| OCR Text |
Show ever going to makeit,” said Durning. “But I was obsessed with characteracting. It was a dream I had.” His luck had begun to changein 1962, when Durning was seen by Joseph Papp, founder and artistic director of The New York Shakespeare Festival. “Joe made metake acting seriously,”he said. “Up to that point, it'd been fairly easy for me to get work. I’d done about 100 plays through the years.In those days, $45 a girl he had fallen in love with 30 years before and hadlost because her family objected to her marrying a struggling actor. Mary Ann married someoneelse, had two kids and then divorced. “One night, I got this note from a young girl whosaid she’d like to see me,” Durning said. “She came backstage andsaid, ‘I’m Mary Ann Amelio’s daughter, Anita.’ That floored me. All these years, I’d never forgotten her. I asked, ‘Is your mother happy?’ Anita said, ‘I think she’d like youto call her.’” Hedid. They courted for 15 months, then married in 1974. “I was alwaysin love with Charlie,” Mary Ann told me. week was big salary. I had to hold down twootherjobs to be able to act. So I was never able to study the way I wanted to. I learned by watching George Scott, Colleen Dewhurstor Julie Harris rehearse. It was such a joyous time for Below: As a soldier in | World War tl, Durning me, those 11 years received three Purple with Joe Papp.” Hearts and a Silver Star. | Durningfirst won Right: In 1983, with his wide critical acdaughter, Jeanine, and second wife, Mary Ann. claim and public acceptance in the hit play That Championship Season, in which he starred from 1972 to 1973. Later in 1973, he appeared in the film The Sting, after fi- [im nally being persuaded by Papp to act in movies. le run of That Cham- | pionship Season that Duming was reunited with Mary Ann Amelio, the 6 droppedinto a votdfor almoet a decade,”Durning recalled. “The physical injurtes healfirst. Its your mind thats hardto heal.” ; Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) and Everett Collection a woman—in the film Tootsie (1982). PARADE MAGAZINE - OCTOBER 10, 1993 - PAGE 5 “There were 70 ofus that survived that first day at Normandy,but I was the only survivor of the machine-gun ambush,” Durning continued quietly, stopping often to control his emotions. “I was in the first wave to hit Omaha Beach. Later I was crossing a field somewhere in Belgium. A German soldier ran toward mecarrying a bayonet. He couldn’t have been more than 14 or 15. I didn’t see a soldier. I saw a boy. Even though he was comingat me, I couldn’t shoot.” Durning was stabbed eight times in the arm, right shoulder and back. He It was during the Fes Theysettled in California, where Durning continued his busy film and TV career, making such movies as The Best As an amorous suitor, Durning tries to woo Dustin Hoffman—thinking he’s ror that overshadow your wholelife.” Ron Galella Hehas large, highly expressive face, narrow shoulders and an enormous belly. Despite his size, he is physically graceful, a result of several years ofsupporting himself as a ballroom dancer. I asked what hisfirst job was in show business. “An usher in a burlesque house,” he recalled, smiling. “There were two comics. The second banana was funnierthan the top banana, but he was a drunk, and sometimes he wouldn’t show up. One day I overheard the manager say, ‘If I could find somebody to take this over from that drunk.’ So I started studying this guy’s routines, and I learned them. I told the manager, and he said, half injest, “Next time he don’t show up, you go on.” He didn’t show up one day, so I wenton, andthefirst time I got laughs, I was hooked!” In 1944, Durning enlisted in the Anny, landing in Normandy on D-day. He was awarded three Purple Hearts and the Silver Star, but the war years are a period he is very reluctantto talk about. After the war, living in Manhattan, Durning worked for a time in a bank but soonleft to pursue acting. He spent a year at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, then worked in summer stock and off-Broadway, but public recognition eluded him. He wed his first wife, Carol, about 1961 and had three children—Michele, 31, Douglas, 30, and Jeanine, 26. The marriage suffered as a result of Durning’s obsession with acting, his lack of major success and the need to be onthe road in plays for monthsata time. “T was thinking of giving up the business whenI married,” Durning explained. “Carol said, “What do you want to do with your life?’ I said, ‘I want to be an actor.’ She said to me, ‘Don’t look back in 50 years and say, “I wish I had.” Do it.’ And I started doing it. But we didn’t realize how hard it is to make it in this business.” He and Carol divorced in the early 1970s. “There’s no guarantee that you’re = To Be or Not To Be (1983). He was co-stars on the Emmy Award-winning TV show Evening Shade (1993). nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for both films. Hestill tries to do at least one play a year. Three days after we met, I visited Durningontheset ofthe hit TV series Evening Shade. During a lunch break, I asked again what was the horror he mentioned when wefirst spoke. He was reluctantto tell. Finally he said, “T’ve only told my wife, because she demanded to know whyI sobbed in my sleep.It’s the war. There are hours and hours of boredom and 10 minutes of hor- take part in the Battle of the Bulge. He was taken prisoner by the Germans and, with about 130 other Americans, was forced to march through a pine forestat Malmédy. Three dayslater, he and two companions escaped to the American lines. When our forces took over the forest, they discovered the massacre of all the prisoners. Durning was brought along to help identify the bodies. A few months later, Durning was wounded in Germany. “I was shot in the chestby a bullet, a ricochet,” he recalled. That bullet formally ended the war for him. He was returned to America and hospitalized, on and off, for nearly four years, being treated for physical and psychological wounds. “I dropped into a void for almost a decade,” he said. “The physical injuries heal first. It’s your mind that’s hard to heal.” Durning paused, then said, “I feel I paid my dues. The war and poverty I wentthrough. I lost a marriage. But Mary Ann has kind of assuaged all that. | I’m lucky. Muchis given and muchis | taken away. Much was taken from me| before I got to the given part.” ie | |
