(born Feb. 10, 1893, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 29, 1980, Santa Monica, Calif.) U.S. comedian.
By age 16 he was playing piano in nightclubs in New York City's Bowery. In the 1920s the team of Durante, Lou Clayton, and Eddie Jackson starred in vaudeville and nightclubs; they appeared on Broadway in Florenz Ziegfeld's Show Girl (1929). Durante made his film debut in Roadhouse Nights (1930) and over the next 30 years brightened many films and musicals with his gravelly voice, malapropisms, and warmhearted buffoonery. Nicknamed “Schnozzola” for his large nose, he is remembered for ending his many radio and television programs with the line “Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.”
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