Charactor actor Charles Durning has stolen scenes in countless movies since the early 1970s (not to mention various TV shows and Broadway plays). Many of us grew up watching him as Doc Hopper, the evil fried-frog-legs magnate in The Muppet Movie. I always envision him in Hopper's stereotypically Southern white suit. I've pictured him wearing that suit even in movies where, after I did a little research, it turns out he didn't wear it at all, such as The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (where he played the governor of Texas) and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (where he played the governor of Mississippi). The man was born to wear seersucker and string ties.

Durning can steal a movie away from Muppets, for heaven's sake. He can even steal scenes from Robert Downey Jr. in Home for the Holidays, and Downey is arguably one of the top scene-stealers of the past 20 years. One reason is that Durning can sing and dance -- he danced professionally in his younger days. Suddenly, in the middle of a movie like Home for the Holidays, he'll start waltzing around the room with surprising grace. Or he'll just start singing, as in Tootsie or The Hudsucker Proxy, and all attention turns to him.

Durning's first notable film role was in The Sting as Lt. Snyder, but I can't remember him at all from that movie. His first big scene-stealing film may have been The Muppet Movie, although he was quite memorable as bank manager Rufus T. Crisp in the little-known film Harry and Walter Go to New York. He's played a variety of politicians, such as the above-mentioned governors and the small-town mayor in State and Main, judges, detectives, priests (even the Pope in one TV movie) ... and on a number of occasions in recent films, Santa Claus. He's in one of my sister's favorite movies, One Fine Day, although she's so enamored of George Clooney that she may not have noticed.

Durning is the kind of actor you'll watch and enjoy even in a mediocre film or TV show, although I'm not sure I'd voluntarily sit through Dick Tracy or Brenda Starr just to catch him. I am tempted to watch Elmo Saves Christmas, though, maybe the next time I visit with my nieces and nephew. That's how much I like watching this man in action. Fortunately, he's in plenty of very good films, stealing nearly every scene from other top-notch actors.