| You are here: Home Index » Actors » Jimmy Durante | Please log in or Register here |
Jimmy Durante
Promoting media: pictures, videos, wallpapers, quotes, bio, filmography.
| Nickname: | The Schnoz |
| Known for: | Frosty the Snowman, The Notebook, Hollywood Party |
| Birth name: | James Francis Durante |
| Birthday: | 10 February 1893, New York, New York, USA |
| Height: | 5' 7" (1.70 m) |
Trivia
Interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, USA. Specific Interment Location: F, T96, 6.
Daughter Cecilia is a horseback-riding instructor, is married to a computer designer, lives near San Diego, and has two sons
For years, Jimmy signed off his radio and tv shows with, "Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are". But he would never divulge who she was. Some speculated it was a "code name" for a current or former lover, some doubted she ever existed. It was not until after his death in 1980 that it was revealed she was, indeed, a real person.
According to the book, "Hollywood Trivia," (Greenwich House, 1984), by David P. Strauss, Jimmy Durante's famous "Mrs. Calabash" sign-off referred to his first wife, Jeanne Olson. Calabash was the name of a Chicago suburb they both liked.
Comic Sonny King, who worked with Jimmy Durante during his career, stated in an interview that the mysterious "Mrs. Calabash" was indeed Jimmy's late wife Jeanne Olson, but "Calabash" was a reference to Calabasas, California, where she was hospitalized in her later years. She had difficulty in pronouncing the city name, often calling it "Calabash", and it became an inside joke for the Durantes.
Dropped out of school in the eighth grade and a couple of years later played ragtime piano for a living, taking jobs whereever he could, including bars, cabarets and whorehouses. He became known for a time as "Ragtime Jimmy."
Also made a living as a bandleader and talent booker.
Famous for a number of other beloved catch-phrases besides the "Mrs. Calabash" routine, including: "It's a castastrophe!", "I'm mortified!" "Surrounded by assassins!", "Everybody wants ta get inta da act!, and "Hotch-cha-cha-cha-cha!"
Sang the famous 'Frosty The Snowman' song.
Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. Pg. 146-148. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
A legal challenge to his adoption of daughter CeCe late in life, on the grounds that he was too old to care for such a young child, was dismissed by a judge, who said, "I've heard this man sing 'Young at Heart.'"
His voice was the inspiration for that of the dog in the Tom and Jerry cartoons.
External Resources:
| Site: Imdb.com » Site type: multicelebrity site: |
Description: Celebrity Main Details » imdb.com: Jimmy Durante |
