Charles Durning Charles Edward Durning ( February 28 , 1923 – December 24 , 2012 ) was an American actor , with appearances in over 200 movies , television shows and plays . Durning ' s memorable roles included the Oscar - winning " The Sting " ( 1973 ) and " Dog Day Afternoon " ( 1975 ) , along with the comedies " Tootsie " , " To Be or Not to Be " and " The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas " . Early life . Durning was born in Highland Falls , New York , the ninth of ten children . His three brothers James ( Roger ) ( 1915 – 2000 ) , Clifford ( 1916 – 1994 ) , and Gerald Durning ( born 1926 ) , and his sister Frances ( born 1919 ) survived to adulthood , but five sisters lost their lives to scarlet fever and smallpox as children . His mother , Louise ( née Leonard ; 1894 – 1982 ) , was a laundress at West Point , and his father , James Durning ( 1883 – c . 1939 ) , was an Irish immigrant . His mother was also of Irish descent . Durning was raised Catholic . In 1959 , Durning married his first wife , Carole Doughty . They divorced in 1972 . He was legally separated from his second wife , Mary Ann ( Amelio ) Durning , in 2010 . He is survived by his three children from his first marriage . Military service . Charles Durning served in the U . S . Army during World War II . He was drafted at age 20 and participated in the Normandy Invasion of France . He was wounded by a German “ S ” Mine on June 15 , 1944 at La Mare des Mares , Normandy . Durning was discharged with the rank of Private First Class on January 30 , 1946 . Durning was known for participating in various functions to honor American veterans . He was the chairman one year of the U . S . National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans . He was an honored guest speaker for over a decade 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 . Military awards and decorations . For his valor and for the wounds he received during the war , Durning was awarded the Silver Star , Bronze Star , and Purple Heart Medals . Additional awards included the Army Good Conduct Medal , the American Campaign Medal and the European - African - Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one bronze service star , and the World War II Victory Medal His badges included the Combat Infantryman Badge , Expert Badge with Rifle Bar , and Honorable Service Lapel Pin . Durning received the French National Order of the Legion of Honor from the French consul in Los Angeles in April 2008 . Acting career . While pursuing an acting career , Durning , a professional ballroom dancer , taught at Fred Astaire Dance Studio in New York City . Referred to as " the King of Character Actors " , Durning began his career in 1951 . While working as an usher in a burlesque joint , he was hired to replace a drunken actor onstage . Subsequently , he performed in roughly 50 stock company productions and in various off - Broadway plays . He attracted the attention of Joseph Papp . Beginning in 1961 , he appeared in 35 plays as part of the New York 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 Shepard , David Mamet , David Rabe , John Ford Noonan , Jason Miller . " During this period , he segued into television and movies . He made his film debut in 1965 , playing in " Harvey Middleman , Fireman " . He appeared in John Frankenheimer ' s " I Walk the Line " ( 1970 ) starring Gregory Peck , two Brian De Palma movies , " Hi , Mom ! " ( 1970 ) , credited as Charles Durnham , with Robert De Niro and " Sisters " ( 1973 ) . 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 ) , Gore Vidal ' s " The Best Man " ( 2000 ) . In 2002 , he performed in the Tony Randall produced " The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui " by Bertolt Brecht with Al Pacino . He played the role of Jack Jameson in Wendy Wasserstein ' s final play , " Third " ( 2005 ) with Diane Wiest at Lincoln Center ' s Mitzi E . Newhouse Theatre . Durning won the L . A . 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 Oscar best picture winner , starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford , Durning won distinction as the crooked cop , Lt . Wm . Snyder , who polices and hustles professional con artists . He doggedly pursues the young grifter , Johnny Hooker ( Robert Redford ) , only to become the griftee in the end . Other film credits include " Dog Day Afternoon " with Al Pacino ; " When A Stranger Calls " ; " The Final Countdown " ; " The Hindenburg " ; " Twilight ' s Last Gleaming " with Burt Lancaster ; " True Confessions " with Robert De Niro . Some television credits include " The Connection " ; " Queen 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 ; " Attica " ; PBS ' s " The Dancing Bear " with Tyne Daly ; the PBS production " " I Would Be Called John " " as Pope John XXIII ; " Hallmark 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 Dewhurst ; " The 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 a cross - dressing Dustin Hoffman . 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 " 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 ' s " O Brother , Where Art Thou ? " . On TV , he played town doctor Harlan Eldridge on the Burt Reynolds sitcom " Evening Shade " ( 1990 – 1994 ) . From 1998 - 2002 , he 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 . 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 " . “ 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 . ” 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 . Death . Charles Durning died of natural causes at his home in Manhattan on December 24 , 2012 , aged 89 and was subsequently buried at Arlington National Cemetery . 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 " . The " Huffington Post " compared the two men , calling them " character actor titans " . Mr . Durning ' s three children were with him when he died . All three live in New York City .