Charles Durning, born in Highland Falls, New York, in 1923, was one of American cinema’s great character actors, a burly, warm and deceptively agile presence who worked steadily from the seventies until his death in 2012. A decorated World War II veteran who landed at Normandy, he broke through with The Sting (1973) and Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and won two Oscar nominations for To Be or Not to Be (1983) and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982). He stole scenes as the corrupt governor in Tootsie (1982) and as Big Dan Teague in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). On television he won a Golden Globe for the miniseries The Kennedys of Massachusetts (1990) and remained a constant guest across four decades. Read more