| Birth: | Feb. 10, 1893
Brooklyn
Kings County
New York, USA | | Death: | Jan. 29, 1980
Santa Monica
Los Angeles County
California, USA | 
Legendary actor, comedian and vaudeville star for over 50 years. He is fondly remembered for his trademark large nose (which he referred to as the Great Schnozzola), gravel voice, and slaughter of words. His signature sign off, "Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are" is a tribute to his first wife, Jeanne Olsen, who had died in 1943. Born James Francis Durante in New York City, he dropped out of school in the eighth grade when his schoolmates made fun of his big nose, large ears, and stuttering; he would later reveal that he made up his mind never to make fun of anyone else, but to laugh at his own looks. Durante initially worked the city bars, clubs, and vaudeville shows as a ragtime pianist. Eventually, he hooked up with the Original New Orleans Jazz Band (where it was said that he was the only band member not born in New Orleans) where he polished his routine and timing, using songs to introduce his jokes. By 1920, he had become so popular that the band renamed itself as Jimmy Durante's Jazz Band, and made him bandleader. With the advent of radio in the 1920s, Jimmy became part of a music and comedy trio called Clayton, Jackson and Durante. His whimsical song, Inka Dinka Doo, was introduced on radio in 1934; it would become his signature song for the remainder of his life. He began to appear in motion pictures, often in cameo roles playing himself, including such films as "The Passionate Plumber" (1932), "Palooka" (1934), "You're in the Army Now" (1941), and later, on a number of television shows during the 1950s and 1960s. Jimmy married his first wife, Jeanne Olsen, on June 19, 1921; when she died on Valentine's Day 1943, he was extremely distraught, and added the famous signature signoff line to his act; the name Calabash is a typical Durante mispronunciation of Calabasas, a town in California where they last lived. Durante would remarry, on Christmas Day 1960, to Marjorie Little, a hatcheck girl at the Copacabana Club, whom he would court for 16 years before she agreed to marry him. He was 67 and she was 39, but they never looked back upon their age difference except with humor and love. They would adopt a daughter, Cecelia Alicia Durante, whom they nicknamed "Ce Ce." Durante was well known for his love of children and he often volunteered his services to help raise money for handicapped and abused children. His free work with the Fraternal Order of Eagles was so well known that they named the children's fund after him. In his later years, he would continue to work in television, narrating the children's Christmas special, "Frosty the Snowman" (1969), adding his voice talents to the such cartoons as the bulldog Spike who's puppy son is always getting into trouble (adding yet another Durante quote to posterity "Dat's my boy"), and doing occasional guest appearances. He was often caricatured in film and television by other comedians, since his trademarks were so easy to mimic. Durante died of pneumonia in Santa Monica, California at the age of 86. (bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson)
Family links:
Spouses:
Jeanne Olson Durante (1896 - 1943)*
Margaret "Margie" Little Durante (1919 - 2009)*
*Calculated relationship
Search Amazon for Jimmy Durante | | | Burial:
Holy Cross Cemetery
Culver City
Los Angeles County
California, USA
Plot: F, T96, space 6 |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Record added: Jan 01, 2001
Find A Grave Memorial# 309 |
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Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Psalm 51
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David Martin
Added: May. 14, 2013 |
G-nite Jimmy and Mrs Calabash wherever you are. You were the best
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Stephen Agnelli
Added: May. 14, 2013 |
Thank You so much for all the Joy you gave to all of us over the years !!! We Love you and Miss You !! God Bless You !!
-Anonymous
Added: May. 6, 2013 |
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(4.7 after 516 votes)
