Thursday, 2 July 2020

Charles Durning

Charles Edward Durning (February 28, 1923 – December 24, 2012) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 movies, television shows and plays.[2] Durning's best-known films include The Sting (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), 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.

Early life[edit]

Durning was born in Highland FallsNew York. He was the son of Louise (née Leonard; 1894–1982), a laundress at West Point, and James E. Durning (1883 – c. 1935).[3][4] His parents were of German, Irish and English descent[5] Durning was raised Catholic.[6][7] Durning was the ninth of ten children. His three brothers - James (known as Roger, 1915–2000), Clifford (1916–1994) and Gerald (1926–2000) - and his sister Frances (1918–2006) survived to adulthood, but five sisters died from scarlet fever and smallpox as children.[3]

Military service[edit]

Durning served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was drafted at age 20. On June 6, 1944 Durning was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division and in the first wave of American troops that landed on Omaha Beach during the invasion of Normandy. He would be the only survivor of his unit that arrived in France on D-Day. After being wounded by a German anti-personnel mine in the Bocage, he spent six months recovering. Durning was reassigned to the 398th Infantry Regiment with the 100th Infantry Division, and participated in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. He was discharged with the rank of Private First Class on January 30, 1946.[8]

For his valor and the wounds he received during the war, Durning was awarded the Silver StarBronze Star, and three Purple Hearts.[9] Additional awards included the Army Good Conduct Medal, the American Campaign Medal and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with Arrowhead device and two bronze service stars, and the World War II Victory Medal.[10] His badges included the Combat Infantryman BadgeExpert Badge with Rifle Bar, and Honorable Service Lapel Pin.[8]

Durning received the French National Order of the Legion of Honor from the French Consul in Los Angeles in April 2008.

Badges and pins
Combat Infantry Badge.svgArmyQualExpertBadgeHi.jpg
ArmyQualBadgeRifleBarHi.jpg
Ruptured duck pin.gif
Combat Infantryman BadgeExpert Badge with Rifle BarHonorable Service Lapel Button
Ribbons
  
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Arrowhead
Bronze star
Bronze star
Silver StarBronze Star
Purple Heart with 2 Oak leaf clustersGood Conduct MedalAmerican Campaign Medal
EAME Campaign Medal (2x)World War II Victory MedalLegion of Honour – Chevalier

Veteran groups & spokesman[edit]

Durning participated in various functions to honor American veterans, including serving as Chairman of the U.S. National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans.[11] He was an honored guest speaker for 17 years at the National Memorial Day Concert televised by PBS every year on the Sunday evening of Memorial Day weekend.

Durning was paid a special tribute at the May 26, 2013 National Memorial Day Concert when “Taps" was sounded in his honor.

Acting career[edit]

With Maureen Stapleton in the 1975 made-for-television film Queen of the Stardust Ballroom (each was nominated for an Emmy Award)

While pursuing an acting career, Durning, a professional ballroom dancer, taught at Fred Astaire Dance Studio in New York City.

Durning began his career in 1951. While working as an usher in a burlesque theatre, he was hired to replace a drunken actor on stage. Subsequently, he performed in roughly 50 stock company productions and in various off-Broadway plays, eventually attracting the attention of Joseph Papp, founder of The Public Theater and the New York Shakespeare Festival. Beginning in 1961, he appeared in 35 plays as part of the Shakespeare Festival. "That time in my life was my best time," Durning told Pittsburgh's Post Gazette in 2001. "I had no money at all, and he (Joseph Papp) didn't pay much. You were getting a salary for performance plus a rehearsal salary. We would do three plays in Central Park for the summer. And then you'd do three to six plays every year down on Lafayette Street -- new plays by new writers: Sam ShepardDavid MametDavid RabeJohn Ford NoonanJason Miller."

During this period, he segued into television and movies. He made his film debut in 1965, appearing in Harvey Middleman, Fireman. He appeared in John Frankenheimer's I Walk the Line (1970) starring Gregory Peck, and three Brian De Palma movies: Hi, Mom! (1970), credited as Charles Durnham, with Robert De NiroSisters (1973) and The Fury (1978). He also appeared in Dealing: or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1972) with Barbara Hershey and John Lithgow.

Durning's performances in Broadway productions include Drat! The Cat! (1965), Pousse-Café (1966), The Happy Time (1968), Indians (1969), That Championship Season (1972), In the Boom Boom Room (1973), The au Pair Man (1973), Knock Knock (1976), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1990), Inherit the Wind (1996), The Gin Game (1997), and The Best Man (2000).

