In memory of the late, great Charles Durning who died yesterday:

many years ago. He was also a great dramatic actor, recently I saw him on an episode of NCIS and was stunned by his caring and artful way of depicting an aging veteran. He will be so missed.

It's hard to describe what we all went through that day, but those of us who were there will understand. We were frightened all the time. My sergeant said 'are you scared, son?' and I said 'yes, I am', and he said 'that's good, it's good to be scared', he said 'we all are'. This guy in the boat, he turned to me and he threw up all over me, and I got seasick. He was scared. You're not thinking about anything, you're just thinking about you hope that shell that just went off isn't going to hit this boat. Even the guys who had seen a lot of action before, and this was my first time, they were just as ashen as I was, and I was frightened to death. I was the second man off my barge and the first and third men got killed. First guy the ramp went down, the guy fell and I tried to leap over him and I stumbled and we both slipped into the water. We were supposed to be able to walk into shore but they didn't bring us far enough. And I was in 60 feet of water with a 60 pound pack on, so I let it all go.

I came up and I didn't have a helmet, a rifle, nothing. I hit the beach, the guys pulled me in who were already there, I'd lost everything; but they said 'you'll find plenty of them on the beach, rifles, helmets, that belong to nobody'. Nobody knew where we were supposed to go, there was nobody in charge, you were on your own. All around me people were being shot at, I saw bodies all over the place; but you didn't know if they were alive or dead, they were just lying there.

We got behind this tank to protect ourselves; we're holding our own when they called us over to them. I asked the sergeant 'you want me to go first or you go first?' He said 'you go first, I'll be right behind you'. I heard an explosion, and I turned around, and his torso was here, and his body was over there.

it was going to be this song! My favorite musical of all time EVER! He was excellent as the governor!

K&R

Was a great character actor. One of those you never forget. But I must say I forget this dancing scene. He must have been nominated for am Oscar for that scene alone. And I hadn't heard that he has passed. Rest in peace, Charles. We will miss you.

I could be wrong, though. It should have been, in any case.

...as the Governor also. Lead song in that movie was the best Bluegrass song I ever heard.
I think the song was titled "Man of Constant Sorrows"??

It's catchy too.

Thanks for posting.

Awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, three Purple Hearts, in addition to either being nominated or winning Oscars, Emmies, Golden Globes, Tony awards, and a Screen Actors Guild lifetime achievement award. Born into a life of poverty and lost 5 siblings to disease.

The only one in his unit to survive D-Day.

Astounding life, and an inspiring example of how to get beyond the hard parts.

What a hard life! Maybe some more politicians could've gone through similar experiences to make warmongering seem less appealing.While comedic his portrayal of a Texas Governor seems
almost true to life.Vale to a good man...

We need more musicals.

RIP.

One of my favorites.

seriously, though, I always thought he was a wonderfully talented individual, and enjoyed his work.

In fact, when I googled their names together, looking for clips of his performance in The Rivals (1975), all I could find was a post I'd made myself in this forum two years ago, showing their resemblance.

==> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x9511656

thank you for the post
RIP good sir!