In 1972, director George Roy Hill, impressed by his performance in the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning play "That Championship Season", offered Durning 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. Durning had more than 100 movie and television credits. Some of Durning's other well-known movie performances include "Dog Day Afternoon", "The Muppet Movie", "True Confessions", "Tootsie", "To Be Or Not To Be", "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas", "Home for the Holidays" and "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". He was also known for television performances in, to name a few, "Queen of the Stardust Ballroom", "Captains and the Kings", "Studs Lonigan", "Death of a Salesman", "Evening Shade" and "Everybody Loves Raymond". Most recent television roles include the voice of Francis Griffin on "Family Guy" and Michael Gavin, the retired firefighter father of Denis Leary's character, in the FX television series "Rescue Me".