Top 21 Quotes & Sayings by Charles Durning

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American actor Charles Durning.

Last updated on November 8, 2024.

Charles Edward Durning was an American actor who appeared in over 200 movies, television shows and plays. Durning's best-known films include The Sting (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), The Muppet Movie (1979), True Confessions (1981), Tootsie (1982), Dick Tracy (1990), and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for both The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) and To Be or Not to Be (1983). Prior to his acting career, Durning served in World War II and was decorated for valor in combat.

American - Actor | February 28, 1923 - December 24, 2012

Source: Wikipedia

Acting is ephemeral. You can't hang it on a wall. You can't throw it off. And you can't bring it out of a closet. It's there one night and it's gone the next, at least with stage acting anyhow.

Charles Durning

Sometimes you succeed and sometimes you don't.

Charles Durning

I think I've done 200 plays and 125 movies, so I've been very lucky to have made a living at acting.

Charles Durning

I can't count how many of my friends are in the cemetery at Normandy, the heroes are still there, the real heroes.

Charles Durning

There's no nobility with war. It's tear-'em-up destruction that leaves you frustrated, bitter and angry... If you really knew what it was like for an hour, you wouldn't want anyone to go through it.

Charles Durning

I lack confidence as an actor.

Charles Durning

There are many secrets in us, in the depths of our souls, that we don't want anyone to know about.

Charles Durning

I'd like to have a decade of my life back. I dropped into a void for almost a decade.

Charles Durning

Of course, I'm not often the top dog, but sometimes it's better not to be top dog, because you last longer. If a movie or play flops, you always blame the lead. They say, 'He couldn't carry it.' They always blame him. But they rarely blame the second or third banana.

Charles Durning

I was born a character actor.

Charles Durning

I was born looking older - and I've been aging since I was a teenager.

Charles Durning

That place that no one knows about - horrifying things we keep secret. A lot of that is released through acting.

Charles Durning

I would rather do a play because it's instantaneous. You go on the stage, and you know whether it's happening or not. Somebody asked me 'What is acting?' And I said, 'Acting is listening.' And if you ain't listening, nobody's listening.

Charles Durning

Dancing came easy for me. Acting came hard.

Charles Durning

I never turned down anything and never argued with any producer or director.

Charles Durning

I was doing judo before anybody knew it existed in this country.

Charles Durning

You're out there on a high wire without a net, and that's the way actors operate. They have to be fearless about how they work and they have to create a life for the audience in 90 minutes and make them believe.

Charles Durning

You make the money in movies and TV so you can do theater. I do a play a year... somewhere.

Charles Durning