Posted on 12/25/2012 4:02:19 AM PST by the scotsman
'Two-time Oscar nominee Charles Durning - dubbed the king of the character actors - has died aged 89.
He died on Christmas Eve of natural causes at his New York City home.
Durning portrayed everyone from blustery public officials to put-upon everymen to Big Daddy in a Broadway revival of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. It won him a Tony award in 1990.
He was nominated for an Oscar for his over-the-top performance as a corrupt governor in 1982's The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. Just a year later, he got another nomination for Mel Brooks's To Be Or Not To Be.'
(Excerpt) Read more at belfasttelegraph.co.uk ...
Charles Durning, Dub Taylor, Strother Martin. Tremendous character actors.
I recall hearing Durning recite the following poem about the bloody Battle of Carrentan on a documentrary about Normandy.
Carentan O Carentan
By Louis Simpson 1923–2012 Louis Simpson
Trees in the old days used to stand
And shape a shady lane
Where lovers wandered hand in hand
Who came from Carentan.
This was the shining green canal
Where we came two by two
Walking at combat-interval.
Such trees we never knew.
The day was early June, the ground
Was soft and bright with dew.
Far away the guns did sound,
But here the sky was blue.
The sky was blue, but there a smoke
Hung still above the sea
Where the ships together spoke
To towns we could not see.
Could you have seen us through a glass
You would have said a walk
Of farmers out to turn the grass,
Each with his own hay-fork.
The watchers in their leopard suits
Waited till it was time,
And aimed between the belt and boot
And let the barrel climb.
I must lie down at once, there is
A hammer at my knee.
And call it death or cowardice,
Don’t count again on me.
Everything’s all right, Mother,
Everyone gets the same
At one time or another.
It’s all in the game.
I never strolled, nor ever shall,
Down such a leafy lane.
I never drank in a canal,
Nor ever shall again.
There is a whistling in the leaves
And it is not the wind,
The twigs are falling from the knives
That cut men to the ground.
Tell me, Master-Sergeant,
The way to turn and shoot.
But the Sergeant’s silent
That taught me how to do it.
O Captain, show us quickly
Our place upon the map.
But the Captain’s sickly
And taking a long nap.
Lieutenant, what’s my duty,
My place in the platoon?
He too’s a sleeping beauty,
Charmed by that strange tune.
Carentan O Carentan
Before we met with you
We never yet had lost a man
Or known what death could do.
RIP Pvt. Durning.
Merry Christmas, JVB! I hope all is well with you and yours. I didn’t know about Durning’s military service. What a man! I enjoyed watching him in movies. Great actor.
And they thought he was dead!
I loved him in “Brother, Where Art Thou.”
Mr. Durning is one of the Great Ones of the Greatest Generation.
RIP
Merry Christmas a day later my EPIC FRiend.
Hope this finds you and your family in fine fettle enjoying the crisp air and keeping your tools cleaned and lubricated.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.