In 2002, he performed in Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui with Al Pacino, produced by Tony Randall. He played the role of Jack Jameson in Wendy Wasserstein's final play, Third (2005), with Dianne Wiest at Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre.

Durning won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for his powerful performance in The Westwood Playhouse's 1977 production of David Rabe's Streamers. In 1980, he won critical acclaim for his performance as Norman Thayer, Jr. in Los Angeles's Ahmanson Theater's production of On Golden Pond opposite Julie Harris.

In 1972, director George Roy Hill, impressed by Durning's performance in the Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning play That Championship Season, offered him a role in The Sting (1973). In the Best Picture-winner, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, Durning won distinction as a crooked cop, Lt. Wm. Snyder, who polices and hustles professional con artists. He doggedly pursues the young grifter, Johnny Hooker (Redford), only to become the griftee in the end. Other film credits include Dog Day Afternoon with Al PacinoWhen A Stranger CallsThe Final CountdownThe HindenburgTwilight's Last Gleaming with Burt LancasterTrue Confessions with Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall. Some television credits include The ConnectionQueen of the Stardust Ballroom, the made-for-television musical in which he played the mailman who reaches out to Maureen Stapleton's lonely widow on the dance floor; AtticaPBS's Dancing Bear with Tyne Daly; the PBS production I Would Be Called John as Pope John XXIIIHallmark Hall of Fame: Casey Stengel, in which Durning played the legendary baseball manager Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel; NBC's mini-series Studs Lonigan with Harry Hamlin and Colleen DewhurstThe Best Little Girl in the World with Jennifer Jason Leigh. In 1976, he received both an Emmy and a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in the television mini-series Captains and the Kings.

In 1979, he played Doc Hopper, a man who owns a frog leg restaurant and the main antagonist in The Muppet Movie. In Tootsie, he played a suitor to Dustin Hoffman's cross-dressing lead character. The two actors worked together again in a 1985 TV production of Death of a Salesman.

In 1993, he guest-starred in the Sean Penn-directed music video "Dance with the One That Brought You" by Shania Twain.

Other film roles include Henry Larson, the benevolent father of Holly Hunter's character in Home for the Holidays (1995) and Waring Hudsucker in The Hudsucker Proxy (1994). He worked with the Coen Brothers again playing "Pappy" O'Daniel, a cynical governor of Mississippi (a character loosely based on the Texas politician and showman W. Lee O'Daniel) in the Coen Brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000).

Prior to appearing in the Burt Reynolds's TV series, Evening Shade, as the town doctor Harlan Eldridge (1990-1994), Durning appeared with Reynolds in five films, beginning with 1979's Starting Over, followed by 1981's Sharky's Machine, 1982's Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, 1985's Stick and 1999's Hostage Hotel.

On TV, Durning had a recurring role on Everybody Loves Raymond as the Barone family's long-suffering parish priest, Father Hubley. He also played the voice of recurring character Francis Griffin in the animated series Family Guy. He appeared on the FX television series Rescue Me, playing Mike Gavin, the retired firefighter father of Denis Leary's character.

In 2005, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for his portrayal of a Marine veteran in "Call of Silence," an episode in the television series NCIS, first broadcast November 23, 2004. Durning's character turns himself in to authorities, insisting that he must be prosecuted for having murdered his buddy during ferocious combat on Iwo Jima six decades earlier.[12] The real truth of the incident only becomes known for certain when the guilt-stricken veteran goes through a cathartic reliving of the battlefield events.

For his numerous roles on television, he earned nine Emmy Award nominations. He also received Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nominations for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas in 1982 and To Be or Not to Be in 1983. He won a Golden Globe in 1990 for his supporting role in the television miniseries The Kennedys of Massachusetts, having had three previous nominations. That same year, he won a Tony Award for his performance as Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He received two Drama Desk Awards for his performances in That Championship Season and Third.

In 1999, Durning was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame on Broadway. He was honored with the Life Achievement Award at the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Award Ceremony on January 27, 2008. On July 31, 2008 he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame adjacent to one of his idols, James Cagney.

"There are many secrets in us, in the depths of our souls, that we don't want anyone to know about," he told Parade. "There's terror and repulsion in us, the terrible spot that we don't talk about. That place that no one knows about — horrifying things we keep secret. A lot of that is released through acting."

