Durning earned two Academy Award nominations for best supporting actor. 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". He won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV for "The Kennedys of Massachusetts" (1990). He had received three previous Golden Globe nominations and nine Emmy nominations.