Jimmy Durante, nicknamed Schnozzola for his large nose, dies on this day in 1980 in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 97. Durante was born in 1893 and started playing ragtime piano in New York nightclubs at age 16. He became a vaudeville success and appeared on Broadway in 1929. MGM signed him in 1930. His movies, which include The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) were hugely popular, as were his radio and TV shows, were hugely popular, and he performed in Las Vegas clubs well into his 80s.
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