actor. Durning said he was hooked when he first heard the audience laugh.

His life and military service honored as part of the 24th National Memorial Day concert, which features Joe Mantegna and Gary Sinise. (May 2013)

Was the recipient of the 44th Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award for 2007. (December 2007)

His breakthrough role occurred on Broadway in 1972 starring in "That Championship Season" where he was noticed by director George Roy Hill who cast him in his acclaimed Oscar-winning movie The Sting (1973).

Was kicked out of the American Academy of Dramatic Art drama school because they thought he had no talent. Another famous thespian to be booted from the school was Jason Robards.

Passed away on same day as actor Jack Klugman.

He was drafted at age 21. He was part of the first wave of soldiers to land on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. Durning was the only member of his unit to survive the assault.

"I was the second man off my barge," Durning said, "and the first and third man got killed."

Days after arriving in France, a German land mine injured Durning. He spent the next six months recovering from shrapnel wounds in England, received his first Purple Heart, and returned to the front lines.

While fighting in Belgium, Durning came face-to-face with a teenage German soldier. He couldn't bring himself to shoot the young man, but when the soldier stabbed him with a bayonet, Durning defended himself and killed his attacker with a rock. During the Battle of the Bulge, Germans captured Durning. He was one of only a few soldiers to survive the Malmedy massacre when German soldiers opened fire on nearly 90 prisoners of war. For his injuries, Durning received his second Purple Heart.

In March 1945, Durning was moving into Germany with the 398th Infantry Regiment when he took a bullet to the chest. That bullet effectively ended Durning's service; he spent the rest of the war in the hospital recovering from his wounds. He received his third Purple Heart and discharged in 1946 with the rank of private first class. In addition to his Purple Hearts, he received a Silver Star for his actions during the war, but later in life, he refused to talk about the details of his service, describing the memories as too painful.

Won Broadway's 1990 Tony Award as Best Actor (Featured Role - Play) for portraying Big Daddy in a revival of Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

In 2017, author Anna Graham Hunter, who had worked as an intern on Death of a Salesman (1985), published her diaries from the shoot: though sharply critical of other cast-members, she recalled that Durning "made every room he entered a happier place".

Appeared in three films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: The Sting (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975) and Tootsie (1982). Of those, The Sting (1973) is a winner in the category.

He played Santa Claus on television five times in his lifetime: in It Nearly Wasn't Christmas (1989), Mrs. Santa Claus (1996), Sesame Street: Elmo Saves Christmas (1996), Mr. St. Nick (2002), and A Boyfriend for Christmas (2004). Ironically, he died on Christmas Eve.

He was a ballroom dance instructor in his early career. He also studied Judo.

His first job in the entertainment field was as an usher at a burlesque house. His career officially started as a singer with a band at the age of 16, before going into acting. His first professional play was in Buffalo before he went off to war.

He met Mary Ann Amelio, his second wife, after his discharge from the army. He met her again while in "That Championship Season" on Broadway. They then married in 1974 and were legally separated in 2010.

Alumnus of the AADA (American Academy of Dramatic Arts), Class of 1948.

He had three children with his first wife, Carole: daughters, Michele and Jeanine; and a son, Douglas Edward.

Started his show business career in burlesque.

Servered as a US army ranger at Normandy earning a Silver Star and a Purple Heart.

In off-Broadway production of "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui", Bertolt Brecht's Nazi Allegory set in Chicago. (October 2002)

He has appeared in four films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Sting (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), The Muppet Movie (1979) and Tootsie (1982).

Was considered for the role of General Worden in The Dirty Dozen (1967).

Has played the Governor of a Southern state twice. He played the Governor of Texas in "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas," and then went on to play the Governor of Mississippi in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?".

Born twenty-four days after Conrad Bain. He also passed away within a month of Bain.