James Francis Durante was born on February 10, 1893, at New York, New York. He dropped out of school in the eighth grade and a couple of years later played ragtime piano for a living, taking jobs whereever he could, including bars, cabarets and whorehouses. He became known for a time as "Ragtime Jimmy."

Durante began his career as a piano player and bandleader. From there he played in Harlem, co-owned a speakeasy during the 1920's and finally ended up in vaudeville, pretty much an overnight sensation with his partners Lou Clayton and Eddie Jackson. Durante was greatly influenced by Scott Joplin and had his first success in show business as Ragtime piano player starting around 1911. He was billed as Ragtime Jimmy and played in New York City and Coney Island. Durante was part of the same wild crowd of early White jazz musicians as the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and Johnny Stein.

When the New Orleans Jazz style swept New York by storm in 1917 with the arrival of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Durante was part of the audience at Reisenweber's on Columbus Circle. Durante was very impressed with the band and invited them to play at a club called the Alamo in Harlem where Jimmy played piano. The band was soon the hottest thing in show business and Durante had his friend Johnny Stein assemble a group of like-minded New Orleans musicians to accompany his act at the Alamo. They billed themselves as Durante's Jazz and Novelty Band.

In late 1918 they recorded two sides for Okeh under the name of the New Orleans Jazz Band, they re-did the same two numbers a couple of months later for Gennett under the name of Original New Orleans Jazz Band, and in 1920 the same group recorded again for Gennett as Jimmy Durante's Jazz Band.

In 1921, Durante collaborated with an African American songwriter by the name of Chris Smith on the song "Let's Agree To Disagree" which Mamie Smith recorded. Durante went on to record with several White Jazz bands in the early 1920s including The Original Memphis Five, Ladd's Black Aces, Bailey's Lucky Seven, and Lanin's Southern Serenaders. Jimmy was a solid Ragtime and Jazz piano player, but soon gravitated towards vaudeville as the 1920s wore on.

On June 19, 1912, Durante married Jeanne Maude Olson, and was with her until her death in 1943.

He became part of a comedy music team called Clayton, Jackson, and Durante. By the end of the decade the team was very popular on Broadway and Durante got a role in a play called "Jumbo" which made him a star.

In the early 1930s he started to get roles in movies, and became popular on radio. On his radio show he joked that he was working on a symphony, but he wouldn't call it "Rhapsody In Blue" or anything like that. He would call it "Inka Dinka Do". In 1934 he recorded a novelty song with this title and it became his signature tune.

The 5'7" Durante was commonly known as "Schnozzola" or "The Schnoz".

Jimmy Durante opened the Benjamin Siegel's Flamingo on December 26, 1946. Even though the opening was a flop, Durante sang, joked and klutzed before demolishing a $1,600 piano and scattering Xavier Cugat's sheet music.

When Mario Lanza was to open the New Frontier on April 4, 1955, he got drunk with Louella Parsons. Durante went to Lanza attempting to convince him to go on with the show. Lanza declined and Durante saved the opening by by organizing a show to appear in Lanza's place. Durante arranged to have himself, Ray Bolger, Gisele Mackenzie and other stars take over. The opening was a success.

In 1960, Durante married Marjorie Little after being together for 16 years. She was 39 and he was 67. On December 25, 1961, they adopted Cecelia Alicia who Durante affectionately called "Cece".

Durante's "Goodnight Mrs. Calabash wherever you are" was his trademark saying. He kept its origins a secret. While appearing at the New Frontier in 1968, an interviewer asked Durante the truth about the saying. Durante stated that his first wife, Jeanne Maude, fell in love with a small town named Calabash, just west of Chicago. At the time, Durante promised his bride he would buy the town for her when fortune smiled on him. It was just after his wife passed away that he began using his famous sign-off. In 1968, after the interview made the paper, people looked for Calabash and it had either bowed to progress or was too small to be listed on the map as no one could locate it after Durante confessed the statement's origins.

In 1970, Durante was made Honorary National Chairman of the Las Vegas area's Easter Seals, and American Cancer Society.

Also during this year, Durante was playing at the Howard Hughes owned Desert Inn when he broke the piano board on a new spinet. He then yelled into the audience - "Mr. Hughes, it was broken when I got it!"

On March 29, 1972, Sands hosted an anniversary celebration for Jurante. Governor Mike O'Callaghan made a special appearance and issued a proclamation declaring March 29th Jimmy Durante Day in Nevada.

