Article updated: 12/25/2012 10:34 PM

Durning, Klugman: 2 actors we loved knowing

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This combination of Associated Press file photos shows, Jack Klugman, left, speaking at the 62nd Annual Tony Awards in New York in 2008 and Charles Durning, right, during the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles. Klugman and Durning, both of whom died Monday — Klugman at 90 in Los Angeles, Durning at 89 in New York — spent storied careers building catalogues of roles that classed them indisputably as "character actors."

Associated Press

In this Dec. 3, 1992 file photo, Jack Klugman, left, and Tony Randall laugh at a news conference announcing that they will reprise their most famous roles as Oscar Madison and Felix Unger respectively, for a one-night benefit performance of Neil Simons play, "The Odd Couple", in Beverly Hills, Calif. Klugman, the prolific, craggy-faced character actor and regular guy who was loved by millions as the messy one in TV's "The Odd Couple" and the crime-fighting coroner in "Quincy, M.E.," died Monday, a son said. He was 90.

Associated Press

In this Saturday, March 3, 1984 file photo, from left, actors Charles Durning, Eliott Gould and Screen Actors Guild President Ed Asner take a break before the filming of the 50th Anniversary Special celebrating the guild in Santa Monica, Calif. Durning, the two-time Oscar nominee who was dubbed the king of the character actors for his skill in playing everything from a Nazi colonel to the pope, died Monday, Dec. 24, 2012 at his home in New York City. He was 89.

Associated Press

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Jack Klugman and Charles Durning (both of whom died Monday, Klugman at 90 in Los Angeles, Durning at 89 in New York) spent storied careers building catalogues of roles that classed them indisputably as "character actors." Klugman solving crimes as a lab geek on his series "Quincy, M.E.," or Durning as a stressed-out cop ("Dog Day Afternoon") or a romantic who's smitten with Dustin Hoffman in drag ("Tootsie") — these are actors we identify with, instantly and eagerly.