James Francis "Jimmy" Durante (February 10, 1893 January 29, 1980) was an American singer and movie icon, pianist, comedian and actor, whose distinctive gravel delivery, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose his frequent jokes about it included a frequent self-reference that became his nickname: "Schnozzola" helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s.