The Charles Durning Collection is held at the Academy Film Archive. Along with films he appeared in, his collection consists mainly of films he admired as well as a small collection of family home movies.[13]

Death[edit]

Grave at Arlington National Cemetery

Durning died of natural causes at his home in Manhattan on December 24, 2012, aged 89.[14][15] He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.[3][16]

On December 27, 2012, Broadway theaters dimmed their lights to honor him. The New York Times, which commented on Durning's more than 200 credited roles, referred to him and actor Jack Klugman, who died the same day, as "extraordinary actors ennobling the ordinary".[17] The Huffington Post compared the two men, calling them "character actor titans".[18]

Personal life[edit]

Durning married his first wife, Carole Doughty, in 1959. They had three children together before divorcing in 1972. Durning married his second wife, Mary Ann Amelio, in 1974. In 2010, the two filed an official Declaration of Separation.

Filmography and Stage Work[edit]

Film[edit]

YearTitleRoleNotes
1962The Password Is CourageAmerican GIUncredited
1965Harvey Middleman, FiremanDooley
1967Las Vegas Free-for-AllLas Vegas Mafia Boss
1969StilettoCopUncredited
1970Hi, Mom!Superintendent(as Charles Durnham)
I Walk the LineHunnicutt
1971The Pursuit of Happiness2nd Guard
1972Doomsday VoyageJason's First Mate
Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston
Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues
Murphy
SistersJoseph Larch
1973Deadhead MilesRed Ball Rider
The StingLt. Wm. Snyder
1974The Front PageMurphy
1975Queen of the Stardust BallroomAlvin "Al" GreenTV Movie
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
Dog Day AfternoonDet. Sgt. Eugene MorettiNational Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Breakheart PassO'Brien
The HindenburgCapt. Pruss
1976Harry and Walter Go to New YorkRufus T. Crisp
1977Twilight's Last GleamingPresident David Stevens
The ChoirboysSpermwhale Whalen
1978The FuryDr. Jim McKeever
An Enemy of the PeoplePeter Stockmann
The Greek TycoonMichael Russell
1979TiltHarold 'The Whale' Remmens
The Muppet MovieDoc Hopper
North Dallas FortyCoach Johnson
Starting OverMichael Potter
When a Stranger CallsJohn Clifford
1980AtticaRussell OswaldTV Movie
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
Die LaughingArnold
The Final CountdownSenator Samuel Chapman
1981Crisis at Central HighPrincipal Jess MatthewsTV Movie
True ConfessionsJack Amsterdam
Dark Night of the ScarecrowOtis P. HazelriggTV Movie
Sharky's MachineFriscoe
1982The Best Little Whorehouse in TexasGovernorNominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
TootsieLeslie 'Les' Nichols
1983ScarfaceImmigration OfficerVoice, Uncredited
Two of a KindCharlie
To Be or Not to BeCol. ErhardtNominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1984Mister RobertsThe Captain
Mass AppealMonsignor Thomas Burke
1985StickChucky
The Man with One Red ShoeRoss
Death of a SalesmanCharleyTV Movie
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
Stand AloneLouis Thibadeau
1986Big TroubleO'Mara
Where the River Runs BlackFather O'Reilly
Tough GuysDeke Yablonski
Meatballs III: Summer JobPeteUncredited
SolarbabiesThe Warden
1987The Rosary MurdersFather Ted Nabors
Happy New YearCharlie
A Tiger's TaleCharlie Drumm
Hadley's RebellionSam Crawford
The Man Who Broke 1,000 ChainsWarden HardyTV Movie
Nominated—CableACE Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1988CopDutch Peltz
Far NorthBertrum
Case ClosedDetective Les
1989EtoileUncle Joshua
Brenda StarrEditor Francis I. Livright
Cat ChaserJiggs Scully
Dinner at EightDan PackardTV Movie
1990Dick TracyChief Brandon
Fatal SkyColonel Clancy
1991V.I. WarshawskiDet. Lt. Bobby Mallory
1993The Music of ChanceBill Flower
When A Stranger Calls BackJohn Clifford
1994The Hudsucker ProxyWaring Hudsucker
I.Q.Louis Bamberger
1995The Last SupperReverend Gerald Hutchens
The Grass HarpReverend Buster
Home for the HolidaysHenry Larson
1996Spy HardThe Director
ReconChief
The Land Before Time IV:
Journey Through the Mists
Archie the ArchelonVoice
Mrs. Santa ClausSanta Claus
One Fine DayLew
1997The Secret Life of AlgernonNorbie Hess
1998ShelterCapt. Robert Landis
Jerry and TomVic
Hi-LifeFatty
Hard TimeDetective Charlie Duffy
2000LakeboatSkippy
O Brother, Where Art Thou?Pappy O'Daniel
Very Mean MenPaddy Mulroney
The Last ProducerSyd Wolf
State and MainMayor George BaileyFlorida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Never Look BackN/A
2001L.A.P.D.: To Protect and to ServeStuart Steele
2002Turn of FaithPhilly Russo
Mother GhostGeorge
Mr. St. NickKing Nicholas XX
The Naked RunCongressman DavenportShort
The Last Man ClubJohn 'Eagle Eye' Pennell
Pride & LoyaltyDylan Frier
2003Dead CanariesJimmy Kerrigan
2004Death and TexasMarshall Ledger
One Last RideMr. Orlick
A Boyfriend for ChristmasSanta Claus
2005River's EndMurray Blythe
Resurrection: The J.R. Richard StoryFrank McNally
The L.A. Riot SpectacularThe Lawyer
Dirty DeedsVictor Rasdale
DetectiveMax ErnstTV Movie
Jesus, Mary and JoeyTeddy the Bartender
2006DescansosInnkeeper #2
DesperationTom Billingsley
Miracle Dogs TooCapt. Pete Weaver
Unbeatable HaroldMr. Clark
Local ColorYammi
Forget About ItEddie O'Brien
2007PolycarpAlexander Hathawayaka Kinky Killers
2008Good DickCharlie
DealCharlie Adler
The Drum Beats TwiceSatan
BreakThe Wise Man
iMurdersDr. Seamus St. Martin
The Golden BoysJohn Bartlett
A Bunch of AmateursCharlie Rosenberg
2009Shannon's RainbowFloyd
2010Three Chris'sKris Kringle
Chronicle of Purgatory: The WaiterFrank 'The Handler' Maro
An Affirmative ActMan in the White Suit
2011Naked RunCongressman Davenport
The Great FightJudge Frier
The Life ZoneJames Wise
2012Rogue AssassinFrank Maro
2014Scavenger KillersDylan Frier
2015Bleeding HeartsSanta Claus(final film role)

