Jimmy Durante

Jimmy Durante died in Santa Monica, California of pneumonia, and was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City. 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. Durante had a nationally broadcast radio variety show; in the 1950s he had a television show as well. He continued making movie appearances through 1963 and television appearances until 1970. On his passing in 1936, John Gilbert was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. He was featured in a series of comedy motion pictures paired with Buster Keaton. However, his alcoholism had already damaged his health, and he died of a heart attack without ever regaining his former reputation. In the show, a policeman stops him while leading a live elephant and asks "What are you doing with that elephant?" Durante stopped the show by saying "Elephant? What elephant?". In 1933, he starred opposite Garbo for the last time, in Queen Christina.

In 1935 he starred in Billy Rose's spectacle, "Jumbo". He had already been married twice, and would soon marry again. He had big hit in 1934 with his composition Inka Dinka Do, a novelty number he sang and played piano on, and which became his signature song. They soon began a relationship, and Gilbert planned to marry her, but Garbo stood him up. In the mid 1920s he became a star on Vaudeville and radio with his music & comedy trio Clayton Jackson & Durante (with Lou Clayton and Eddie Jackson); despite third billing Durante was the star of the act. That same year, Gilbert made Flesh and the Devil, his first film with Greta Garbo. About 1917 he joined one of the first jazz bands in New York, The Original New Orleans Jazz Band (all other musicians were from New Orleans). Durante's outgoing personality and ability to "sell" a number to the audience started attracting greater attention, and by 1920 the band was renamed Jimmy Durante's Jazz Band. The following year, Vidor brought Gilbert and Adorée together again along with Lillian Gish in the film, La Boheme.

In his youth Durante worked as pianist and entertainer in New York city, nickmaned "Ragtime Jimmy". 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. He dropped out of school in eighth-grade to play ragtime piano. 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. Jimmy Durante was born New York City. John Gilbert was one of the biggest box office draws of the silent film era, rivalling the great Rudolph Valentino. He was noted for his large nose which he frequently made jokes about, which earned him the nickname Schnozzola. Gilbert was born John Cecil Pringle in Logan, Utah, and was a star of silent films while still in his teens.

Durante was a pianist, actor, comedian, as well as a singer with a distinctive hoarse voice with a strong working class New York City accent. John Gilbert (July 10, 1899 - January 9, 1936) was was an actor and major star of the silent film era. James Francis "Jimmy" Durante (February 10, 1893 - January 29, 1980) was an American entertainer, one of the most popular and recognized personalities of the 1920s-1960s.