Jimmy Durante

Jimmy Durante died in Santa Monica, California of pneumonia, and was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City. Longtime lover Martin Hensler, 30 years his junior, died just a few months before Sir John. 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. Instead of being rejected by the public, he got a standing ovation at his next stage appearance, and the roller-coaster to de-criminalise homosexuality in England and Wales began. He was featured in a series of comedy motion pictures paired with Buster Keaton. He was convicted of "lewd behaviour" (cottaging) in 1953. 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 was knighted in the 1953 coronation honours, became a Companion of Honour in 1977 and was admitted to the Order of Merit in 1996.

In 1935 he starred in Billy Rose's spectacle, "Jumbo". He won an Academy Award for his supporting role as a sardonic butler in the 1981 comedy Arthur, starring Dudley Moore, and his performance in Shine (1996) was critically acclaimed. 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. In the 1980s and 1990s, it was jokingly said that he was prepared to do almost anything for his art. 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. As he aged, Gielgud began to adapt more to changing fashions in the theatre, appearing in plays by Harold Pinter. 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. Unlike Olivier, he remained primarily a stage actor, and so the rivalry between them was minimal.

In his youth Durante worked as pianist and entertainer in New York city, nickmaned "Ragtime Jimmy". His film roles included: Benjamin Disraeli in The Prime Minister (1940), Cassius in Julius Caesar (1952), and George, Duke of Clarence to Laurence Olivier's Richard III (1955). He dropped out of school in eighth-grade to play ragtime piano. Although he began to appear in British films as early as the 1930s, he would not make an impact in the medium until the last decades of his life. Jimmy Durante was born New York City. His Hamlet of 1936 was particularly admired. He was noted for his large nose which he frequently made jokes about, which earned him the nickname Schnozzola. He starred and directed in many Royal Shakespeare Company productions at Stratford-upon-Avon.

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. He trained at RADA and had his initial success as a stage actor in classical roles. 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. John Gielgud was born in Kensington in London, and had a head start in the theatrical profession, being a great-nephew of Ellen Terry. Sir Arthur John Gielgud OM CH (April 14, 1904–May 21, 2000) was an English theatre and film actor, regarded by many as one of the greatest of his time.