Stage[edit]

YearTitleRole(s)Notes
1962King LearEnsemble, Messenger from Cornwall
1963Antony and CleopatraClown
The Winter's TaleClown
1964Poor BitosunderstudyBroadway debut
1965Drat! The Cat!Pincer
1966All's Well That Ends WellLavatch
1966Measure for MeasurePompey
Richard III1st Murderer
Pousse-CaféMaurice, Dean Stewart
understudy: Artie
1967The Comedy of ErrorsDromio of Ephesus
King JohnJames Gurney
Titus AndronicusNarrator
1968The Happy TimeLouis Bonnard
1969Twelfth NightFeste
IndiansNed Buntline
1970The Wars of the RosesPart 1: Mayor of London
Part 2: Jack Cade
1972That Championship SeasonGeorge SikowskiDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance
1973Boom Boom RoomHarold
1976Knock KnockCohn
1990Cat on a Hot Tin RoofBig DaddyTony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
1996Inherit the WindMatthew Harrison Brady
1997The Gin GameWeller MartinDrama League Award for Distinguished Performance
2000Gore Vidal's The Best ManEx-President Arthur HockstaderOuter Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
2001BrigadoonMr. Lundie
2002The Resistible Rise of Arturo UiOld Dogsborough, Ted Ragg, Ignatius Dullfeet
2003HarveyElwood P. Dowd
2004Golf With Alan ShepardNed
2005ThirdJack JamesonLortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actor

Television[edit]

