Charles Durning passes away

Also a real war hero. Not much gets written about that, but he was on the beach in Normandy.

He was great in so many roles...
The one I will never forget is the cop in Dog Day Afternoon.

Pacino looks into Durning's eyes... "Kiss me" Pacino says. Durning looks back in a WTF expression. "What?" "I said kiss me, I like to be kissed when I'm getting f*****!" What a great scene!!! "Attica, Attica, Attica!" Two great artists doing what they do best...

RIP

Amen.

Many great moments in that movie...
The scene where Pacino is talking to his mother on the phone: MOM, I CAN'T TALK TO YOU NOW!!!!

Between Charles Durning, Jack Klugman and Richard Rodney Bennett, what a loss of tremendous talent we've seen on a single day.

I will miss Mr. Durning. A role I remember him in was in the CBS show "NCIS". In this show, he was a WWII Congressional Medal of Honor awardee who was turning himself in for prosecution. He felt that during a battle, he had deliberately murdered someone. But, he could remember no details about it. It was a very touching episode. Well done, sir.

I read this article earlier this morning and recognize Charles Durning's passing as a great loss to this industry. And I never knew he was a veteran with the background that he has so I am appreciative of that and find it hard to believe there wasn't ever more mentioned about that. Kind of makes you wonder how many actors have/had this kind of background. I also wondered, what current actors, say under 50 years old, fall into the same category as Charles Durning in terms of the lasting impression of their work.

Phew...you can't do much more service to your country than that.

Actually, quite a few from the old generation did serve.
Some notable exceptions are John Wayne and Ronald Reagan.

I dunno, Matt Damon? Check back in about 50 years..

While it is correct that Wayne did not serve in the military, it is not correct that Ronald Reagan did not serve. He was on active duty in WW2. He did not serve in combat. For more info, check Wikipedia. It has the following section on Reagan's military service.

"Military service

After completing fourteen home-study Army Extension Courses, Reagan enlisted in the Army Enlisted Reserve[32] on April 29, 1937, as a private assigned to Troop B, 322nd Cavalry at Des Moines, Iowa.[33] He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corps of the cavalry on May 25, 1937.[34]

Reagan was ordered to active duty for the first time on April 18, 1942. Due to his nearsightedness, he was classified for limited service only, which excluded him from serving overseas.[35] His first assignment was at the San Francisco Port of Embarkation at Fort Mason, California, as a liaison officer of the Port and Transportation Office.[36] Upon the approval of the Army Air Force (AAF), he applied for a transfer from the cavalry to the AAF on May 15, 1942, and was assigned to AAF Public Relations and subsequently to the First Motion Picture Unit (officially, the "18th Army Air Force Base Unit") in Culver City, California.[36] On January 14, 1943, he was promoted to first lieutenant and was sent to the Provisional Task Force Show Unit of This Is The Army at Burbank, California.[36] He returned to the First Motion Picture Unit after completing this duty and was promoted to captain on July 22, 1943.[33]

In January 1944, Reagan was ordered to temporary duty in New York City to participate in the opening of the Sixth War Loan Drive. He was re-assigned to the First Motion Picture Unit on November 14, 1944, where he remained until the end of World War II.[33] He was recommended for promotion to major on February 2, 1945, but this recommendation was disapproved on July 17 of that year.[37] While with the First Motion Picture Unit in 1945, he was indirectly involved in discovering actress Marilyn Monroe.[38] He returned to Fort MacArthur, California, where he was separated from active duty on December 9, 1945.[37] By the end of the war, his units had produced some 400 training films for the AAF.[33]"

Thanx for clearing that up....