Jimmy Durante
Comedian, composer, actor, singer and songwriter ("Inka Dinka Doo") Jimmy Durante was educated in New York public schools. He began his career as a Coney Island pianist, and organized a five-piece band in 1916. He opened the Club Durant with Eddie Jackson and Lou Clayton, with whom he later formed a comedy trio for vaudeville and on television. He appeared in the Broadway musicals "Show Girl", "The New Yorkers", "Strike Me Pink", "Jumbo", "Red Hot and Blue", and "Stars in Your Eyes". By 1936, he had appeared at the Palladium in London. Later he had his own radio and television shows, and was a featured headliner in night clubs. Biographer Gene Fowler wrote his biography, "Schnozzola". Joining ASCAP in 1941, he collaborated musically with Jackie Barnett and Ben Ryan, and his other popular song compositions include "I'm Jimmy That Well-Dressed Man", "I Know Darn Well I Can Do Without Broadway", "I Ups to Him and He Ups to Me", "Daddy Your Mamma Is Lonesome For You", "Umbriago", "Any State In the Forty-Eight", "Chidabee Chidabee Chidabee", and "I'm Jimmy's Girl".
Acting
Movie
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
as Smiler Grogan
1963
Movie
Frosty the Snowman
as Narrator (voice)
1969
Movie
The Man Who Came to Dinner
as Banjo
1941
TV
The Oscars
as Self
1953
Movie
That's Entertainment!
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
1974
Movie
Pepe
as Jimmy Durante
1960
TV
The Lucy Show
as Jimmy Durante
1962
Movie
That's Entertainment, Part II
as (archive footage)
1976
Movie
The Last Judgment
as The man with the large nose
1961
Movie
That's Entertainment! III
as (archive footage)
1994
Movie
The Great Rupert
as Mr. Louie Amendola
1950
TV
What's My Line?
as Self - Mystery Guest
1950
Movie
Speak Easily
as James
1932
TV
The Ed Sullivan Show
as Self
1948
Movie
Billy Rose's Jumbo
as Anthony ('Pop') Wonder
1962
Movie
It Happened in Brooklyn
as Nick Lombardi
1947
Movie
The Movie Orgy
as Self (archive footage)
1968
Movie
On an Island with You
as Buckley
1948
Movie
Little Miss Broadway
as Jimmy Clayton
1938
Movie
Hell Below
as Ptomaine' - Ships Cook
1933
TV
The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
1971
Movie
Hollywood Party
as Jimmy Durante
1934
TV
The Colgate Comedy Hour
as Self
1950
TV
The Colgate Comedy Hour
as Self - Cameo
1950