YearTitleRoleNotes
1972Another WorldGil McGowan (#1)Unknown episodes
1973All in the FamilyDetectiveEpisode: "Gloria the Victim"
1975–1976The Cop and The KidOfficer Frank Murphy13 episodes
1975Barnaby JonesDon CorcoranEpisode: "The Deadly Conspiracy: Part 2"
1976Captains and the KingsEd Healey3 episodes
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1981Great PerformancesMcMahonEpisode: "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses and Other Stories"
1982American PlayhouseRetired ManEpisode: "Working"
1985Amazing StoriesAssistant to the BossEpisode: "Guilt Trip"
1985Tall Tales & LegendsUncle DoffueEpisode: "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"
1986Amazing StoriesEarlEpisode: "You Gotta Believe Me"
1990–1994Evening ShadeDr. Harlan Elldridge98 episodes
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (1991–92)
1990The Kennedys of MassachusettsJohn "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald3 episodes
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
1992The Water EngineTour GuideTelevision movie
1996Elmo Saves ChristmasSanta ClausTelevision special
1997OrleansFrank Vitelli3 episodes
1997Early EditionPsychiatristEpisode: "A Regular Joe"
1998Homicide: Life on the StreetThomas FinneganEpisode: "Finnegan's Wake"
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
1998CybilA.J. Sheridan2 episodes
1998–2002Everybody Loves RaymondFather Hubley6 episodes
1998–2000The PracticeStephen Donnell2 episodes
1999–2009Family GuyFrancis Griffin5 episodes
1999–2000Now and AgainNarrator20 episodes
2000The Hoop LifeWes ConnellyEpisode: "The Second Chance"
2000Early EditionJudge Steven RomickEpisode: "Time"
2001Arli$$N/AEpisode: "Fielding Offers"
2001Citizen BainesClifford ConnellyEpisode: "Three Days in November"
2002First MondayJustice Henry Hoskins13 episodes
2003Touched by an AngelFather MaddenEpisode: "The Root of All Evil"
2004–2011Rescue MeMichael Gavin27 episodes
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
2004NCISCorporal Ernie YostEpisode: "Call of Silence"
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
2006EverwoodEugene Brown2 episodes
2007MonkHank JohansenEpisode: "Mr. Monk Goes to the Hospital"
2010No Clean BreakThe Wise ManUnsold TV pilot

Narrations[edit]

  • Normandy: The Great Crusade Discovery Channel Director-Christopher Koch - English (1994)

References[edit]

  1. ^ LeFevre, Camille (December 17, 2012). "Jeanine Durning: What Are Words For?". Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  2. ^ Schudel, Matt (December 26, 2012) "In real life and on the screen, he played countless roles" The Washington Post, p. B4
  3. Jump up to:a b c Thomas, Bob (December 24, 2012). "Charles Durning Obituary". Los Angeles: AP via Legacy.com. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  4. ^ Brennan, Patricia (May 29, 1994). "Charles Durning"The Washington Post. Retrieved June 9, 2019His father, an Irish immigrant who had joined the Army to gain U.S. citizenship, lost a leg during World War I and died when Charles was 12.
  5. ^ Liz Smith (1984). The Mother Book. Crown Publishers. p. 180. Retrieved June 9, 2019...as he describes her, his maternal parent, Mrs. Louis Leonard Durning, is the quintessential Irish mother...
  6. ^ "Los Angeles Times: Archives - NO BLEEPS FOR DURNING'S ROLE". Los Angeles Times. March 2, 1981. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
  7. ^ Michaelson, Judith (September 15, 1987). "Durning Takes On The 'Peasant Pope' For Pbs"Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  8. Jump up to:a b National Personnel Records Center (April 18, 2008). "Letter from NPRC to Charles Durning" (Press release). St. Louis, MO. p. 2.
  9. ^ Staff Sgt. Jon Cupp, MND-B PAO, "Military urban legends versus true tales: real life stories prove more interesting"www.Army.mil, retrieved 16-Sep-2011
  10. ^ "Speech by Consul General of France Philippe Larrieu". Los Angeles: French Diplomatic Mission to the United States. April 22, 2008. Retrieved December 26,2012.[dead link] Alt URL
  11. ^ "VA Voluntary Service – National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans". Archived from the original on August 19, 2006. Retrieved August 27, 2006.
  12. ^ O'Hare, Kate. 'NCIS' Has Durning Hearing Echoes of War Archived December 1, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. tv.zap2it.com.
  13. ^ "Charles Durning Collection"Academy Film Archive.
  14. ^ "Charles Durning"The Daily Telegraph. London. December 26, 2012.
  15. ^ "Charles Durning, Oscar-nominated king of the character actors, dies at 89 in NYC"The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 26, 2012. Retrieved December 25, 2012.
  16. ^ "WWII Soldier, character actor Charles Durning to be interred at Arlington"United States Army. January 17, 2013.
  17. ^ Genzlinger, Neil (December 26, 2012). "AN APPRAISAL; Remembering Jack Klugman and Charles Durning"The New York Times. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  18. ^ "Charles Durning, Jack Klugman Deaths Bring New Appreciation For Character Actor Titans"The Huffington Post. December 25, 2012. Retrieved December 27, 2012.

External links[edit]

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