RIP Charles Durning

[detop]

Charles Durning died yesterday. He was 89. It seems we are getting into that time of year again. First Jack Klugman. Then, that great character actor Charles Durning. May you rest in peace.

[Yorikke]

For me, he will always be Waring Hudsucker. RIP

[Son_of_a_Rich]

I really liked him as the irascible Father Hubley on Everybody Loves Raymond. RIP.

[Defensive_Indifference]

He was awesome as Snyder in The Sting. Sad to see him and Klugman go.

[Chefguy]

One of my favorite character actors. This part of his life was unknown to me, but is nothing short of astounding:

His combat experiences were harrowing. He was in the first wave of troops to land on Omaha Beach on D-Day and his unit’s lone survivor of a machine-gun ambush. In Belgium he was stabbed in hand-to-hand combat with a German soldier, whom he bludgeoned to death with a rock. Fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, he and the rest of his company were captured and forced to march through a pine forest at Malmedy, the scene of an infamous massacre in which the Germans opened fire on almost 90 prisoners. Mr. Durning was among the few to escape.

By the war’s end he had been awarded a Silver Star for valor and three Purple Hearts, having suffered gunshot and shrapnel wounds as well. He spent months in hospitals and was treated for psychological trauma.

“A German soldier ran toward me carrying a bayonet. He couldn’t have been more than 14 or 15. I didn’t see a soldier. I saw a boy. Even though he was coming at me, I couldn’t shoot.”

They grappled, he recounted later — he was stabbed seven or eight times — until finally he grasped a rock and made it a weapon. After killing the youth, he said, he held him in his arms and wept.

The man overcame a lot in his life to become a well-known face to millions.

[not_what_you_d_expect]

Wow. I didn’t know about all that.

I always liked him in movies. Rest in Peace, Charles. You’ve earned it.

[ftg]

Two movies that he did in 2000 that showed how good of an actor he was were O Brother, Where Art Thou? and State and Main. At first glance both roles are similar, playing the local politician, and many actors might have played them in similar ways, but Charles made them quite distinct. Governor Pappy O’Daniel was full southerner, a gruff and intrinsically nasty guy who could still lay the charm on thick. Mayor George Bailey (!) has a much meeker, quieter New Englander who was out of the loop on nearly everything. They even moved around differently.

Plus there was Rescue Me.

[James_Otto_Sweet_Heart]

Wow, I just got done watching him play Santa in that Elmo Saves Christmas Sesame Street film. may he be with the Lord now.

God bless you and his family always!!!

Holly

[Johnny_L.A]

In Belgium he was stabbed in hand-to-hand combat with a German soldier

He was stabbed with a German soldier?

It’s too bad we have to lose these actors.

[Siam_Sam]

A war hero too.

Geez, they’re dropping like flies now. RIP, Chuck.

[Yorikke]

@Johnny_L.A

He was stabbed with a German soldier?

They do have those pointy hats…

[Mean_Mr.Mustard]

I always thought he was perfect in Tootsie.
mmm

[The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski]

I like to think that Waring Hudsucker fought alongside Teddy Duchamp’s father on D-Day.
RIP PFC Durning.

[Lynn_Bodoni]

Lots of people have danced a little sidestep, but he made it look easy and elegant.

[Dewey_Finn]

@hrhomer

For me, he will always be Waring Hudsucker. RIP

Loved him in that role, as well as Colonel Erhardt in To Be Or Not To Be (a role for which he received an Academy Award nomination).

[BrassyPhrase]

I always think of him in the episode of Homicide “Finnegan’s Wake”. When he sings this song about flowers coming up thru the snow…just lovely.

RIP

[aceplace57]

I liked him in tv’s Evening Shade playing Burt Reynolds friend Dr Harlan Elldridge.

Durning played a lot of good parts in his career.

[Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker]

For all his many roles, I always think of him doing the side step.

[Chefguy]

@Lynn_Bodoni

Lots of people have danced a little sidestep, but he made it look easy and elegant.

He taught ballroom dancing at one point in his checkered life, and met his wife at an Arthur Murray studio.

[freckafree]

He was on an episode of NCIS playing a WWII veteran who wanted to return his Medal of Honor because he’d shot and killed one of his buddies during the invasion of Normandy. His buddy was mortally wounded and near death but couldn’t stop moaning, so Durning’s character shot him to keep him from revealing their location to the Germans. Sounds like he brought a good deal of person experience to that episode.