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...See full bio »
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Give My Regards to Broadway
(1959)
(performer: "That's Entertainment" - uncredited, "Together, Wherever We Go" - uncredited, "You Gotta Have Heart" - uncredited, "Waltzing Matilda" - uncredited, "Everybody Likes My Girl", "If You're Young at Heart" - uncredited, "Yankee Doodle Dandy" - uncredited, "Mary Is a Grand Old Name" - uncredited, "Harrigan" - uncredited, "Give Me Regards to Broadway" - uncredited)
1950The Milkman
(writer: "NOBODY WANTS MY MONEY" / performer: "NOBODY WANTS MY MONEY", "IT'S BIGGER THAN BOTH OF US", "THAT'S MY BOY")
1950The Great Rupert
("Isn't it a shame that Christmas comes but once a year" - uncredited)
1948On an Island with You
(writer: "I Can't Get Along Without Broadway" - uncredited, "I'll Do the Strut-Away In My Cutaway" - uncredited, "You Gotta Start Off Each Day with a Song" - uncredited / performer: "I Can't Get Along Without Broadway" - uncredited, "Takin' Miss Mary to the Ball" - uncredited, "I'll Do the Strut-Away In My Cutaway" - uncredited, "You Gotta Start Off Each Day with a Song" - uncredited)
1947This Time for Keeps
(writer: "I'm the Man Who Found the Lost Chord" - uncredited, "A Little Bit This and a Little Bit That" - uncredited, "Inka Dinka Doo" - uncredited / performer: "I'm the Man Who Found the Lost Chord" - uncredited, "A Little Bit This and a Little Bit That" - uncredited, "Inka Dinka Doo" - uncredited)
1946Two Sisters from Boston
(writer: "Hello, Hello, Hello" - uncredited / performer: "Hello, Hello, Hello" - uncredited, "There Are Two Sides to Ev'ry Girl" - uncredited, "The Firechief's Daughter" - uncredited, "G'Wan Home Your Mudder's Callin'" - uncredited, "Down By the Ocean" - uncredited)
1944Music for Millions
(writer: "Toscanini, Iturbi and Me" - uncredited, "Umbriago" - uncredited)
1944Two Girls and a Sailor
(writer: "Did You Ever Have the Feelin'?" - uncredited, "Inka Dinka Doo" - uncredited / performer: "Did You Ever Have the Feelin'?" - uncredited, "Inka Dinka Doo" - uncredited, "Who Will Be with You When I'm Far Away" - uncredited)
1941You're in the Army Now
(performer: "If You Own a Whirlaway" - uncredited, "I'm an Army Man" - uncredited / "I'm Glad My Number Was Called" - uncredited, "Happy Birthday to You" - uncredited)
1940Melody Ranch
(performer: "Vote For Autry" 1940 - uncredited)
1938Start Cheering
(writer: "When I Strut Away in My Cutaway" - uncredited / performer: "When I Strut Away in My Cutaway" - uncredited)
1934Hollywood Party
(performer: "Hello" 1934 - uncredited, "Reincarnation" 1934 - uncredited, "I've Had My Moments" 1934 - uncredited, "Inka Dinka Doo" - uncredited)
1934Strictly Dynamite
(writer: "I'm Putty in Your Hands" / music: "Hot Pattata")
1934George White's Scandals
(performer: "Cabin in the Cotton and The Cotton in the Cabin", "My Dog Loves Your Dog", "Every Day Is Father's Day With Baby")
1934Palooka
(writer: "Inka Dinka Doo" - uncredited / "Inka Dinka Doo" - uncredited, "M-O-T-H-E-R, a Word That Means the World to Me" - uncredited)
1932The Phantom President
(writer: "SCHNOZZOLA" / lyrics: "ROBINSON CRUSOE" / performer: "SCHNOZZOLA" / "THE MEDICINE SHOW")
1932Speak Easily
(music: "Can Broadway Do Without Me?" 1929 - uncredited / lyrics: "Can Broadway Do Without Me?" 1929 - uncredited / performer: "Singin' in the Rain" 1929 - uncredited, "Can Broadway Do Without Me?" 1929 - uncredited / "Good Times Are Here Again" 1932 - uncredited)
1931The Cuban Love Song
(performer: "London Bridge is Falling Down" 1888 - uncredited / "Go to Sleep My Baby" - uncredited)
1930Roadhouse Nights
(music: "Everything Is On the Up and Up", "Hello, Everybody, Folks", "Everybody Wants My Girl")
(1861) Unsold pilot: He and Eddie Hodges starred in the pilot for a series about a grandfather and grandson comedy/variety team, called "The Jimmy Durante/Eddie Hodges Show".
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I like to make people laugh. Dey like me. What more could I want?
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Trivia:
Comic Sonny King, who worked with 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.
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Trademark:
Rumpled hat, patter songs ("Inka Dinka Doo") and, of course, his huge proboscis.
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