Jimmy Durante Overview:

Legendary actor, Jimmy Durante, was born James Francis Durante on Feb 10, 1893 in New York City, NY. Durante died at the age of 87 on Jan 29, 1980 in Santa Monica, CA and was laid to rest in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, Los Angeles County, CA.

MINI BIO:

Piano-playing American comedian with a unique repertoire of inspired comic songs. Under contract to MGM for many years, but the studio never really projected his personality properly, and he remained at his best in solo spots, nightclubs, and records. Died from pneumonia.

(Source: available at Amazon Quinlan's Film Stars).

HONORS and AWARDS:

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He was honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the categories of Motion Pictures and Radio. Jimmy Durante's handprints and footprints were 'set in stone' at Grauman's Chinese Theater during imprint ceremony #73 on Oct 31, 1945. In addition, Durante was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame . Durante was never nominated for an Academy Award.

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Jimmy Durante Quotes:

Cornelius J. Courtney: Folks, this is your pal, Cornelius J. Courtney, tellin' you that this program is brought to you by that nationally famous head cold remedy "Nose Posse." Aaahh! Manufactured, endorsed by that benefactor of humanity, Thomas Summerville. Ah, that most delicate of organisms, the nose, the snoozle, the proboscus, let Nose Posse guard it for you. It deserves that protection - take it from me, a man who knows his noses. At-chaaa! And now, after a brief pause for station identification, Gene Autry will present this week's thrilling drama of the sagebrush, "The Sagebrush."


Danny Webson Miller: Why is anyone in love with anyone?
Nick Lombardi: There's a lot of reasons like, for example, you like her eyes or something.


[Moxie is introduced to a child actor of the "legitimate" stage]
Moxie Slaight: Well I'm glad he was legitimate once.


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Grauman's Imprints

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Jimmy Durante on the
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Jimmy Durante Facts
For years he signed off his radio and TV shows with "Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are", but he would never divulge who she was. Some speculated it was a "code name" for a current or former lover, some doubted she ever existed. It was not until after his death in 1980 that it was revealed she was, indeed, a real person.

Comic Sonny King, who worked with Durante during his career, stated in an interview that the mysterious "Mrs. Calabash" was indeed Jimmy's late wife Jeanne Olson, but "Calabash" was a reference to Calabasas, California, where she was hospitalized in her later years. She had difficulty in pronouncing the city name, often calling it "Calabash", and it became an inside joke for the Durantes.

A legal challenge to his adoption of daughter CeCe late in life, on the grounds that he was too old to care for such a young child, was dismissed by a judge, who said, "I've heard this man sing 'Young at Heart.'"

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Radio Hall of Fame

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