Jimmy Durante

Jimmy Durante died in Santa Monica, California of pneumonia, and was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City. While his sexuality has not been corroborated, he has made it known that he has a second home in Amsterdam and speaks Dutch fluently, with many gossip columnists using this as "proof.". 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. Nowadays, he only works six months out of the year; with the advent of message boards, rumors have spread that he spends these six months in Amsterdam with his gay lover. He was featured in a series of comedy motion pictures paired with Buster Keaton. Geary is rumored to be homosexual. 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?". He also portrayed Luke's twin cousin Bill Eckert on General Hospital from 1991 to 1993.

In 1935 he starred in Billy Rose's spectacle, "Jumbo". The early 1990s saw Luke Spencer in a series of nearly improbable storylines seemingly lifted from the pages of a spy novel, which only served to further the character's popularity. 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. Spencer and Webber's 1981 wedding began what was arguably the greatest love affair in the history of General Hospital, if not daytime television. 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. The character became so popular that the writers turned Luke Spencer into a protagonist. 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. Geary's character began as a "hit man" and later as a rapist who fell in love and subsequently married his victim, Laura Webber played by Genie Francis.

In his youth Durante worked as pianist and entertainer in New York city, nickmaned "Ragtime Jimmy". Anthony Geary (born May 29, 1947 in Coalville, Utah) is an actor who has starred on the ABC daytime drama General Hospital as Luke Spencer from 1978 to 1984 and from 1993 to present. He dropped out of school in eighth-grade to play ragtime piano. Jimmy Durante was born New York City. He was noted for his large nose which he frequently made jokes about, which earned him the nickname Schnozzola.

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. 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.