Charles Durning was a Hollywood heavyweight

Charles Durning was a Hollywood heavyweight

Charles Durning on the soudstage with Al Pacino during filming of 'Dod Day Afternoon.'

Charles Durning, who died Tuesday at 89, used his weighty, no-nonsense presence to create a stable full of furious, funny, even frisky American characters over a 50-year film career.

Just when you had him pegged as a heavy or a cop, he popped up as a philandering politician or a concerned father. As his hard-nosed, blue-collar pugnaciousness earned him recognition, he turned around and delivered twinkling turns in a Muppet movie, a Mel Brooks lark or a Coen Brothers comedy.

RELATED: CHARLES DURNING DEAD AT 89

Here are just five of Durning’s most enduring big-screen performances. (For small-screen gems, check out his work on “Rescue Me,” “Evening Shade” and “Everybody Loves Raymond,” as well as in the 1985 “Death of a Salesman” production of Dustin Hoffman’s Broadway triumph, and his hilarious voice work as Francis Griffin on “Family Guy.”)

1. “Dog Day Afternoon” (1975)

As the cop trying to keep a criminal (Al Pacino), a crowd and an escalating situation under control, Durning was bigger-than-life and down to earth. Sidney Lumet’s New York masterpiece â€" a time-capsule keeper for the edgy cinema of the 1970s â€" is a lived-in, real-life nail-biter, and Durning’s Detective Moretti is a frazzled, unforgettable element of the city onscreen.

2. “Tootsie” (1982)

There are so many sparkling one-man, and one-woman, shows in Sydney Pollack’s comic gem that it’s hard to pinpoint who gives Dustin Hoffman’s Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels the best support. Arguably, it’s Durning, who gives Les â€" father of Julie (Jessica Lange) and would-be paramour of Dorothy â€" an old-world courtliness that runs smack dab into a fantastically comic soap opera.

3. “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” (1982)

The same year as “Tootsie,” Durning gave a singin’-and-dancin’ turn as a look-the-other-way Lone Star State governor that earned him his first Oscar nomination. For a little pick-me-up, watch Durning’s giddy performance of “The Sidestep” as he wriggles his Houston-sized body and duets with a 10-gallon hat the way Astaire twirled Rogers.

4. “Home for the Holidays” (1995)

As a Midwestern dad who oversees a mixed-up family (including Holly Hunter and Robert Downey Jr.) with a mixture of resignation, sweet acceptance and gentle guidance, Durning plays up the soft stuffing in director Jodie Foster’s Thanksgiving dramedy without sacrificing seriousness. His character, a retired airport employee, is used to arrivals and departures, and Durning’s knowing delivery is as welcome as ever.

5. “The Choirboys” (1977)

This randy, rowdy film of a Joseph Wambaugh novel about foul-mouthed and seriously mischievous L.A. cops starred Durning as “Spermwhale” Whalen, who leads his boys into after-hours shenanigans. Whalen is a lifer with a disdain for civilians and a colorful backstory, and Durning taps every trick he’s got to bring Wambaugh’s four-letter words to round-shouldered, fat-fisted and endearing life.