His Strip appearances include Desert Inn - 1950, 1953, 1955, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1970 & 1971; Flamingo - 1946-1947; Frontier - 1968, & 1970-1972; Landmark - 1969; and Sands - 1972.

Durante died on January 29, 1980, at Santa Monica, California of pneumonia. He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California. He was survived by his wife Marjorie and daughter Cecilia who was horseback-riding instructor, married to a computer designer, lived near San Diego, and had two sons.

Famous quote: (Ad-libbing with Bob Hope): "When it comes to noses, you're a retailer. I'm a wholesaler!"

His credits include:

Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song (2000) as himself; That's Entertainment, Part II (1976); That's Entertainment! (1974); Frosty the Snowman (1969) (voice) Narrator; Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters (1969); Alice Through the Looking Glass (1966) as Humpty Dumpty; MGM's Big Parade of Comedy (aka Big Parade of Comedy) (1964); It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) as Smiler Grogan; Billy Rose's Jumbo (aka Jumbo) (1962) as Pop Wonder; Giudizio Universale, Il (aka Le Jugement Dernier/The Last Judgement (1961) as The man with the large nose; Pepe (1960) - Cameo appearance; Beau James (1957) as himself; Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Premiere (1955) as himself; The Jimmy Durante Show (1954); Screen Snapshots: Hollywood's Greatest Comedians (1953) (archive footage) as himself; Four Star Revue (aka All Star Revue) (1950) Alternate Host (1950-1953); The Milkman (1950) as Breezy Albright; The Colgate Comedy Hour (aka Colgate Variety Hour) (1950); The Great Rupert (1950) as Mr. Amendola; The Milton Berle Show (aka The Buick-Berle Show/Texaco Star Theater) (1948); On an Island with You (1948) as Buckley; It Happened in Brooklyn (1947) as Nick Lombardi; This Time for Keeps (1947) as Ferdi Farro; Two Sisters from Boston (1946) as Spike Merango; Music for Millions (1944) as Andrews; Two Girls and a Sailor (1944) as Billy Kipp; The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) as Banjo; You're in the Army Now (1941) as Homer 'Jeeper' Smith; Melody Ranch (1940) as Cornelius J. Courtney; Little Miss Broadway (1938) as Jimmy Clayton, Jazz Bandits Bandleader; Sally, Irene and Mary (1938) as Jefferson Twitchel; Start Cheering (1938) as Willie Gumblatz; Land Without Music (aka Forbidden Music) (1936) as Jonah J. Whistler; Carnival (aka Carnival Nights) (1935) as Fingers; Strictly Dynamite (1934) as Moxie Slaight; Student Tour (1934) as Hank; Hollywood Party (1934) as Himself/Schnarzan; George White's Scandals (1934) as Happy Donelly; Palooka (aka The Great Schnozzle/Joe Palooka) (1934) as Knobby Walsh/Junior; Give a Man a Job (1933); What! No Beer? (1933) as Jimmy Potts; Meet the Baron (1933) as Joe McGoo; Broadway to Hollywood (Ring Up The Curtain) (1933) as Hollywood Character; Hell Below (1933) as 'Ptomaine,' Ship's Cook; The Phantom President (1932) as Curly Cooney; Le Plombier amoureux (aka El Plomero enamorado) (1932); The Passionate Plumber (1932) as McCracken; Blondie of the Follies (1932) as Jimmy; Speak Easily (1932) as James; The Wet Parade (1932) as Abe Shilling; The Christmas Party (aka A Christmas Story) (1931) as Santa Claus; The Cuban Love Song (1931) as O.O. Jones; New Adventures of Get Rich Quick Wallingford (aka Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford/The New Adventures of Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford) (1931) as Clarence 'Schnozzle'; Roadhouse Nights (The River Inn) (1930) as Daffy; On an Island with You (1948); This Time for Keeps (1947) (songs); Two Sisters from Boston (1946) (song "Hello, Hello, Hello"); and Two Girls and a Sailor (1944) (uncredited);

His credits as composer: Start Cheering (1938); Strictly Dynamite (1934); Student Tour (1934); Hollywood Party (1934); The Phantom President (1932) (songs); Monte Carlo or Bust (1969) (singer: title song); and The Milkman (1950) (lyricist).

His guest appearances include: The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (1971); The Andy Williams Show (1969); The Mothers-In-Law (1967); and the Milton Berle Show (1948).