Jimmy Durante

Jimmy Durante
Durante in 1964
Born
James Francis Durante

(1893-02-10)February 10, 1893
DiedJanuary 29, 1980(1980-01-29) (aged 86)
Resting placeHoly Cross Cemetery, Culver City
Other names
  • The Schnoz
  • The Great Schnozzola
Occupations
  • Comedian
  • actor
  • singer
  • pianist
Years active1920–1974
Political partyDemocratic
Spouses
Jeanne Olsen
(m. 1921; died 1943)
Margie Little
(m. 1960)
Children1 (adopted)
Signature

James Francis Durante (/dəˈrænti/ də-RAN-tee, Italian: [duˈrante]; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and prominent nose helped make him one of the United States' most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s. He often referred to his nose as the schnozzola (Italianization of the American Yiddish slang word schnoz, meaning "big nose"), and the word became his nickname.