Ex-pro boxer, WWII veteran, dance instructor and diversely talented stage & screen actor are all inclusions on the resume of this perpetually busy US actor who didn’t get in front of the cameras until around the time of his fortieth birthday ! The stockily built Charles Durning is one of Hollywood’s most dependable and sought after supporting actors who first got his start in guest appearances in early 1960’s TV shows. He scored minor roles over the next decade until he really got noticed by film fans as the sneering, corrupt cop “Lt. Snyder” hassling street grifter ‘Robert Redford’ in the multi award winning mega-hit Der Clou (1973). Durning was equally entertaining in the Billy Wilder production of Extrablatt (1974), he supported screen tough guy Charles Bronson in the suspenseful western Nevada Pass (1975) and featured as “Spermwhale Whalen” in the story of unorthodox police behavior in Die Chorknaben (1977).
The versatile Durning is equally adept at comedic roles and… read more
Ex-pro boxer, WWII veteran, dance instructor and diversely talented stage & screen actor are all inclusions on the resume of this perpetually busy US actor who didn’t get in front of the cameras until around the time of his fortieth birthday ! The stockily built Charles Durning is one of Hollywood’s most dependable and sought after supporting actors who first got his start in guest appearances in early 1960’s TV shows. He scored minor roles over the next decade until he really got noticed by film fans as the sneering, corrupt cop “Lt. Snyder” hassling street grifter ‘Robert Redford’ in the multi award winning mega-hit Der Clou (1973). Durning was equally entertaining in the Billy Wilder production of Extrablatt (1974), he supported screen tough guy Charles Bronson in the suspenseful western Nevada Pass (1975) and featured as “Spermwhale Whalen” in the story of unorthodox police behavior in Die Chorknaben (1977).
The versatile Durning is equally adept at comedic roles and demonstrated his skills as “Doc Hopper” in The Muppet Movie (1979), a feisty football coach in Die Bullen von Dallas (1979), a highly strung police officer berating maverick cop Burt Reynolds in Sharky und seine Profis (1981), and a light footed, dancing Governor (alongside Burt Reynolds once more) in Das schönste Freudenhaus in Texas (1982). Durning continued a regular on screen association with Burt Reynolds appearing in several more feature films together and as “Dr. Harlan Elldridge” in the highly popular TV series “Daddy schafft uns alle” (1990). On par with his multitude of feature film roles, Durning has always been in high demand on television and has guest starred in “Alle lieben Raymond” (1996), “Monk” (2002) and “Rescue Me” (2004). Plus, he has appeared in the role of “Santa Claus” in five different telemovies! —IMDb
