Charles Durning

Durning received Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nominations for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas in 1982 and for To Be or Not to Be in 1983. John Gilbert has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in 1994, he was honored with his image on a United States postage stamp designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. More recently he has played a benevolent father to Holly Hunter in Home for the Holidays (1995), and a savvy southern state governor ("Pappy" O'Daniel) in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou. On his passing in 1936, John Gilbert was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. In Tootsie he played a suitor to a cross-dressing Dustin Hoffman, and worked again with Hoffman in a 1985 TV production of Death of a Salesman. However, his alcoholism had already damaged his health, and he died of a heart attack without ever regaining his former reputation. Since then he has amassed over 100 film and TV credits, including Dog Day Afternoon (with Al Pacino), the sci-fi classic The Final Countdown, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. In 1933, he starred opposite Garbo for the last time, in Queen Christina.

One of Durning's best-known roles is the crooked bunco cop Lieutennant Snyder who doggedly pursues the young con artist Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) in the 1973 classic The Sting. He had already been married twice, and would soon marry again. He has since performed in some 32 plays, including the Tony Award-winning That Championship Season. They soon began a relationship, and Gilbert planned to marry her, but Garbo stood him up. While working as a ballroom dance instructor (he had some training in classical dance) he was noticed and cast in the New York Shakespeare Festival. That same year, Gilbert made Flesh and the Devil, his first film with Greta Garbo. After the war, Durning worked various jobs. The following year, Vidor brought Gilbert and Adorée together again along with Lillian Gish in the film, La Boheme.

He has said he still suffers from nightmares about his war experiences. In 1925, Gilbert co-starred with Renée Adorée in The Big Parade directed by King Vidor, which became the second highest grossing silent film in cinema history. Durning is well-known for participating in various functions to honor American veterans. Often cited as one of the high profile examples of an actor who was unsucessful in making the transition to talkies, his decline as a star in fact had more to do with studio politics and money than the sound of his voice on screen. He also participated in the Normandy Invasion. John Gilbert was one of the biggest box office draws of the silent film era, rivalling the great Rudolph Valentino. One of his injuries took place in the Battle of the Bulge, where he was one of the few to survive an attack on American POWs. Gilbert was born John Cecil Pringle in Logan, Utah, and was a star of silent films while still in his teens.

Army Ranger in World War II, during which he was awarded a Silver Star and three Purple Heart medals. John Gilbert (July 10, 1899 - January 9, 1936) was was an actor and major star of the silent film era. Durning served as a U.S. An eminent character actor, Durning is known for his versatility and for sometimes outperforming the main actors in his films. Charles Durning (born February 28, 1923) is an American actor of stage and screen.